Help with upgrade, DAC and AMP or DAC/AMP combo

I’ve been using a focusrite scarlett 2i2 together with dt 990 and JBL lsr 305 for a while now
and after getting the MASSDROP X KOSS ESP/95X, i thought i should upgrade to a decent dac and amp(do i even need one now ?) as well. (up to 600€)

I don’ t really know if i should get a dac+amp combo or just get them individually but i want to be able to connect my speakers+headphones(mainly for listening to music and gaming)
and hope you can help me with that.

I think the smsl su-8 has a good amount of features and sound quality for the price imo, and would be an upgrade from your scarlett. It also has a built in volume control with it’s remote (but no knob control). The reason I suggest getting only a dac is because since the 95x and 305’s would only benefit from a dac

If you also want to upgrade your amp, you could get a topping d10 and jds labs atom stack as well

Hello,
What for Dac/amp have you personally find for a good choise?
Tell us so we can say maybe is good or not.

I find personally is better to seperate the Dac and Headphone amp.
But the possibilty are not so great to find good stuff.And is not a must do it.
A Burson dac i find not bad or something from the British side are very natural and true Sound.
Do you have a Favorit soundimaging? Do you like Warm sound, or natural or analytic?

hi again,
and thanks for the fast response.

the smsl su-8 looks nice and has good reviews. Is that a big upgrade from the scarlett ?
If so, not paying 600 € and still getting a lot out of it does sound great.
Also not getting an amp since i m using active speakers and the ESP/95X for now seems plausible.

@Deleeh
i was looking at the Topping DX7S and the Schiit Jotunheim.
And for the sound, sadly i can t really tell you since i m still pretty new to this and didn t get to listen to that many different headphones.

I think the su8 is an upgrade imo, and also you can use the xlr for your speakers and the rca for the 95x at the same time so no splitters. The su8 also has some subtle sound modes that alter the sound without eq so you can adjust it to your liking

just ordered the dac :grinning:
thanks for helping me out.

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Nice, curious to see how you find it :+1:

Also regarding the powered speakers and the 95x, I would recommend setting the 95x just to max volume, that way you can control volume through the su8 remote like you would with the speakers, and it also alleviates any issues with channel imbalance with the volume control on the 95x

ok, so i finally got the dac and man, i didn’t think there would be that much of a difference but how wrong i was.
The sad part is i like the dt 990, which i connected through the energizer of the 95x (should i even do that ?) more than the 95x now.
And i also don’t really hear any difference between those sound modes but maybe that is only cuz i’m sick and my hearing is not all there yet. But i’m still very happy with the upgrade,so thx again for helping me out.

No problem lol. Yeah the dac filters are very minute, but the settings like tube do make a subtle difference.

How the heck did you connect the 990 to the energizer?

it worked just fine with the 3.5 mm jack

Seriously??? That’s an audio in, so it must be directly connecting you to the dac, which is very strange

that’s what i thought xD
it works somehow and the volume is more than loud enough as well but still should i maybe not do that ?

Well, I guess if that works then it works , but I would suggest investing in a headphone amp like a jds labs atom if you want to improve the 990 further lol

From somewhere online:

That to me, looks like a direct link from the RCA in to the 3.5mm in…

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Lolol, well you learn something every day I guess

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