My old B&W P7’s broke after 5 years, and purchased a pair of Focal Elegia as a nice upgrade. I don’t have them yet I’m hoping they arrive from the seller this week.
Currently using a FX-Audio DAC-X6 dac/amp but considering upgrading to something better.
Is it worth upgrading to something with a balanced output? Max I’m looking to spend is $500 including a cable, but really looking for something $300 or less.
Thanks in advance everyone!
Hello,
Take a look to the Schiit Asgard 3 is maybe an option for you.
The Topping E30 as dac is a good pairing or you keep your Fx Audio when you would as Dac.
I think looking for an ifi product might be interesting too, elegia are crazy loved with the ifi bass boost on!
The Elegia is a pretty sensitive headphone at 105dB/mw. The usual reason to use a balanced connection is that some amplifiers supply more power via balanced, but you should choose the amp first. If it has a much worse single-ended connection, go balanced.
I think I would second the Asgard recommendation, it seems like a good deal in the US. If you would like bass, you could consider adding the iFi Zen DAC, which has the aforementioned bass boost. I don’t know how well the Zen pairs with the Asgard, but I can’t imagine it would be bad.
This is a good idea. If the budget reaches to $500 the Micro BL and the xDSD would be in range. Especially used. That would be a sweet all-in-one that would also be portable. Plus you would have that XBass goodness which the Elegia benefits from at times.
Another thing I’m really enjoying recently is the Chord Mojo. Never really used my Elegia on it when I owned one so I can’t comment on synergy. But it’s the best sounding DAC I’ve heard so far and it should have plenty of power to push them.
Otherwise probably the Asgard 3 like others have said with something like the E30 or the Modius would be very solid.