I have a pro ject s2 digital dac,but it has really low power for headphones,but the dac in it is briliant and the noise floor is black/zero,you hear nothing from it…What amp would you recommend to pair with it for 200-300 dollars,i was thinking about the thx smsl…but i wanted to head your advice.I live in europe so please no shiit or jds.Thanks.
Can you get Massdrop stuff? The 789 is a better amp and its on sale for 300$ right now.
Other than that theres the Topping A50
Theres also the Geshelli Archel amp which i hear might be better than the THX amps
LakePeople G103-S or G103-P (S = unbalanced, P = Balanced) could be an option.
There are some reviews on the G103 and no body finds a fault with it.
The Palmer HDA 02 appears to be a bit too hit and miss. Might want to look into it anyway.
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I’m also going to 2nd the lake people amp, imo something I definitely prefer over thx
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I can buy massdrop stuff…bought hd58x…should i buy then thx 789 or smsl sp200,the smsl is cute and has never chip inside…whats your opinion on that?
I have the THX 887, if you want that sounds for $100: Schiit Heresy.
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You prefer EVERYTHING over the THX. 
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welcome to the forum
what headphones will you be using?
also Schiit has an eu website I think (though prices seem to be higher than in North America)
He’s not the only one.
I would take thx over some of the old schiit amps lol
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Not SOME of the NEW Schiit amps.
I dont think you can tell the difference very much with new/old chip. the 789 imo is the better amp. people have reported problems with the sp200
One option could be sell the current S2 + planned amp money and find something from Pro-Ject with more power from headphone.
There is plenty of options what to do and what to select.
The newer Schiit amps sound WAY better than the older stuff.
I agree with you, you can get the same or maybe better sound from the Heresy cheaper. I have the sp200 and if I had to do it again, I’d just get the Heresy… as long as you don’t have balanced headphones. Even then though I’d probably listen single ened to the Heresy. The SP200 doesn’t sound bad, there are amps that sound better, but I just wrote my thoughts about the 6XX in another thread. The SP200 sounded better with the 6XX compared to my RNHP and Archel 2.5. So there is a place for it… but again you can get the really close or better sound from the Heresy.
I came to the conclusion I like the 6XX most on the Liquid Spark. So if you have a good DAC it might be worth the $99 to give that a shot with 58X
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I’ve seen more reports of bad volumes pots on the 789. I think the 888 is built better overall. IMO
When you’re cranking out thousands of anything, especially electronics there will be some lemons that slip through the crack.
I see the main benefit of the 789 is the lower gain of the 3 gain settings. If your DAC can control the output like the ENOG 2 then the 3rd gain settings doesn’t matter. All said the 789 is the same price as the 888 when its not on sale. So if you don’t need the 3rd gain level I’d get the newer chip… ( just my 2 cents)
Yeah i see what your saying but SMSL has the reputation of cheapies and cheap products. Massdrop has proven their reputation for great audio equipment. Also your forgetting the XLR on the 789 is powered. on the sp200 it isnt and thats a BIG deciding factor to this. It also has more ports ect… its just better overall. The only reason to buy the SP200 over it is thats its smaller and the 888 chip is newer. sounds a tiny bit better but i dont think its very detectable.
I wouldn’t quite say that. The new thx dac/amp that monoprice has out seems pretty legit. If I wanted thx which I don’t. The only real issue I see with the sp200 that j wouldn’t care for is how they shoved the power supple into that tiny chassis. It gets pretty warm right? Other than that, if I wanted thx amp only , I’d probably just get whatever I could find cheapest at the time because they seem pretty one note. If you heard one you’ve heard them all. No use in paying anymore for one over the other, no matter what tech they throw in.
Again, the most interesting thx I’ve seen lately is the monoprice dac/amp and that is more because of the software they put into the dac rather than the actual amp.
I really like the monoprice. has a eq in it. and i think mono also dirac.
I wouldn’t care for the eq since I don’t use it but it’s interesting to add it in as a feature for sure. Makes it stand out over the other thx Amps at least. Same with the dirac
The liquid spark actually runs noticable warmer than the sp200. I wouldn’t even say the sp200 runs warm… maybe slightly over room temp…
And I agree with buy the cheaper thx. That’s what I did, it just happened to be the sp200 with the 888 chip.