(~$100-200) Amp recommendation for HD598

Well, I have an advice, which will sadly be partially useless for you since you have a Mac, and not a PC. :P

I bought HD558's a few weeks ago, and was pretty satisfied, but not impressed. Then i started looking for a DAC/Amp combo...after trying out many combos (ibasso d4, nuforce udac2) , i found the Fiio E7 + E9 the best, but i also realized that these headphones dont need an amp, since even the E7 DAC can run them just as good as with the E9... Amp doesnt seem to add any noticeable sound quality to these headphones, i actually felt like it reduced clarity a bit too.

However , I ended up buying an internal soundcard (since i only use my PC as source).... Asus Xonar D2X, which costs about as much as E7 + E9 in my country.  Difference in sound quality between onboard soundcard and the D2X is so drastic that after plugging my headphones into my laptop after listening trough D2x it felt like my headphones were broken. That sound card also blows E7+E9 out of the water in just about everything... sound is much clearer, more musical and i'd say more "emotional" in performance, pretty warm, but very detailed, soundstage is much better...bass is much more controlled and punchy...and overall the cards seems to add nice warm timbre to the HD558 headphones.  That card also has a headphone amp inside (although it doesnt say it has it in any review, it clearly says its got a headphone amp in manual),   so it manages to run the HD558's extremelly easily. I actually heard that it can run DT880's 600 ohm at high volumes.

Only after trying out that card (it was recommended to me in music shop after i returned the E7+E9) did i go and check what kind of components it actually has built in....all high quality, the kind of stuff put into external DAC's that cost 3-4 times more.

So, my recommendation is, if you use your MAC as the source, and dont want to spend 500$ on amp/dac, soundcard is the best solution.

However, as i said, you have a MAC,   and i think Asus doesnt have driver support for Mac...so you might wanna try some other card like M-audio audiophile 2496....

Honestly i really couldnt disagree more....i have used the Asus Xonar essence ST for 6 months with the senny hd598's, and when i sold my pc i picked up the e7+e9 combo.

For starters there is a distinct increase in performance with the e9 added to the e7....more weight to the bottom end, more soundstage, better seperation, and more detail....just a distinctly more refined sound.

If asked whats better between the Asus essence and e7+e9, i would say the essence nudges it ONLY due to a better DAC.....

However the d2x isnt the same model, and isnt as good as the essence models for headphones(had the xonar d2 at the end of 2008 and while decent enough wasnt a patch on the essence....and the e7+e9.

So i guess it fuels the argument that opinions are like arseholes....we all have one.

One thing is for certain though.....while they are quite good unamped, there are DEFINATE benefits to amping the hd598.

 I owned the HD598. Going from unamped to E7 was a big leap. Going from the E7 to the E7+E9 was an even bigger leap.

I think it's absolutely untrue about the HD598 not needing an amp. I found them to be quite insensitive. They needed about as much power on my E9 as my 600ohm Beyers, IMHO. They sounded lifeless to without an amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

They needed about as much power on my E9 as my 600ohm Beyers, IMHO. They sounded lifeless to without an amp.

I wholeheartedly agree on this...i listen to my hd598's on the high gain setting on the e9(supposed to be for 300ohm+ cans). Not only does it obviously increase volume at lower sound levels.....but imo also adds a layer of texture to the sound which isnt as distinct at lower gain, but at same volume levels.

I honestly felt like the d2x sounded better than e7 in just about every aspect, it just felt like an improvement after installing the card, especially in games and movies, where the difference in detail was HUGE between d2x and e7+e9.  I havent tried the xonar as source with e9 amp though, since i returned the e7+e9 before actually buying the xonar, and naturally i didnt do any A-B testing. I simply felt that Asus Xonar was sufficient (as the bass felt punchy, sound was clear, and volume was high enough) for running the Hd558 so i decided to stick with it instead.  

I was not impressed with e7+e9, and xonar impressed me when i listened to music, but i admit that a big part of what i said in my original post..."That sound card also blows E7+E9 out of the water in just about everything"  was a bit exaggerated. I probably should have said:  "They play music about the same, but Xonar blows e7 + e9 out of the water in features, and sound in games/movies". 

The headphones were still new then, not burned in at all, and not modded to 598 yet, so maybe those things effect how much an amp improves the sound..i dont know.  I also havent used ASIO with e7 + e9, and D2x has ASIO drivers included, which probably affected the sound a little bit as well.

Also, I have to admit that my HD558 headphones sound kind of lifeless with more complex and faster music... hmmm im gonna go and take only the E9 (or some other amp in price range) for one more demo to see how it acts with D2X as a source, which is IMHO a much better DAC than E7, on paper, as well as in reality, so maybe it will sound better than e7+e9.

Probably because the amps in all xonar cards colour the sound a bit(it did in my essence ST)....where as the fiio combo is neutral.

At first this very thing struck me, but after an extended listen i was left totally impressed by the e7/e9. Functionality wise it also cannot be knocked.

I just got the 598, I'm running it out of onboard sound and it seems a bit boring and slow, will an amp be able to fix this or should I send it back and go for a different pair of cans, some Beyers maybe? 

i strongly agree with all the opinions here, i recently sold my stx and im regretting it so much

its such a good all in one package, headphone amp drives my 650 extremely loud, the texas instrument dac is so clear and the stereo red white rca plugs at the back connects directly to external amp and bookshelf speakers

stx def holds up to an external dac/amp

and for upgrading this soundcard will be a HUGE improvement to ur existing headphones

Quote:

Originally Posted by MohawkUS 

I just got the 598, I'm running it out of onboard sound and it seems a bit boring and slow, will an amp be able to fix this or should I send it back and go for a different pair of cans, some Beyers maybe? 

Please dont judge the hd598 by the standard of onboard audio amplification.......that can be diabolical>plain bad.


You will be in need of something like possibly a ibasso d4(because they are on sale/offer from ibasso right now), or fiio e7/e9, or if using a full size pc then maybe an asus xonar essence ST/STX.


The difference should be night and day......although also give the cans a chance to loosen off/burn in properly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleEgg 

Please dont judge the hd598 by the standard of onboard audio amplification.......that can be diabolical>plain bad.


You will be in need of something like possibly a ibasso d4(because they are on sale/offer from ibasso right now), or fiio e7/e9, or if using a full size pc then maybe an asus xonar essence ST/STX.


The difference should be night and day......although also give the cans a chance to loosen off/burn in properly.

Your right, I was a little hasty to judge, I do have an Essence, but I don't have access to it at the moment, I do have access to a 20-30 year old Sony CD player though, all I know is that it has some kind of pre-amp(sounds better than onboard, but not as good as Essence), anyway, these cans are getting better with burn in, but on certain bass/electric guitar notes I'm getting a face full of grain, anyway don't sound quite as slow or lifeless anymore, but I'm thinking they may have too much bass for my tastes, I don't want to know how much they will have with good amplification!  Are there any other good choices in this price range for black/folk/doom metal? I can't go back to Grado after hearing the soundstage these can put out. 

The HD598 definitely needs amping. It sounds so weak unamped, IMHO.