[Stn.]

Currently own Dunu DN-1000s and planning to pick up a pair of 598s or Beyerdynamic cans in the near future.

What is the best value amp/DAC combo for $100-$300 that synergizes with headphones/IEMs in the $200-$500 range?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Currently own Dunu DN-1000s and planning to pick up a pair of 598s or Beyerdynamic cans in the near future.

What is the best value amp/DAC combo for $100-$300 that synergizes with headphones/IEMs in the $200-$500 range?

 
Kind of an open question.

 

[Stn.]

Kind of an open question.

How can I make it better? I tried to include the headphones I own now, my budget, and the general range of headphones I'll own in the future.

 

[peter123]

How can I make it better? I tried to include the headphones I own now, my budget, and the general range of headphones I'll own in the future.

What inputs do you need (optical, coaxial, USB, analog etc)?

Desktop or portable?

Battery, USB or wall powered?

What source(s) would you need it to be compatible with?

Answering the above questions will help a good deal in narrowing down suggestions.

 

[PurpleAngel]

How can I make it better? I tried to include the headphones I own now, my budget, and the general range of headphones I'll own in the future.

 
Lower impedance headphones are usually better paired with a solid state or maybe hybrid (tube/solid state) amplifier.
Higher impedance headphones can be used with a tube (or hybrid or solid state) headphone amplifier.
 
Beyerdynamic makes headphones from 16-Ohms to 600-Ohms, so that's a lot of possible choices there.
 
IEMs can be as low impedance as 10-Ohms, so you really want to use them with a soild state amplifer with a very low output impedance, like 1-Ohm or less.
 
And there are other factor that my tired brain is just not up to thinking about right now.

 

[Stn.]

Lower impedance headphones are usually better paired with a solid state or maybe hybrid (tube/solid state) amplifier.
Higher impedance headphones can be used with a tube (or hybrid or solid state) headphone amplifier.

Beyerdynamic makes headphones from 16-Ohms to 600-Ohms, so that's a lot of possible choices there.

IEMs can be as low impedance as 10-Ohms, so you really want to use them with a soild state amplifer with a very low output impedance, like 1-Ohm or less.

And there are other factor that my tired brain is just not up to thinking about right now.

I'm not exactly sure which model I'll get, but the fact that I've seen the 250ohm models on sale is what lead me to this amp search. I don't think I'll go above 250.

What inputs do you need (optical, coaxial, USB, analog etc)?

Desktop or portable?

Battery, USB or wall powered?

What source(s) would you need it to be compatible with?

Answering the above questions will help a good deal in narrowing down suggestions.

Desktop is fine, any power source will work, will be used with my laptop/phone.

Thanks for helping me ask better questions guys.

 

[buke9]

If you go 598's just about anything should run them at 50 ohm and 112 db sensitivity. 250 ohm Beyers will need a amp. Heard a pair of DT 880's out of my Bottlehead Crack a few weeks ago and they sounded very nice. There's many options to choose from.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm not exactly sure which model I'll get, but the fact that I've seen the 250-Ohm models on sale is what lead me to this amp search. I don't think I'll go above 250..

We can assume this setup is for music at least?
Any FPS gaming or movie watching?
 
Here are some used (250-Ohm) Beyerdynamic T90 headphones, $286 + $18 shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/162273067976?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
Darkvoice 336SE tube headphone amplifier, $240.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111988575354?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
DAC?
Asus Xonar DX or D1 sound card makes a decent DAC, for the price (used, $50?)
Next better setup might be a Schiit Modi DAC ($100-$150)
 
My current Win 7 PC setup is
Xonar DX > 336SE > T90
 
If you get the Beyer T90, guess you will have no reason for using your IEMs with the PC.