300€ starter DAC+AMP or combo unit for HD660s
May 1, 2018 at 5:03 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 22
Oxnitron

Oxnitron

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Hello everyone :)

Explanation
I finally bought a high quality headphone with help from this community and in the end I decided to get the 660s.
I am very pleased with the headphone, it is very comfortable and sounds perfect for my taste (warm and no harsh treble).

I am however currently running them on my soundcard soundblaster AE-5.
While it sounds way better than from my smartphone I feel like a proper dac+amp or a combined unit will make them sound even better.

Questions
Does an external dac+amp in the 300€ range sound better than my soundcard?

Which dac+amp or combo unit should I get?

My current choices
Currently I am looking at the schiit stack and aune x1s.

The x1s actually seems to be the better choice for me because it supports dsd, has more inputs and outputs to chose from and it is cheaper (240€ compared to 290€ for the stack in my country).
The only downside seems to be the lower amp power which shouldnt be a problem for the 660s since they arent that hard to drive.
 
May 1, 2018 at 7:55 AM Post #3 of 22
Oscar-HiFi said:
JDS Labs OL DAC + O2 Amp stack would be great :)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately they arent easy to get in europe, if i import them it will cost me shipping and import fees and the only official distributor close is in germany and they ask 350€ without transport.
I also fear that it will be difficult to return them if the units have any issues.
However I can get the schiit stack for 290€ from the official europe site and the aune x1s for 240€ from their official site (both including transport)
 
May 1, 2018 at 8:01 AM Post #4 of 22
Oxnitron said:
Unfortunately they arent easy to get in europe, if i import them it will cost me shipping and import fees and the only official distributor close is in germany and they ask 350€ without transport.
I also fear that it will be difficult to return them if the units have any issues.
However I can get the schiit stack for 290€ from the official europe site and the aune x1s for 240€ from their official site (both including transport)
Click to expand...

Stock is on it's way to the UK though... :D be patient
 
May 1, 2018 at 8:16 AM Post #6 of 22
Oxnitron said:
Amazon uk or what do you mean? As far as i can see jdslabs has no official distributor in the uk

What about other options like the ifi nano iDSD Black Label (240€) ?
Or smsl stuff (which i havent really compared because they already kinda feel cheap looking at xD)
Maybe fiio ?
Click to expand...

Only a handful of their products will be on Amazon, we signed a dealership agreement with them and stock is arriving tomorrow I think :)

Nano iDSD Black Label is excellent, but if you are mainly going to be listening at your desk I would pick a stack/desktop oriented DAC/Amp.
 
May 1, 2018 at 8:26 AM Post #7 of 22
Oxnitron said:
Hello everyone :)

Explanation
I finally bought a high quality headphone with help from this community and in the end I decided to get the 660s.
I am very pleased with the headphone, it is very comfortable and sounds perfect for my taste (warm and no harsh treble).

I am however currently running them on my soundcard soundblaster AE-5.
While it sounds way better than from my smartphone I feel like a proper dac+amp or a combined unit will make them sound even better.

Questions
Does an external dac+amp in the 300€ range sound better than my soundcard?

Which dac+amp or combo unit should I get?

My current choices
Currently I am looking at the schiit stack and aune x1s.

The x1s actually seems to be the better choice for me because it supports dsd, has more inputs and outputs to chose from and it is cheaper (240€ compared to 290€ for the stack in my country).
The only downside seems to be the lower amp power which shouldnt be a problem for the 660s since they arent that hard to drive.
Click to expand...

Topping D3 as dac, schiit magni 2. I live in Europe too and I could find them easily, agree about jds..
 
May 2, 2018 at 2:50 AM Post #8 of 22
I would suggest JDS Lab O2 plus ODac too. But too bad the shipping fee make it over budget for you. They are amazing :)
 
Last edited:
May 3, 2018 at 9:02 PM Post #11 of 22
May 4, 2018 at 11:01 AM Post #12 of 22
Oxnitron said:
Since most here seem to reccomend the O2+Odac, i have to ask:
How do they compare to the schiit stack and aune x1s?
Click to expand...

Only tried the first gen Magni+Modi. O2+ODAC slightly brighter but not necessarily ear piercing; also quieter, but by the time you get noise on the Magni, it's practically already too loud anyway, although if you're using a lower sensitivity headphone the Magni can go louder.
 
May 5, 2018 at 12:09 AM Post #13 of 22
The modern day Schiit stack (Modi Multibit + Magni 3) is a step above the ODAC/O2 due to the multibit DAC and better power output of the Magni 3. No idea if either are a good pairing for the HD 660S though, I'd guess they're not as they aren't ideal for 150ohm headphones and I fear they'd be a sonic mismatch as well.
 
May 5, 2018 at 10:30 PM Post #14 of 22
Oxnitron said:
Hello everyone :)

Explanation
I finally bought a high quality headphone with help from this community and in the end I decided to get the 660s.
I am very pleased with the headphone, it is very comfortable and sounds perfect for my taste (warm and no harsh treble).

I am however currently running them on my soundcard soundblaster AE-5.
While it sounds way better than from my smartphone I feel like a proper dac+amp or a combined unit will make them sound even better.

Questions
Does an external dac+amp in the 300€ range sound better than my soundcard?

Which dac+amp or combo unit should I get?

My current choices
Currently I am looking at the schiit stack and aune x1s.

The x1s actually seems to be the better choice for me because it supports dsd, has more inputs and outputs to chose from and it is cheaper (240€ compared to 290€ for the stack in my country).
The only downside seems to be the lower amp power which shouldnt be a problem for the 660s since they arent that hard to drive.
Click to expand...
If your willing to up your DAC/amp budget (like another 30 Euros).
Audio-GD NFB-11.28 DAC/amp
http://audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFN1128/NFB1128EN.htm
 
May 7, 2018 at 7:40 AM Post #15 of 22
The HD660 is profiting from a powerful amp, the magni3 has plenty of Power, I would recommend it over the O2. The Aune X1s has 200mW at 300Ohm, is quiet good. It will probably also be
a good match.
 
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