DAC/AMP for DT880 600 Ohm

Gaming Audio Competitive
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Hi there, after gaming with crappy headseats for years I’ve decided to invest into something better to use in my games (mostly FPS) and to listen to music in the PC (the only decent reference are my ATH-M50x that I use to listen to music on the go), and after some research I’ve decided to buy this cans because of the apparently good imaging and sound shape.

But I have a problem, after about a week at this point researching and browsing I still don’t know what to buy to use this cans at full potential ( both in terms of power and sound quality) I live in Europe, so most of the options that I see turn out to be a bit more expensive, or, in the worst case not even available over this side of the pond.

This are the options that I consider at the moment and are somewhat avaliable to purchase over here.

-Monoprice Desktop Amp 69€ w/o shipping (not the LiquidSpark): I haven’t really found much info about this amp other than the Zeos video, I’ve seen in the comments that it should be able to power the DT880’s but I’m not to sure about the DAC quality or the power that this thing has.

-Creative Sound BlasterX G6 149€ w/o shipping: More or less like the Monoprice, adding that I doubt that a Creative DAC/AMP would be very good.

-Schiit Magni 3+ & Modi 3 300€ total with shipping: By far the most expensive option that I have and the best of the three surely, but paying double the price of the cans I want to power seems a little overkill.

So, those are my options at the moment, I’m open to suggestions of other DAC/AMPS if you think they sound or perform better for the price.

About budget, I think that 200€ max for the DAC/AMP is the perfect amount, because I’m already acounting 170€ for the cans and 104€ for a ModMic USB which would total me about 580€ if I go the Schiit route, and that hurts my wallet a little :frowning:

P.S: I play electric guitar as a hobby and I have a VOX VT20x (20W AMP), if anyone knows if the jack output of a guitar amp can power 600ohm headphones please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

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So here is what I would do. I would only pick up the magni 3+ and get a dac like the topping d10 or smsl m100 down the line, for the time being you can run it from your PC’s audio using a 3.5mm to rca. I think that would give you the best experience at the moment with room to grow down the line

4 Likes
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I can’t seem to find any of those over here, don’t know if it is because the coronavirus or what, about connecting to my MB, my integrated soundcard has it’s age and it cuts out sound on my speakers quite often so I think it’ll be best if I buy dac+amp all at once.

What about the G6 or the Monoprice? not worth it for the price?

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I don’t think the g6 can properly power the 600 ohm from my experience, and the monoprice dac/amp is pretty meh from when I have used one. Going to guess a fiio k5 pro isn’t available over there?

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After researching a bit i’ve found both the Topping D10 for about 90€, and the FiiO K5 PRO for about 200€, so Magni 3+ & Topping D10 or FiiO K5 Pro :thinking:

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My pick is the magni 3+ and topping (make sure it’s not AIMPIRE as that’s a known fake), but if that can’t happen the k5 pro is also pretty nice

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Oh good to know, I was wondering if that was another brand like the O2+ODAC situation :sweat_smile:

Can it power 600 Ohm? it says recomended 300 Ohm max :thinking:

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Topping had to release a statement warning that those were fakes and also that they don’t preform as well as the real ones (which is true)

It can, I’ve tried it briefly, but if it’s a super quiet track it might run out of steam

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I’ll go with the Magni 3+ and the Topping D10 then, I was going crazy looking left and right for a good option to power this.
Thank you very much for the help :smile:

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That will have more than enough power and quality to spare, you should be just fine :+1:

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I’ve been browsing around and I’m about to receive my Magni 3+ but I am considering returning them because I see alot of people suggesting the JDS Atom instead.

I have a pair of AKG k701’s from a few years ago that I never really used and now my gaming headset is giving up, I wanted to upgrade.

I keep seeing alot of negative reviews of the Magni 3 compared to the JDS atom? Would you suggest i get the JDS atom instead?

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If you have the og magni 3 I would agree that I wouldn’t recommend it, but the 3+ is on the same performance tier as the atom, you have nothing to worry about imo, they really reworked the 3+ and it’s very different than the older 3 (much better than the older 3 imo)

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I see thank you! Would you suggest I get the new modi as well or something else for the DAC?

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So they haven’t released a new modi yet, and the current modi isn’t good imo, I would instead suggest something like the topping e30 or smsl sanskrit 10th anniversary, imo solid picks

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Thanks so much man. I looked into the Topping E30 and the D30. kind of a dumb question but would I be able to stack it ontop of the magni or below it? And going forward, the topping dac would be fine if i ever upgrade my amp and headphones?

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You should be able to do either, or just put them next to each other. I would say put the dac on top for stability

IMO yes, the e30 is pretty dang solid

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Hey there!

I´m also in a quite similar situation than Chervol and considering a K5 Pro for 600 ohm beyerdynamics, mainly because it seems quite nice for the price and Schiit products aren´t really available where I live.

So does anybody have some extended experience with higher impedance headphones on the K5 Pro?

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

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That would work just fine, it should have plenty of power for the most part, but it might struggle if you have very quiet tracks or listen extremely loud from my experience

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Thank you for the quick response!

I´m usually not a very loud listener, so I guess that´s going to be the combo I´m going with :+1:

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Today finally got the setup completed Topping D10 & Magni 3+, and I can say it sounds fantastic, amazed with the change vs On-Board Sound, add FLACS on top of that and I start to hear nuances in songs that I’ve been listening for 10+ years and never picked up, now I have to re-evaluate the quality of my music library, most of the songs sound flat as a pancake :rofl: :rofl: . Haven’t tried in gaming yet but I’m sure it will sound amazing too.

The only thing that I don’t manage to understand is the number in the D10, It doesn’t change no matter the Sample rate of the song I’m playing, but whatever :man_shrugging:

Thank you very much again @M0N for the recomendation. It rocks :+1:

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