Headphone Amp ?

foster grant

foster grant

foster grant

Soldato
Joined
10 May 2012
Posts
6,270
Location
North London
OK do I need a headphone amp ? I got myself a set of DT 770 Pro Headphones and when I got them I was told " you might need a headphone amp with those , even though I'm running the headphones through my sound card ( specs below ) ?
 
You have an Essence STX, you'll be fine. It's one hell of a card, so much so I've still got mine and I've gone through a variety of external DACs and Headphone amps. The headphone amp in the STX is lovely IMO.
 
Fancy having a sound card with a good headphone amp and not knowing it has one. :o :p

Gamer's; they can tell you about the specs of the motherboard, GPU, RAM and CPU they are going to buy, but when it comes to sound cards, it's just a printed circuit board with some components on it that is used for sound.....

I'm just pulling you leg of course. :)
 
foster grant said:
It's for use with a laptop so it needs to be not...a desktop amp :)
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Most compact thing you're going to find is a Dragonfly. get the red version you need the extra power for those headphones. It's the size of a thumb drive, but it's a DAC amp. Obviously a full size plug-in style amp is better but if space is limited and you can't use mains it's what you want.
 
mistersprinkles said:
Most compact thing you're going to find is a Dragonfly. get the red version you need the extra power for those headphones. It's the size of a thumb drive, but it's a DAC amp. Obviously a full size plug-in style amp is better but if space is limited and you can't use mains it's what you want.
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Always wondered about this. If you can fit it all in something so small, why make such massive amps like some of the Schiit stuff? Is it to command a higher price and give the user a sense of buying a premium item?
 
Noxia said:
Always wondered about this. If you can fit it all in something so small, why make such massive amps like some of the Schiit stuff? Is it to command a higher price and give the user a sense of buying a premium item?
Click to expand...

No, the bigger amps are actually better. The Dragonfly is a compromise product where you sacrifice amplifier quality for size and portability. The cost of the schiit stack (entry level modi/magni) vs a dragonfly red is similar, and the schiit stack outperforms significantly. It has much higher output power. The DAC quality is similar. But you can't put a schiit stack in your pocket hooked up to your iphone or break it out on an airplane. I mean I suppose you could break it out on an airplane if the plane had power ports and you had a small power strip but it would be weird.
 
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