What should my next upgrade be?

Well, I will try to help out. What is your budget, and what do you listen to, and waht do you want out of a pair of headphones?

hahaha, OK well you answered half of my questions already. Well if you want to go to a closed can check out the Audio Technica m50. They don't need an amp, have a decent soundstage for a closed can, and good punchy bass that is not overpowering. Under $200 retail. If you want to stay open give the Senn HD558 a look. nice punchy bass, with good extension (when amped properly) but the bass quantity is not huge. Good soundstage, smooth mids and nice highs. Also you could give Beyerdynamic a look, esp. the DT880-990 series. The 990's from what i have heard are quite bassy, but are still open, very comfortable and have slightly recessed mids. The 880's appear to be more flat. If you go this route though, get the 250 or 600 ohm versions. Just be warned that they WILL need amplifcation to sound at their prime. 

Oh, and the mixamp is NOT a real headphone amp. Getting an E9 would be a great start as its a fairly cheap SS amp that has a reasonable amount of power that would even be able to drive the beyers fairly well. If you want to get into hig end 'phones though, be sure to invest in a decent amp from the start, like the E9, as it will serve as a nice platform to build on.

Sorry if I make your wallet cry 

The asgard is a great amp, and it is very future proof. may be the last amp you buy for a long time. The DAC destroyer should work fine with it for now, but if you like schiit, I would strongly suggest getting the bifrost DAC as your next upgrade after an amp. With the bifrost and the asgard, you could pretty much handle any headphone you want. 

If I were you I would get the asgard, then the bifrost, then new phones.

Just my $0.02 

The Asgard is a SS, the Valhalla is an OTL tube amp. OTL's work better with high impedance headphones, even though it is rated for lower (down to 32ohm). Neither of these are inherently better than one another, but they do specific things better. I have a Valhalla because I use higher impedance headphones (DT990 600ohm), but if I used cans like Grado or other low impedance headphones, I would have picked the Asgard.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakebake 

 

thank you.. that is what I was thinking. Do you know if the asgard is tube or ss? I know the valhalla is tube. How much better is the valhalla over the asgard

Quote:

Originally Posted by Connnorrr 

The Asgard is a SS, the Valhalla is an OTL tube amp. OTL's work better with high impedance headphones, even though it is rated for lower (down to 32ohm). Neither of these are inherently better than one another, but they do specific things better. I have a Valhalla because I use higher impedance headphones (DT990 600ohm), but if I used cans like Grado or other low impedance headphones, I would have picked the Asgard.
 

 

But that's not to say that the asgard won't drive higher Imp. cans either, the asgard apparently works quite well with the beyers. I myself like tubes because you can change out tubes to get dif. sounds from the amp. But needless to say, they are both great amps, and you would be pretty happy either way, at least I would. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakebake 

yeah i have always loved tubes (i am coming from being a guitar player for a long time where tubes are king). I was thinking about getting the akg  q701's for my next pair of phones but was reading that they don't go well with tubes. 

Huh, I have never heard that, but whatever. But be warned, If you want more bass, DONT get the akg's. They are more treble oriented and don't have a whole lot of bass IMHO. Also, give the sennheiser hd600/650 a look too seeming as they are in your price range $200-$500 dep. on where you look. But yeah, the q701's are kind of a love/hate thing.