I’m pretty new to hifi, for forgive my ignorance. Looking to get a set of Sundaras.
What is a setup that would allow me to get the most out of them for ~$150?
Thank you for the help :)
Well first welcome here
Any other gear you already have or is it your first journey into our own little gear hell 
If you don’t have anything a used schiit magni/modi stack or a ifi zen DAC with a balanced 4.4mm to dual 3.5mm cable for your sundaras (a lot of people recommend getting new cables for hifiman HP anyway 
) should reasonable for the price
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While I have not personally heard it the zen DAC gets good enough reviews to suggest, it obviously won’t bring out the very best of the sundara but should be a decent starting point and if you use a balanced cable like @DuerumBen said it will power them even better. Cables like this are usually expensive tho…
On the budget side of things there is also the Fiio K5 pro.
Another thought is to just get an amp now and use it with your motherboard’s built in DAC and upgrade to a discreet DAC later. I personally use a the Liquid Spark and it is an awesome amp for the price it adds a tiny bit of warmth to the treble as well if you like something like that. Amps like this use RCA to connect so you will have to figure out the cables as well.
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Thank you for the kind welcome :D
Current “”setup”” is my iPad w/ Apple Music + Grado SR80. I would like to continue using my iPad (with or without Apple Music, as my Mac is a 12yo certified P.O.S
I’ll check out those options, appreciate the help!
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I had considered just getting an amp, however I’m sceptical about the quality of the DAC in my 12 year old Mac. Would this be an issue?
Well your iPad has a DAC as well so you can that if you feel more comfortable. Do you like the sound it produces with your Grado? It won’t be as good as a discreet DAC but it should do the job. Later down the line you might get curious and pick up a DAC as well. I have a 3.5mm cable to dual RCA so I will try the liquid spark straight on my budget motherboard later… if the signal is clean enough then I don’t see why your iPad will be worse.
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Other headphones I’ve used aren’t great, when compared to the Grados, so I like them. Thank you for the help! I will check out the Liquid Spark
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Take a look to the Ifi product.
The have a Amp for the most drive for Hifiman phones.
Ifi zen can called it the other called Ifi zen dac.
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At that price point the Zen DAC/Amp combo would be the way to go. The nice thing is that it still has RCA and balanced outputs so if you decide you want to add on a different amp later on you have that flexibility (I have a Zen DAC V2 feeding an Asgard3 at work).
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Fiio k5 pro, is by far the best option at the price, way more power than the zen dac, and you don’t have to get a balanced cable…
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the right and only answer @sebastien_chiu_iFi is the iFi Zen DAC! v1 used should be $150 or better. if you can squeak a bit more budget, then the v2, which has better USB processing and HW MQA decoding, which some may or may not care about.
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Why, oh why do you use such foul language such as MQA? 
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Is there merit to getting a decent DAP, given that the Sundaras don’t seem that difficult to drive?
Only if you want sundaras on the go which is not recommend because they are as open as open backs go
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Yeah a DAP as in digital audio player is only worth it for portability I guess… Also with Sundaras everyone recommends an amp and usually one that has at least a little bit of power. So I would say that they actually are a little difficult to drive… properly at least. Something with the power of the zen dac should be the minimum for it from what I understand. I have not personally heard the combo so someone who has the combo should provide better feedback
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This is true, I might be a little biased though LOL!
Hope you find something right for your Sundaras OP!
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Co-signed.
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Pleased with my ifi hip dac. Has plenty of power for the Sundara, whether or not you run it balanced. I run mine with a fabric balanced cable. The stock cable is actually good quality, but the rubbery material was too floppy and awkward to use everyday. I find the hip dac’s xbass button adds the perfect amount of oomph, bringing more life to the Sundara’s neutral’ish signature.
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Zen DAC V2 looks nice. So my setup would either be Mac > DAC or iPad > lightning to USB > DAC?
Jopp only for the lightning cable you’ll have to get an USB 3 type b cable
And I would try to get an zen DAC V1 cause right now some QC problems of the V2 do make the round and I haven’t heard anything in that regard about the V1
Oh and should you need a balanced cable did see 4.4 to dual 3.5 from ablet or new fantasia for about 40€