Headphone amp + DAC

Auraomega · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:55

I'm looking for a good quality headphone amp and DAC for use at home (I.E. not portable), I'd like to spend between £50 and £100 having got my eye on one which costs ~£110 and has glowing reviews (does however come from China so will take an age to arrive and probably have to pay customs, too).

Will be used with my Beyer DT770s mostly, and my DR150s on occasion too.

joeyjojo · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:03

Can you link the one you've got your eyes on?

What interface - USB?

Auraomega · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:09

I can't link to it, I can however link to the review which is here.

I'd be looking for optical in minimum, HDMI would be nice though if it were possible.

joeyjojo · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:51

Auraomega said:
I can't link to it, I can however link to the review which is here.

I'd be looking for optical in minimum, HDMI would be nice though if it were possible.

That's quite a review! I can see why you're tempted by it. I can't recommend anything else though, maybe somebody else will

jbloggs · 7 Mar 2011 at 22:06

You might want to look at:

Audio-GD:

Sparrow

Fun

Or over budget:

NDB-11

NFB-12

You will be able to find theads/reviews Here

Maybe even the Behringer UCA-202

I have an Audio-GD DAC-19MK3 which I bought in June/July 2009 direct from Audio-GD and have been very pleased with it...decent quality products...

Global_Inferno · 7 Mar 2011 at 22:16

Try taking a look at the Little Dot range.. You might find them quite appealing too!?

Also, Cambridge make the DacMagic, which is quite simply awesome. But you'd need an amp as well, probably taking it out of the price range stated.

Also maybe give an iBasso Dx a look (D2 -> D10 probably).

C64 · 7 Mar 2011 at 22:27

I'd go with the e7+e9 combo personally.
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/526216/review-collection-of-e9-and-the-combo-of-e7-e9

Auraomega · 8 Mar 2011 at 01:53

@jbloggs & Global_Inferno:
When you take into consideration shipping costs these both go over the ~£100 I'm looking at for the Zero.

@C64:
I need at the minimum optical in, the E7+E9 combo doesn't have optical or HDMI so I can't use it how I'd expect.

Global_Inferno · 8 Mar 2011 at 08:34

I take it you're thinking of using it with a pre-encoded Dolby Headphone stream over optical?

Auraomega · 8 Mar 2011 at 16:49

I don't like Dolby Headphone

hohum · 8 Mar 2011 at 17:57

Beresford produce some decent DAC/Headphone amp combo units, worth a look too:

http://www.beresford.me

Greebo · 8 Mar 2011 at 19:13

C64 said:
I'd go with the e7+e9 combo personally.
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/526216/review-collection-of-e9-and-the-combo-of-e7-e9

I can honestly say I love my e7 + e9 combo. I keep meaning to write up a review on here but found myself listening to music for 6 hours last night again.

Global_Inferno · 8 Mar 2011 at 22:38

No digital-in is a killer for that combo for me...

Greebo · 8 Mar 2011 at 23:00

Global_Inferno said:
No digital-in is a killer for that combo for me...

Why? I use my Asus DX2 to supply the sound to it or if I am just listening to music I use the e7 dac.

Auraomega · 9 Mar 2011 at 00:30

Thing is though not everyone has a D2X, and not everyone has room for a sound card (I.E. net top systems), and as I've said I need optical in as a bare minimum, optical out and HDMI in/out would be great but I'm not sure such an amp exists.

Greebo · 9 Mar 2011 at 08:53

Auraomega said:
Thing is though not everyone has a D2X, and not everyone has room for a sound card (I.E. net top systems), and as I've said I need optical in as a bare minimum, optical out and HDMI in/out would be great but I'm not sure such an amp exists.

No, they will be few and far between especially with your budget. Not sure why you need optical in as a must though. What are you connecting to it?

And my point about the e7 + e9 combo is the pc connects vis usb and uses the e7 dac to do all the decoding so no sound card needed on the pc.

MikeHunt79 · 9 Mar 2011 at 09:10

Global_Inferno said:
No digital-in is a killer for that combo for me...

Hi,

Emu 0404 USB has optical in and out, and quite a nice DAC also (AK4396).

Auraomega · 9 Mar 2011 at 12:29

Well for one thing my PC, and when a little down the line I build my HTPC that will be connected too. I know USB would work with both but it is severely limited to a 16/44.1 bandwidth.

MikeHunt79 · 10 Mar 2011 at 03:36

Auraomega said:
Well for one thing my PC, and when a little down the line I build my HTPC that will be connected too. I know USB would work with both but it is severely limited to a 16/44.1 bandwidth.

USB 2.0 isn't so limited... It can do 24/96 if you need it...

Global_Inferno · 10 Mar 2011 at 10:13

So how come you haven't got a Zero yet? If your tempted to wait and see what someone else thinks, I've got one on order.. And it's currently in... Hong Kong! (http://www.dhl.co.uk/content/gb/en/express/tracking.shtml?brand=DHL&AWB=8084749341 )