[Ygate]

Hi

I just bought the ahd2000 , I never owned a headphone amp before, is it worth it ?
I was looking at 200$ max
Portability is not an issue

 

[Timestretch]

I have heard a lot of good stuff about the fiio e7+e9.That, or perhaps one of the Icons from Nuforce will be suitable. Have you looked at all the amps/dacs in the head gear section of the website yet?

 

[Croozer]

In the $200 range it's gonna be hard to beat the FiiO E7/E9 combo.

 

[Ygate]

I haven't yet, I am new here
One thing though, I have a high end pc( built in sound card) is it worth paying that kind of money for an amp
Won't it be better to invest in a better head set?

 

[Timestretch]

You might not believe it, but an external DAC/amp makes a huge difference. No matter how nice of headphones you might get, they can only play the analog signal they receive. The headphone jack on a PC probably isn't putting out the cleanest, sharpest, fullest signal around - but a good dac/amp is putting out a good signal to your phones. Even on a high end machine, the speaker/headphone outputs and the digital/analog converters that precede them are going to be among the spots manufacturers like to skimp on. It won't sound "bad," not unless something is defective, but there is a huge difference between "OK" and "amazing," and a new dac/amp can definitely do amazing.   
  

 

[Sil3nce]

Anything from spending a couple of bucks on a vintage receiver to the solid states like the asgard.
The d2k isn't all that hard to drive anyways.

 

[Ygate]

Might get the E7 for now and see if it really does improve, from there I might upgrade to the E9

 

[Sil3nce]

Quote:

Might get the E7 for now and see if it really does improve, from there I might upgrade to the E9

I don't know why the fiio series are so widely raved about as an all-around choice for low-high impedance cans. 
The e7 sounds horrible with bass-mid centric cans like the denon d2ks.
But then again you can just use that as a dac.
Look into the fs amplification section and do more research on pairing.

 

[DaveLinx]

I agree with above, there are so many nice amps out there. Of course you need the dac too. For under $200, I might consider HiFiMan EF2A if you looking for tube amp. Or get the udac2 which can just be a decent dac in the future when (not if) you decide to upgrade to a better amp. Pretty sure there's not many better dacs for the price. Seen a few of those for $70 used. I had the udac2 and it was decent as amp as well. I really wanted a tube amp and ended up with Fournier DAC-1 for $240 and it has done wonders for my DT990's. I was looking for amps a few months ago and pretty much researched everything in the price range you're talking about. The E7 and E9 were pretty low on my list of dac/amp combos. That said, I've never heard them so I can't say how good they are. The last one, based on reviews I've read here that I would consider streaching for is the  Matrix M-Stage. Of course you need a dac for that one. The E7 offers some portability too right. So that could be a consideration. If it's just for desktop I might look further. Here's a picture of my dac/amp for $10 more than E7/E9 combo.
 
 

 

[Ygate]

I actually bought an Audinst HUD-mx, I heard a lot of good things about it
http://cgi.ebay.com/Audinst-HUD-mx1-Hi-Fi-USB-Audio-DAC_W0QQitemZ170587555249QQcategoryZ75518QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D1%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6624287725638974147

 

[VALIENTE]

For around $100, Fiio E9 is my recommendation, for around $200, the Matrix M-Stage.

 

[jronan2]

Where did you purchase that Fourier? Is there a website?

 

[DaveLinx]

I got it on Ebay. No website. Another Head-Fi member did a fairly comprehensive review of it under Fournier HTA amp for more information.
 
 
 
EDIT:
 
Sorry I was spelling it wrong. It's "Fournier" not "Fourier".