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Best headphone amp/dac under $300?

post #1 of 3
12/23/11 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 

Hello everybody,

 

I see many cheap Chinese headphone amps available at eBay now so it's hard to choose the best one for the noob like me.

 

What I need is a decent headphone amp with integrated DAC (or DAC with integrated amp :-)) to take optical signal and drive my Sennheiser HD590 headphones. I need a volume control on the front panel, and it has to be in the black metal case.

 

From what I've already read, I like a Zero DAC which is about $110 + shipping, it looks like exactly what I need, but many people write about various upgrade options for Zero DAC. Could I just add some extra bucks and get better DAC without that upgrade hassle? My budget limitation is $300 for now.

 

Thank you in advance,

Vitaly

 

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post #2 of 3
12/23/11 at 12:12pm
The iBasso D12, Fiio E9+E7, XM6 and iBasso D6 are recommended and they all sound great and can drive HD590.
Edited by ZARIM - 12/24/11 at 8:09pm
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post #3 of 3
12/23/11 at 12:28pm
Thread Starter 

ZARIM, XM6 doesn't have optical in.

 

All other amps are portable ones (well, E9 is an extension to the portable E7), are you sure that they sound better than desktop-based Zero DAC?

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