I bought the Beyerdynamic dt 770 pro 250 ohm. Now i need to buy an amp to power it since the soundcard on my desktop computer is not powerful enough. Any recommendations? Preferably something under 100 dollars. I’m gonna be using the headphones for producing music. The soundcard I have right now is the Realtek ALC892 if that’s any help.
Btw, I don’t know anything about amps which has made it pretty hard to find a good amp. So, feel free to explain like I’m 5 years old lol.
Ideally you would get a DAC (digital to analog converter) also to bypass the soundcard. Getting all that at your budget will be very difficult though. The Monoprice Liquid Spark amp is on sale for $79.99 right now on the amplification front.
I’ve found some amps at around 100 dollars like the Schiit Fullla E that’s apperently an amp and a DAC at the same time. Is this what I should get then or should I buy an amp and a dac seperately? Is the Monoprice Liquid Spark good enough for 250 ohm’s? If I buy the monoprice amp, will I need to buy a DAC too?
Sorry if I sound confused, i’m just completely clueless on this subject.
Liquid spark has plenty of power to feed DT770. You don’t need additional DAC and you could feed the amp directly of your soundcard (which is basically a DAC + low power amp). On the other hand you could buy some cheap good quality dongle (like Apple dongle USB-C) to be sure that the signal is clean as you produce music (check ASR forum with measurements). I myself don’t hear difference between different DACs honestly 
The Fulla is a super-affordable DAC/AMP (both parts in one). It doesn’t have a lot of power, I’m sure other folks will have a position about its ability to drive BT 250Ω. The Liquid Spark definitely has plenty of power for it.
Ok. But if I buy The Liquid Spark amp, will I need a seperate DAC too? As pylaczynski said above, “I myself don’t hear difference between different DACs honestly”. I’m kind of confused about this since i’ve been asking on some other forums too, and some people tell me I need a DAC while some say I don’t. Is there a big difference? Will my audio be trash if I don’t get a DAC. Because it’s not really like I’m working from a big expensive studio. I’m just making music in FL Studio on my pc and I’ve been using my gaming headset for the last year which is not really great for mixing. So is there a big difference that I will notice when using a seperate DAC? Or is the DAC in my motherboard enough?
If I need a DAC too I would much rather get one that’s a combo.
This one was recommended to me in another forum.
interesting. Others have told me that I need to get a DAC.
I’d assume you would need a mic interface if you are going to be working with music correct? If so, then what you can do is get a mic interface like ones from behringer, focusrite, motu, etc, and use that as a dac for a liquid spark and have a fairly solid and convenient setup imo.
While I won’t tell you dacs don’t matter, I will say that a lot of the entry level dacs sound pretty similar so it’s more an exercise of finding a good deal and the right features rather than a pure sound focus. Getting some sort of dedicated dac, wether that be a quality dongle, dedicated dac only, or an audio interface will probably be a noticable improvement over motherboard audio, because motherboard audio typically isn’t great from my experience (modern motherboards have definitely gotten better but it’s still not proper stand alone level imo, but they are serviceable imo)
I would say the liquid spark is a great value and also matches well with your beyerdynamic, it might lean a bit warm but for casual or entry level music production it shouldn’t be a big deal. Another one I like around the same price point as the spark is the magni 3+ if you wanted something more neutral. I would mention the jds atom+ as a more analytical option but I generally like to lean a bit warmer and more calm in the treble with a beyer
I wouldn’t use the direct headphone out of an audio interface because those typically suck from my experience
If you were looking for maximum cost savings, I would probably just get the liquid spark and use your motherboard as a dac, but if you can spend a bit more a dedicated dac in the 100 dollar range isn’t a poor investment imo. If you plan to get an audio interface for a mic, then you can just use that as a dac and you should be good to go and that would replace a dedicated dac
Something to watch out for when it comes to music production and dacs is latency, you want to make sure the dac you get doesn’t have too much latency so realtime audio playback isn’t jarring. ASIO support is also nice
If I was in your position, I would probably get the spark and use it with the motherboard audio for the time being, and later down the line grab a standalone dac like an earmen donald dac, schiit modi 3+ or jds atom dac+, or instead if you end up needing/wanting an audio interface for microphones something like a motu M2, audient evo 4, or for something on the cheap the behringer u-phoria um2 is good enough for the price and can act as a dac for your amp
If you decrypt DAC you would find out that it is digital (to) analog converter. So you change digital bits (0s and 1s) into continuous voltage source. To play music through the speaker you feed analogue wavy signal to move the membrane. So if you have any digital device (mp3 player, smartphone, computer) with audio jack output it means that somewhere there deep in the hardware there needs to be a piece that changes the bits that your music is stored in to the analogue wave. Therefore there must be a DAC
I may not be the best source of information on whether it is worth from the sound quality perspective to have good DAC or not, because I like almost anything that I put in ear, but there is some consensus to be found that you could find very decent, clean DACs (like very low distorted) for very cheap amount of money
For reference I have 200$ DAC/AMP combo Topping DX3pro+ and 250$ dongle Questyle M15 feeding 650$ IEM and I don’t hear almost any difference between them and straight of my phone or laptop
At the moment I won’t be needing a mic interface actually, since I just make beats. Probably should’ve made that more clear, but anyways. Do you think the Spark and the motherboard DAC will be fine for now? The headset I’ve been using up until now is the Razer Nari Ultimate and it sounds fine with my DAC. But then again that headset is only 32 ohm while the beyer is 250. If the sound will be fine with the DAC I currently have, I might actually buy the spark and maybe invest in a DAC later. But wouldn’t it be better to just buy an amp and DAC combo like the Schiit Fulla E? Or will I be better of just getting an amp for now? And if that’s the case, why?
Yep, just make sure to get a 3.5mm to RCA cable, and then make sure to plug into the line out of the motherboard
That’s what I would suggest doing. Get the amp now, and later on if you feel like it or get the funds you could get a dac
I would actually say no, because you are getting an imo worse amp than you would with the spark, and you also lose any flexibility/upgradeability in the future, I’d put more emphasis on the amp than dac given the price point and headphones
Ok, thanks for the help! 
I will be looking up some reviews of the Spark and research a bit more. But I’ll probably get this one. 