I am looking to get my first AMP/DAC soon, as I just received my 58x. So far have tried them at a Audio shop with the Aune X7S (Balanced, and using the X8 as the DAC), this was amazing and I enjoyed it A LOT, almost made me buy the stack on the spot, but didn’t because broke. Right now I have the IFI Zen Dac on Loan for about a week to test it out, so far i’ve been really enjoying them but not as much as the AUNE stack I tried at the shop, only using it SE at the moment since i don’t have balanced cables. But in the process of making a set from the same shop I tested the AUNEs. I am open to having a stack but budget wise the most I would be willing to spend for the whole setup is $300 (At the moment). As I am in Malaysia I have choices like Topping, FIIO and a few others where i can purchase them physically but other brands i’ll have to buy them online. If you guys could give me any suggestions on what I should get it would be much appreciated, THANKS 
For around 300 $, you could go Topping D10s/E30 as a dac and grab either a JDS Atom/Schiit Magni 3+/Heresy. The Topping D10s can be had for around RM380 locally and the E30 respectively at RM 529. Do expect to pay around RM800 ± when you factor in import charges to Malaysia for the amp. Shipping is usually quite fast and you can get it by 1 if not 2 weeks. That brings you roughly to 300$ for a great entry level system. I do like the X7s/X8 combo but the output impedance of the X7s is quite high and does affect the frequency response of lower ohm headphones. I found it to be quite unusable with my sensitive iems. The JDS Atoms/Schiit Magni 3 +/Heresy is more flexible in that regard but lacks a balance out.
That sounds like a good combo with schiit/JDS Labs products. I would like to try it one day but man the shipping cost (which is almost double the cost of the units itself) That’s what put me off from looking to get products from the US.
So with that being said, i’m honestly leaning towards stuff i can get locally for the same price, and warranty claiming would be a lot easier as well. That is why the IFI ZEN DAC is very appealing at the moment with it being very affordable, but i’ll have to try it balanced then I can decide whether I wanna get it or not.
I have HD58x and am using it with Aune T1SE that has the same dac chip as Zen Dac.
Granted that Aune T1SE is a tube dac so the sound would not be the same as Zen Dac, but I just don’t like how it sounds with PCM. But PCM to DSD conversion solved the problem for me.
Just wanted to warn you that the dac chip of Zen Dac is old and uses a different technology compared to modern dacs like X8. It’s a thermometer-coded dac.
I recommend Topping porducts (E30 and L30 would be awesome but I don’t think L30 is released yet).
How about a used Chord Mojo? It can be had for around RM 1.2 to 1.3 k , has a great dac and a surprisingly potent amp section that can power iems to full size cans with ease.
Ohhh good to know. I’m just going to run this of my desktop with spotify premium and FLAC files moslty for music.
How does it sound with Aune T1SE and what else are you running ?
Chord Mojo, i’ve never tried them before but will see if i can audition them at some point
It runs well with the Aune. The amp section is on the warmer side and the tube adds a fair amount of soundstage. I tried Chord Mojo but didn’t like it that much. The soundstage was limited for my taste. Otherwise clean.
The Aune has a Dac that supports 24-bit/192kHz where as the Zen Dac’s Burr Brown chipset supports 24-bit/384kHz, DSD256 and MQA so I don’t think they use the same chipset?
The iFi Burr brown chipsets work great with Senn HP’s imho.
Definitely agree on the soundstage of the Mojo, it’s quite mid forward but overall solid device for the price.
Chord are more on the analytical side where as the iFi’s Burr Brown gives a warmer sound, it’s all about matching set ups and personal preferences really.
Well, they’re both DSD1793. It’s the dac for all the ifi products.
So how can DSD1793 support 384khz and MQA when there’s nothing said in the official datasheet?
People have asked this question and the ifi guy @ head-fi answered that DSD1793 has some “hidden” features and secrets.
I don’t know. I smell snake oil. MQA wasn’t even around at the time of DSD1793.
People even suggested that ifi could use PSM1792 which is the same technology but better specs. Ifi said that dac doesn’t have the sound that they’re looking for.
I will look for the link.
Here’s the link:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/idsd-micro-black-label-tour-details-page-147-release-info-page-153.711217/page-56
The ifi guy said “undocumented features” which maybe MQA is one of them lol.
Apparently for the Zen Dac 
…
"Upgraded implementation
The DAC section is based around a Burr-Brown DAC chip that we use extensively at iFi, selected for its fluid, highly ‘musical’ sound quality and ‘True Native’ architecture.
This, together with the XMOS chip used for input processing, enables us to deliver excellent sound quality across all manner of digital audio formats including hi-res PCM, ‘bit-perfect’ DSD and MQA – the hi-res streaming codec, as used by Tidal’s ‘Masters’ tier. The ZEN DAC’s digital audio credentials are highly impressive for a product in this price range."
Anyone has tried the Topping A50/D50s stack ?
and I heard Topping is coming out with an L30 Headphone amp and A50s, any clue when those are launching ?
I guess L30 is already available but not vastly.
I strongly recommend this. It has the same NFCA as A90.
Oh you heard it already?
Well… no but I’ve heard A90 which does not have the THX sharpness in side-by-side comparison.
I would agree, if the l30 is able to offer similar or a bit lower performance than the a90 it will be quite good for the price
So I guess I should just wait for the new Topping 30 Stack (E30 + L30)?
And is there any benefit to balance sound wise? From your experiences