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Decent budget amplifier for beginner?

post #1 of 6
11/2/10 at 2:11am
Thread Starter 

I'm making a thread about choosing a decent amp for "audiophile" beginner. I previously used Beyerdynamic DT440 without amp and I, especially in beginning, enjoyed the quality. Few weeks ago I managed to break them and decided to order AKG K 272 HD. This time I was thinking of getting more quality out of my phones and get an amp.

 

 

So I'm asking what kind of amp would be right for me? I'm not able to invest too much (all over ~130e sounds too expensive). I mainly listen music on computer so I guess USB is a must.

 

Thank you in advance.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Akg K272Hd K 272 Hd High Definition Headphones
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AKG K 272 HD High-Definition Headphones
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post #2 of 6
11/2/10 at 2:19am

Audio-dg amps seem to be pretty well regarded here so I would check if that's what you need.

 

Sparrow costs $160 though (version B with USB).

 

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/Sparrow/SparrowEN.htm

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post #3 of 6
11/2/10 at 10:25am

Do you have independent sound card?  If you don't have one, I would suggest you get a ASUS STX (or ST), or M-Audio sound card before getting a amp because you mainly listen on computer. If your sound output quality is bad, the amp will greatly amplifier the weak sound quality. If you already have a good sound card, you should try out those DIY amp because is cheaper. (commercial one are all expensive)

 

If you listening on portable device, all the amp below 200$ are not good enough to get valuable performance out of dt440/AKG 272.


Edited by noonealive - 11/2/10 at 10:28am
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post #4 of 6
11/2/10 at 10:41am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by noonealive View Post

Do you have independent sound card?  If you don't have one, I would suggest you get a ASUS STX (or ST), or M-Audio sound card before getting a amp because you mainly listen on computer. If your sound output quality is bad, the amp will greatly amplifier the weak sound quality. If you already have a good sound card, you should try out those DIY amp because is cheaper. (commercial one are all expensive)

 

If you listening on portable device, all the amp below 200$ are not good enough to get valuable performance out of dt440/AKG 272.

 

I thought so, but what if I plug my amp via USB to computer. There's no USB on sound card so the amp itself has a sound card of some sort, right? So far I'm using integrated sound card.
 

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post #5 of 6
11/2/10 at 10:58am

The Fiio E7 sounds like a good choice as you get both a USB DAC which should greatly outperform your integrated sound card and a portable amp that performs rather well (in my opinion, of course) as an amp for $99 or so. Even if you do decide to buy another dedicated amp, you can still use the E7 as a DAC and use the upcoming line out dock for the E7 to transmit line level audio to your new amp.

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post #6 of 6
11/2/10 at 11:30am

What about uDac 2?

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Akg K272Hd K 272 Hd High Definition Headphones
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AKG K 272 HD High-Definition Headphones
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