Need help on choosing the right amp + dac for my HE1000 v2

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
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Got it! Currently using the he1000 v2 with the ef400. I’m more than happy w/ the cans, but the amp not so. I need more punch/slam and bass in my music. Thats why Im planning on upgrading either to soloist + supercharger or v280/81 + a dac like the d90 to pair the amps or something along that price.

What would you suggest? I listen to music lets say like daft punk, would the amps above would solve that or would you suggest a different pairing for the he1000?

Thanks again! :slight_smile:

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If going with the soloist I’d go with a different DAC than the D90. With higher end headphones you can really start uncovering the shortcomings of the D90.

1 Like
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There are two schools of thought when it comes to audio gear.

A large part of the ‘audiophile’ community is about purity of reproduction of sound.

  • The goal for them is to have the original recordings reproduced as faithfully as possible. So they aim for equipment which gets as close to that as possible. However, each person is different, some people like certain types of sound more than others, this is where part of the extreme variety of equipment comes in. For what they really want, but are not admitting to themselves, is the type of sound that they personally like. They end up chasing the ‘perfect sound’, and so they experiment with many different types of headphones, digital audio converters, and amplifiers forever chasing the one that sounds the best to them.

Then there are the people who decide they want control over how the sound is presented, so they commonly aim for EQ’s so they can tinker with the sound signature till they get what they want out of their equipment.

  • Of course there are differences in the quality of components as well, and the structure of each type of DAC and AMP (and of course Headphones) that you can get. But at a certain point, it’s not so much about quality, but if that particular equipment sounds good to you personally.

Then the other shoe eventually drops - because there is basically a limitless amount of money you can spend on audio gear. It ranges from the extremely cheap, to the insanely expensive. Like - you could literally buy and pay off a house with some of the ‘top end’ audio gear that is out there. And not just a cheap house - a very nice house.

So everyone has their limit there. For me, after I spent a several thousand dollars on audio equipment I started to notice a pattern - a treadmill I was on for audio gear - And that’s when I said ‘fuck it’ and started to look for a good quality piece of equipment that would give me the power to change the sound to anything I wanted. That’s when I went on a search for the ultimate tweaking DAC that was also not insanely expensive.

And if you have watched the videos I gave, you will realize that it is a heck of a lot more than just a simple EQ - this is far beyond the types of audio equipment we had in the 1970’s or 80’s, even the expensive stuff from back then couldn’t do anywhere near to what can be done with modern technology.

(there are a couple exceptions)

  • First exception - the Headphones. You will want a good quality headphone that offers great sound-stage and very high quality sound reproduction. I would say you already have that part done.

  • Second exception - The amplifier. You will also want a high quality amplifier that can properly power those headphones. This is where you can certainly do better than the amplifier built into the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. While it really is quite a good amplifier, if you want to spend even more, you can get very good amplifiers, such as the new Topping A90D (Discrete), that is a very good amplifier for it’s cost. But you can always add a nice AMP to the RME ADI-2 and have the benefits of both.

  • Third exception? - Tube amplifiers are an entirely different animal and do things with sound that we can’t emulate with DAC’s. So perhaps you may want to dip your toes into that world also. (of course, any Tube AMP will still need a DAC - and so the RME ADI-2 is still a great choice there too)

But the true beauty of the RME ADI-2 DAC FS, it is a DAC that gives you ultimate control over your sound. - again there are so many ways that you can alter sound using that DAC it is insane.

  • However - this goes against the first type of audiophile - they search for purity of sound, so to them you should never tweak the sound on your own. Yet they will dump massive piles of cash into the search for better sound, and eventually what they are doing is finding the equipment that leads to the sound they are after - essentially tweaking through buying an endless variety of equipment till they hit what they want.

I disagree with that philosophy however, because of the money thing I mentioned earlier. Why should I continue to spend obscene amounts of cash for equipment that I will likely end up replacing eventually? Or at some point I would just give up and end up keeping something I was fairly content with?

  • The RME gives me the ability to change practically anything that has to do with sound reproduction, thus allowing me to take my already good quality gear, and customize it to sound perfect for my personal needs. It also allows me to change settings for different outputs on the DAC, so if I have a home theater system that sounds a bit better one way, I can change to fit that, and have completely different presets for each of my sets of headphones. It allows for up to 20 different presets to be saved and switched to at any time. That’s a lot of equipment I can customize the perfect settings for - or I could even have presets for different types of music as well.

The amount of power to tweak your audio it offers is insane. I suggest watching the videos I posted to get a better idea.

That’s what decided my choice. I already have an really great amplifier that can easily power any headphone I own currently, or will ever own. So i’m set there. And i really love my headphones but these things I can still easily change later if I wish.

  • So I’m done hunting for the perfect pre-made audio equipment. I took the power into my own hands with the RME ADI-2 and i’m getting off the endless upgrade treadmill for the foreseeable future.

That’s the process I was trying to help shortcut for you with my suggestion.

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and then there’re people that say f* it i want decent sound and start listenig to my music, because i know myself if i start with EQ my listening time will suffer :sweat_smile: :beer:

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Oh yes, it will take some time to tweak sound to perfection, but that’s where the presets come in, you tweak for your gear, then tweak a bit more for various types of music, and save the presets, and you are done.

So it comes down to a question of how much your time is worth. If you are into the thousands of dollars per piece of gear, and you aren’t making thousands of dollars per hour, then you can easily justify spending an hour or two tweaking, then the tweak time is worth the cost of your labor. And how many of us who claim to be audiophiles make thousands of dollars per hour of our labor? I’d wager, not many.

For most people this equipment comes very dear, we save for a long time to buy each component. So the shortest path to get off the gear improvement treadmill is a great way to go.