Can i expect a significant difference?

[Blaalad12]

Hey guys, Iam contemplating investing in a new amp/dac but iam unsure if it will be worth the money!! I currently have an aune t1 + genalex gold lion and it seems pretty decent to be fair, Its connected to my imac and i use spotify for most (but not all) of my listening and my headphones are the he500!!
 
Iam curious if upgrading the amp/dac would make a significant difference in terms of sound quality? My budget is around €300 - 400 which is i think is a decent amount of money (i could buy a decent pair of headphones for that) so iam wondering is an amp/dac worth it? Iam aware that the schit lyr/bifrost combo is supposed to be great with the he500 but the cost is just far too high, surely it cannot be worth more then the headphones cost themselves? 
 
What are your thoughts on expensive amps/dacs and do you feel upgrading would be worth it? What's to be expected (sound wise) buying a good amp/dac? 
 
Cheers as always guys  

 

[Gnomeplay]

Honestly I wouldn't really bother upgrading your source equipment with a $300 budget. The next thing you're probably going to be able to consider as a solid upgrade is going to be Lyr territory, and that's not considering the DAC. Let it be known that I've never heard the Aune, but I can't imagine you could do much more than sidegrade.
 
It's really not uncommon to have source equipment out price your headphones, that's actually the catalyst in most cases when you're considering a budget for a headphone rig. Personally my source equipment is around $2000 more than my headphones and I haven't even upgraded the DAC yet. 
 
An option you may want to look into that has had great results for a lot of members of the community is using a speaker amp. You could probably get out for around $450 including the amplifier, a DAC upgrade, and the cable/Speaker tap. I haven't tried it myself, but the reviews suggest that it would be a substantial upgrade. More information can be found here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/629352/he-500-lcd2-d5000-dt770-sr80-on-a-speaker-amp-emotiva-mini-x-a-100-project
 
Goodluck,
Jake

 

[Blaalad12]

Just out of curiosity however, lets say i could afford the lyr/bifrost combo..is it worth it? What will it do for the he500 that the aune t1 cant do, The price tag obviously suggests to me that it would be far superior (i know this is not always the case) but the aune t1 is relatively cheap so iam assuming the lyr/bifrost combo or even asgard/bifrost combo would be better but is the difference going to be night and say??

 

[formula1]

The Lyr puts 6w into the HE-500, it will be a noticeable difference. 

 

[Blaalad12]

If anyone is selling a schiit lyr in good condition for a reasonable price by the way, get in touch