Another newbie in need of a bit of help

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
1

Trying to find a new “allround” (music, gaming, movies) setup for my headphones, I currently have;

  • SENNHEISER HD 6XX (300 Ohm)
  • BEYERDYNAMIC DT880 ALL BLACK EVERYTHING (600 Ohm)
  • HIFIMAN HE4XX (35 Ohm)
  • FOSTEX TH-X00 EBONY (25 Ohm)
  • DT990 Pro (250 Ohm)

My current AMP/DAC is the O2 Amp/DAC combo from drop, I was thinking I would take that with me to work and upgrade a bit at home.

The options I have been looking at;

Schiit Asgard 3 with Multibit DAC addon
SMSL SU-8 + S.M.S.L SP200
Aune S7 Pro + some DAC (not sure what would be a good DAC to pair here)
Marantz HD-DAC1

2

What type of music do you listen to? And how much are you thinking of spending total?

1 Like
3

Depends a bit, I listen to “a bit of everything”, but it also depends on the headphones I have on, the mood, etc… But generally I would say my favourite is 80’s and 90’s rap

I don’t really have a set budget, but I am from Norway, so there is a bit of a limit to what I can actually buy.

4

Ah gotcha, so you are mainly looking to upgrade the amp and dac situation correct?

5

Yup, but I am not sure how good the DAC in my PC is, so preferably I would get a decent external DAC aswell.
One reason I have been looking at the SMSL combo is that both have internal PSU’s which really is a bonus imo, and if I understand correctly I could run them balanced?

6

So personally with the headphones you have at the moment, I wouldn’t suggest a balanced amplifier as only around half of you headphones could run balanced (and you would have to get new cables for the balanced capable headphones as well)

From what you have listed I would point you towards the Asgard 3 with the multibit dac imo, as that would match your headphones better than some of the other amps listed imo, and offer a good value for what it provides

7

Ok, thank you for the replies, that was already what I was leaning towards, either that or the SMSL’s

Would it change at all knowing the Asgard 3 with Mulitbit is around 650USD here?

8

Hmm that’s pretty pricey, how much is the asgard without the dac module?

9

dang that’s pricey… unfortunate

10

Around 380USD

11

Hmmm that’s pretty expensive. How much is a Lake People G103-S over there?

12

Not really available, only product from them I can find is Lake People G109P which is like 580USD

13

Hmmm what about an Arcam rHead?

14

Looks like it might be discontinued?

15

Correct, they can still be found though I think

16

Ifi micro or smsl m500? … just spitballing

17

Can’t find any neither here or in Sweden.

18

Hmmm, well the smsl combo would be pretty solid and the single ended out is pretty good, how much is that combo?

19

Seems we have an importer for most IFI products, SMSL I can buy directly from China, for a decent price

20

I havent heard either personally but I’ve heard good things about both (just sort of throwing the ball up for m0n)