I’m a producer mainly and game a bit too, for the last 2-3 years or so i’ve been using $20 headphones (x-craft hp 5) for both gaming and producing music.
They broke and i’m finally looking to get a set of actual headphones and i’ve been researching for a bit and decided on mmx300 because it has a mic and an unattached cable which I really want.
My question is which is the cheapest amp/dac that I can use with these to get good results for producing music?
I don’t wanna run it off my motherboard as it has ALC887/897 sound card and i’ve heard they are bad.
Well I’d honestly get the headphones and then try them on what you have, and see how that is. Personally I think for music production I’d lean toward a JDS atom dac+ and an atom amp+, it’s a more cleaner neutral forward signature that should work well. If you didn’t mind a bit of warmth the magni 3+ and modi 3+ is also a great option imo. If you needed things to be cheaper, you could just only get the amps and plug them into your Mobo line out, but you would benefit from a nice dac.
I don’t know if the mmx300 would be my first choice for music production (especially the lower impedance versions), but they might be serviceable for more casual work, although if your main focus is music production I’d personally look toward a different headphone
For open back studio stuff I’m personally a big fan of things like the dt880 600 ohm, r70x, hd600, for closed back I do like the 770 250, focal listen pro, hd300, k371, all really depends on the sound you are after. Honestly if you need a mic the higher ohm custom mmx300 will work, although you could just get a headphone + a desktop usb mic as well or a modmic or something like that
Depends on the headphone, it’s noticable, some absolutely will require them, some will be more ok with just running off a motherboard
I personally wouldn’t get an ultra cheap dac amp as you’ll likely find it’s not much better than motherboard, so I’d either just save and wait, or only get the amp and then plug it into the line out on your motherboard as a dac
I’ve looked up the closed back headphones you mentioned, i’m sure they sound really good and accurate but they look a bit small for me, I like the look and size of the beyers but I dont believe any of them have detachable cables do they?