Ok so I can feel myself falling down a rabbit hole (hence the name) but I don’t want to waste a bunch of cash without some help. I’ve been reading for days and I’m still not sure what I want to do.
I listen to tons of music but usually in my Bose QC 35 II wireless(had them for like 4 years…). I take these everywhere but now I’m stuck at home and I’m bored so I started looking at headphones. I like my bose but I’m interested in upgrading to something better while I’m at home.
I have my eye on the Drop 6xx. But I know my desktop wont drive them.
I’m looking at the Monoprice Liquid Spark ($100) and also the Drop Standard DAC ($80)
But If I can go cheaper to drive them correctly that would be great too. I need help.
Would the IFI Zen Dac work? Or would the FX Audio Dac X6 works?
Can I get one of those cheaper (IFI/DAC x6) and get an amp later and still use those.
Thanks! I don’t want to waste money but I also don’t want to be let down when I do start buying stuff.
You can use the DAC on your computer and a amp now. Amp is most important besides headphone. Youre only getting a 6xx so i think most dac/amps would be fine including a FX amp/dac. If your getting into higher end headphones youthen might want to upgrade
do you like the sound signature of your Bose? the 6xx is quite different… it would pair nice with the liquid spark but I wouldn’t recommend the zen with the 6xx (not sure about the fx audio stuff)… as for a dac the usual recs are a topping d10 or e30
Edit: just thought of this… a good way to try out the sennheiser sound would be a 58x which would be fine with your onboard audio
I would rephrase that a tiny bit. The amp is not the most important, however in the absence of gear the best return on money spent IS spent on the amp for up to a $100. Sorry to nitpick.
Right, I agree with you there. I maybe just tired, but basically I’m just concerned someone goes for THX amp without a DAC and wonder why they can’t hear anymore details. Probably and extreme extrapolation I’m over exaggerating.
Oh you mean over a DAC? Well my reasoning there is sometimes some computers have decent on-board DAC’s. I think amps are more important than DAC’s because a DAC is no good if you cant hear your headphone. I guess in order i believe Headphone > Amp > DAC. But of course all 3 is ideal
The liquid spark is an excellent amp and so is the sdac being a good dac but I would personally get the topping d10 first just a better dac in terms of measurements and build quality. The k5 pro is pretty good if you want to go cheaper I wouldnt get the Zen dac unless you want to run balanced and I wouldn’t get the dac x6
I was in the same spot about 8 months ago. My forum thread is HERE if you are interested. After months of researching and watching reviews, and chatting on these forums, i finally made up my mind on a budget setup.
I end up getting the 58X, D10 Dac, and JDS Labs Atom Amp. Cost me a about $450 CAD + Tax. I am very happy with those 3. The headset was lacking a bit of bass for my liking, but an EQ fixed that. Now i’m looking to upgrade the pads on it to make it more comfortable. Later i also added the Antlion ModMic Wireless to it to make it into a gaming headset. $150 CAD +Tax
Strongly agree here. There will be almost no high end with this pairing.
I disagree somewhat. This pairing will have the same basic problem as the 6xx + Zen pairing, albeit to a much lesser magnitude. Both the Zen and the LS have a warmer signature with rolled off highs, but where ths LS does this subtly, the Zen does so somewhat aggressively.
I think you have to know you are very treble sensitive or just like a dark sound to do either of these pairings. I’d recommend an Atom or a Magni Heresy to drive the 6xx.
Well i guess the real question is, what exactly do you wish to upgrade soundwise? want more treble? clarity? bass etc, do you have something you dislike about the bose sound? I think first we need to figure out the headphone u would want, and then decide on what amp to pair it with since amps can make or brake a headphone. For example, i have a audioquest nighthawk, which is very BASSY which is fine if you want to use em as bass cans but if i want them to be more of an all rounder i just pair them up with a brigther/neutral amp like my xduoo. If i wish to make them have even more bass lol just hook them up to the spark. so i think you should get an amp based on the headphone first
Hi Everyone, thanks for all the replies on this. I really appreciate your time.
I mostly will use these headphones for music. I do play PC games but I’m not worried about that as much. (I have a hyper X headset that I use for chat) I listen to rock music (classic and modern) and a lot of sound tracks (hans zimmer, john williams, ect).
What I want are good headphones/equipment to make those types of music sound good. I think I’m pretty settled on the 6xx because a lot of the videos I saw said they were a good first pair of higher quality headphones and also that they were pretty neutral.
I understand I cant get much cheaper than say $200 to drive them properly. I do not want to use the onboard sound on my computer. I don’t even use that for my hyper x headset because the drivers are awful for it.
