[Guides]

Hello there, I need your help. I want a portable amp to drive pretty easy headphone (sennheiser HD 380 & HD598). I currently looking for a FiiO E12, DragonFly USB or a combo Schiit Audio Modi 2 Uber and Magni 2 Uber. I mostly listened music on the go, at school or at home. On a normal day I listen about 6 hours easy of music/vidéos. I listen to High quality music files, either cd quality or above (24bits/192). Should I get a headphone amp + a desktop dac/amp (not really portable) or a good combo portable. And i will maybe use the dac with my NAD home setup.
 
My current setup:
 
Sennheiser HD380 pro, HD598
2 Ipod Classic 160 GB (can't tell the generation)
A desktop with in-board sound card
A NAD T751 receiver
A NAD 513 CD player
Epos epic 5
Epos ELS3
 
 
My needs:
 
1  headphone amp on the go
1 desktop dac 
Or a combo of the above
 
Budget:
 
200$ and less for a headphone amp portable
Can go up to 400 $ for dac not so portable
 
 
Thank you in advance

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Hello there, I need your help. I want a portable amp to drive pretty easy headphone (sennheiser HD 380 & HD598). I currently looking for a FiiO E12, DragonFly USB or a combo Schiit Audio Modi 2 Uber and Magni 2 Uber. I mostly listened music on the go, at school or at home. On a normal day I listen about 6 hours easy of music/vidéos. I listen to High quality music files, either cd quality or above (24bits/192). Should I get a headphone amp + a desktop dac/amp (not really portable) or a good combo portable. And i will maybe use the dac with my NAD home setup.
 
My current setup:
 
Sennheiser HD380 pro, HD598
2 Ipod Classic 160 GB (can't tell the generation)
A desktop with in-board sound card
A NAD T751 receiver
A NAD 513 CD player
Epos epic 5
Epos ELS3
 
 
My needs:
 
1  headphone amp on the go
1 desktop dac 
Or a combo of the above
 
Budget:
 
200$ and less for a headphone amp portable
Can go up to 400 $ for dac not so portable

 

I'd much rather spend $400 to $500 on a desktop HPamp or DAC-HPamp and then $100 to $200 on a portable IEM to use on the go. Look up the AudioGD NFB-11 for the first and then there's the likes of the Fender FXA-2 for the latter. If you'd do a lot more research it should be on the latter though - the NFB-11 is more widely known as a solid amp with great DAC and digital inputs (plus selectable output) that will handle just about any headphone you might upgrade to in the future, while the IEMs might not necessarily be your preferred sound out of the box. That said I have the ASG-1.3 (back before Aurisonics was absorbed by Fender to be their IEM unit) and while I'm not that much of a fan of the default sound, EQ correction is really easy as it doesn't have any narrow peaks/valleys in the response.

 

[Guides]

I'll definitely take a look a desktop amp so, and get a mobile amp like maybe the Apogee Groove for the portable use if i can use it for my ipod (get a 3.5mm adapter instead of the usb connection).