Denon AH-D2000/5000 with Fiio E7 as a DAC and a Fiio E9 as an amp?

While the Denons will sound good off the combo (currently using it for my D7000), technically, the 10ohm output impedance on the E9 doesn't pair up well with the low ohm Denons. Perhaps the E17 is the right Fiio amp/dac to use with the Denons, as it has a very low output impedance.

You can also get the Matrix M Stage USB version which is a DAC/AMP that should work well with the Denons (might be just a bit over $280 though). Audio GD NFB 12.1 is also another option.
Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 1/27/12 at 8:07am

That's what my Mixamp is for.

I use them seperately. The Mixamp is for gaming use only. It's $130 or so, though the extra accessories will put it close to $200. I need something like the Mixamp for virtual surround on all my headphones, which is a must for me. The Mixamp doesn't make a good non-gaming amp.

For my mic, I just use the microphone input on my computer.  You can set it up so that it uses your onboard mic jack for input and whatever USB DAC you have plugged in for output - that works fine for communication purposes (i.e. gaming, skype, etc).  If you're planning on making high quality Youtube videos or something like that, you might want something a little better.  I know nice audio input interfaces exist, but I don't really know much about them.  I've never seen anything above consumer-grade that combines the two though.
 

What do you mean "too small"?  It looks like a 1/4" jack to me.  Even if it was a 1/8" jack, there are plenty of 1/4" to 1/8" adapters for any headphones you have with a 1/4" plug.

Ah, an XLR input is what you need then.  Roland makes some decent USB audio interfaces with XLR inputs: http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=1166&ParentId=104

 

This one has a headphone out, though it says that the output impedance is 47 ohms, which is higher than you want with the D2000s.  The DAC in it is supposed to be excellent though, so you could probably hook it up to a good amp for your headphones.  They also have a very similar model with a Firewire input instead of USB.

Firewire is another input interface.  It's a tad faster than USB, but most computers don't have it.  Check the specs on your computer to see if you do.

 

I wouldn't recommend the E9 for the D2000.  It has an output impedance of 10 ohms, which is too close to the D2000's impedance of 18 ohms.  The Objective 2 (O2) is a really good amp and can be bought assembled for ~$150.  The only thing is, I'm not sure if the QuadCapture can be used with a separate amp.  Looking at the specs, it has a coaxial out, but I don't know of any amps that have a coaxial in besides home theater receivers, and two 1/4" TRS jacks that may or may not be linked to the mic inputs and may also be balanced, which wouldn't work that well for connecting to an amp.  You could probably get away with just using the Roland (the D2000 is really easy to drive), but you might notice some distortion, especially in the bass.

 

The distortion wouldn't be due to the QuadCapture being inexpensive - it's just not a good match for the D2000s.  I don't know how powerful the internal amp is, but if you got headphones with an impedance of 250 ohms+ and the amp was able to drive them, you probably wouldn't notice any distortion.

 

I don't know if there are any other options besides the Roland - I only knew about that one because someone mentioned having one on Head-Fi earlier.

 

Edit: Found a few others.

 

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (output impedance still isn't great, but better than the Roland or the E9): http://www.focusrite.com/products/audio_interfaces/scarlett_2i2/

 

M-Audio Fast Track II (has RCA outputs, so you can hook it up to a discrete amp for your headphones): http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrack.html

 

Tascam US-200 (also has RCA outputs): http://tascam.com/product/us-200/specifications/

 

Edited by LimeANite - 2/2/12 at 12:48pm