I’ve been thinking about getting into audio for a while now and have been doing some “research”. I’ve decided on a headphone (HE400SE) and now I’m trying to find the right equipment for it. I’ve been considering the Schiit Fulla 4 at $109 because I have heard good things about the Fulla 3 and it is a Dac/Amp combo which is nice for convenience’s sake. Though I’ve seen some people recommend the FiiO K5 Pro (~$150) but at that point, I feel like it would be better to just save up for something like the Heresy + Modi.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be awesome!
(Some extra info if this makes any difference)
Right now I feel like the farthest I would go in this hobby is up to like a DT 1990 Pro or something along those lines in terms of price and quality if that makes any difference to your suggestions.
Don’t plan that next step/end-game thing out just yet. Enjoy the voyage and figure out if/what you really want after digging into your Hifiman. Great cans to jump into.
Unless someone needs the microphone features, severely budget limited or need tiny form factor I would aim a little higher than the Fulla. You’re looking at a planar magnetic can, no matter how they want to frame it, its good to have some power.
Maybe checkout some of the B-Stock sales at Schiit. A Modi 3/Magni 3+ for $178 offers more future flexibility and a ton more power. Tube Hybrid amps offer very nice synergy with this level of Hifiman. Listening to 5xx through xDuoo MT-602 ($99) right now. Vali 2 from Schiit also available in B-Stock at $129.
I don’t want to make you spend more money, but I do think that the Fulla becomes a very quick bottleneck to your future endeavors. If you were a psycho like me who hooks up headphone amps in their bathroom, its easy to justify a future upgrade and give it a try though.
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a really good starter is the iFi Zen DAC, the combo unit. they just released a v2, but the v1 is still awesome. that’s what I use for my daily driver.
there are also a Zen stack you can buy where the DAC and Amp have been separated. the AMP has a feature the combo doesn’t…3D and most people say it’s an enjoyable feature.