So in a way, it’s fine for a majority of mid-fi headphones, and the amp really only becomes more significant with some amp-sensitive headphones that are around the high-end range. Does the same principle apply with the DAC?
A dac makes even less of a difference imo, as imo amps play a larger role in the sound as long as you have a good dac. To really get a setup where you would hear the benefit of a high end dac, you would need to be higher up then the amp imo. If you did want to upgrade your dac, you can get a dac like the smsl su-8 v2 and be pretty much set feature and sound quality wise tbh. But I would only consider upgrading for your dac if you upgrade your amp
Unless you want to consider r2r dacs. Or tube amps for that matter
1 Like
Seems like the HE4XX are on sale right now for $130. And apparently Drop is offering $20 off any first purchase when signing up. Do you know I can stack those two offers together? If I could get those headphones for $110 that’d be a steal!
1 Like
I think you can, it’s a pretty good deal
Would you rather go for the SU-8 or the M300?
Personally I would say the su-8 v2 because of the extra features it offers over the m300, but if you need a physically smaller device and are extremely bothered by ess chips the m300 isn’t bad, but I would personally prefer the su8
They both sound great, so I don’t think you would be having issues with sound quality with either one, but the extra dac filters and sound modes that color the sound without eq is nice, along with the volume control and remote on the su8
I think I’ve thought about getting the M300 thanks to the restrictions to my set up size currently, and being unaware of what restrictions I will have in the future. Then again, I’ve also thought about pairing it with a TA-20 and SA100… Or perhaps AD18 instead, should I decide I REALLY want the sub-woofer. 
So you would be feeding a headphone amp and a speaker amp with it? If you are worried about size, you could get the topping pa3 (smaller and better sounding then the ad18 imo) and then a sub with speaker level inputs
Yeah, I would XLR balanced output to the TA-20, then RCA over to the SA100 or PA3.
That’s the space I’m working with, tbh. The speakers I’ve got now work… I can hear the issues with them, but they’re better then the laptop speakers, or not having any sound when I hook up my desktop when I don’t feel like using headphones. At time of purchase, funds for much more weren’t there to be spared. I can say they WILL be replaced down the line.
1 Like
Welp, seems that regardless of current deals I’ll be waiting alot longer than anticipated for these headphones. Oh well. 
the new ifi Zen amp/dac looks good for you. 129$ and it has balanced. its a good company too. maybe someone here has heard it and can compare to the atom or liquid spark in regards to sound. it also has MQA which you can use with music streaming services like Tidal to hear “Masters” quality audio. Something the other amps dont have.
Also im sick of dealing with stacks. i would like a nice all in one amp/dac.
It’s a nice unit (haven’t heard it yet, but it seems great), but the extra power from something like the liquid spark would be beneficial for the 4xx
I would get the Liquid Spark amp, and wait for the Liquid Spark dac that gets released in december.
Yeah a liquid spark stack seems pretty nice, something if you want a more colored sound rather the transparency of a jds Labs atom stack
I noticed that JDS Labs has their own little budget stack going with the OL DAC and the Atom amp. Is that what you meant by the Atom stack? Just curious.
I actually prefer something like the topping d10 or smsl m100 over the ol dac, but the ol dac is still solid. A tone board would work as well
I’ve been wondering about other interfaces, since I was kinda interested in switching out my Blue Snowball with something like an XLR mic. Considering the rabbit hole that is, I’m not sure what to grab should I look into that area of sound.
Well lol, do you have a treated room and good recording environment suitable for a mic? And what type of budget are you thinking?
1 Like
As of now, not really lmao. Lots of background noise and no isolation or padding for anything. I guess for someone that really doesn’t do anything other than talking with online friends through discord, going XLR is pretty overkill. That being said, I’m not sure what my budget would be at all in that case.
Well, I would just say something like a Shure SM48-LC would be a good choice imo, and for the interface, a Berhinger UM2 or focusrite scarlett solo would be a great entry into an xlr setup on the cheaper side imo