[apaar123]

Do i need a dac along with amp or is a good amp enough? Will be using a mac and heard its dac is good but i have no idea. Also will be using some hard to drive headphones inlcuding argon mk3

 

[NA Blur]

If you use a MAC you are probably just fine with just an amp. The DAC's inside most MAC's are pretty good. If you ever use Windows you will want an external DAC. The system noise on windows PC's is notoriously noisy.

Ways to tell if your MAC is a decent DAC
1.) Does your setup get loud enough?
2.) Do you hear high-pitched noises "bleep-bloops" when you move your mouse?
3.) Do you hear skips on your music during long listening sessions?
4.) Do cymbals and chimes sound like they are not made of metal?

Those are just a few subjective ways to tell if a DAC is halfway decent.

Measurement wise you want a DAC that can do at least 16-bit, delivers little to no audible distortion to the DAC, and keeps jitter and frequency deviation to a minimum.

I tried to find some measurements for you. I cannot find anything readily available. Things to check are the frequency response, jitter, and of course output RMS voltage of the DAC. It will serve you the best if the RMS voltage is close to 2 volts. This is the standard for most amps and will give you plenty of headroom for your setup.