Need a headphone amp without dac built in.

hobib_ali

hobib_ali

hobib_ali

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hi

I have been using my FiioE12 Mont Blanc for 2 years now

As I have purchased/collected multiple high end headphones I thought its time to upgrade my portable headphone amp.

I have now gone into hi res music as I have bought a hires walkman

Headphone collection I own many from 32ohm to 250ohms i.e M50x Fostex Tr90s senns and beyers

I use my zxr to drive my headphones and they are do its job perfectly, bought a few desk top amps and the ZXR just blows them away.

now I bought the Creative E5 and I have used it for a week, and I dont like the sound quality either, its got a built in dac which i will never use as well as other functions, im gonna sell or return

Hence why I want a dedicated headphone amp without a DAC, it will be solely used only for portable use to be connected with my HiRes Walkman

I know when you buy a portable headphone amp its price increases because of a built in dac,s

So other than the Fiio range anyone know of a quality headphone amp without a dac?

can be old or new...

thanks
 
You're selling yourself short using those headphones portable in the first place. Anything high impedance isn't really meant to be portable, and unless you have a good DAC (SB ZxR admittedly has a good DAC) then an amp won't magically make everything sound awesome. It takes a good source too.

For portable I like the Oppo HA2 SE which contains a DAC and damn well should as iphone/android devices have garbage DACs in them. As far as desktop use look no further than Schiit audio's desktop amp range. You can go cheap with something like a Magni 3 ($99 US) or a Magni 3 UBER ($150 US) or go for something better like an Aasgard. Their amps are fantastic. I have the Aasgard and Magni 2.
 
Most of the well regarded, non Fiio, portables are amp/dac combos.

OPPO HA2 SE
Teac HA-P50
Sony PHA-1A
Denon DA-10
 
Seriously, the ZxR is a horrible option for driving low impedance headphones due to it's ridiculously high 38 ohm output impedance. Unless the phones are planar magnetic there's a good chance that at bass frequencies, the headphone drivers will be quite poorly controlled due to lack of damping.

Aside from the already mentioned Oppo HA2, the FiiO A5 (£109) with it's MUSES02 op amp will be tough to beat.
 
w
rids57 said:
Seriously, the ZxR is a horrible option for driving low impedance headphones due to it's ridiculously high 38 ohm output impedance. Unless the phones are planar magnetic there's a good chance that at bass frequencies, the headphone drivers will be quite poorly controlled due to lack of damping.

Aside from the already mentioned Oppo HA2, the FiiO A5 (£109) with it's MUSES02 op amp will be tough to beat.
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Well i use the ZXR to drive my HD600s HD650s and my Beyer Amirons and DT990, they sound wonderful with the ZXR, perfectly driving them with enough power, the ZX sound card was crap compared to the ZXR, massive improvement, I did buy the Creative E5 and it sounds very tinny and un-natural, maybe because its a portable device with limited power
but I used it for 2 weeks and ending up selling it because Creative made it a multi purpose headphone amp, portable sound card DAC 3 mics

Today i got rid of my Sony PHA-1, it disables my graphic equaliser and sound enhancements on my Sony hi res player, its a digital connection and honestly it sounds terribly flat with no bass no treble, at full volume my M50x and Fostex TR-90 distort, probably due to a lack of power on the battery, the mont blanc and E5 does not do that.

I think the only other choice is the Oppo HA2 but need to do some research as ive had to get rid of 2 devices already...
 
The ZxR will be fine with those phones as they all have high input impedance which at least gets them close to the ideal 8:1 ratio
 
mate ive decided to get the Cayin C5

Its portable, it has a battery, it sounds better than the fiio e12 and the creative e5, it has enough power to run cans of up to 250ohms and they run the 650 and the Amirons like beautifully, awesome sound stage, only gripe is when you turn the bass on its very boomy and you cant adjust it like the e5, the e5 was excellent as when connected to pc or phone app the graphic eq settings are saved on internal memory, the e5 just didnt do it justice listening to the beyers and senns, they are ok with the m50s and fostex...
 
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