Dac Amp combo advice requested for HD800 S
Mar 8, 2019 at 4:46 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 21
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zblackwell

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Hi All,

I'm very new to the audiophile world. In fact up until about 3 months ago I had no idea what I was missing until I was invited to a friend's house who owned a pair of original HD800 cans. It was stunning how much better they were than my set of $350 "gaming" headphones.

To get to the point though, I'm requesting some advice on DAC and amp combos for the HD800 S headphones I've already bought. I've read a lot up until this point, but its really hard to decide. I'd like to keep the budget around $1000 USD for both. I had a co-worker recommend Schiit, but there seems to be a love/hate relationship with Schiit so I was going to avoid that brand. I'm set on using solid state, and in particular I like the Marantz HD-DAC1 and RME AD Converter ADI2DAC. Does any one have advice or experience with either of these with the HD800 S? Or other recommendations in a similar price range? I will be using these for gaming and listening to rock/rap/electronic genre's.
 
Mar 8, 2019 at 7:59 PM Post #2 of 21
Mar 8, 2019 at 9:40 PM Post #3 of 21
I would imagine a used original chord hugo would do you good. transportable and powerful and it still competes with most desktop amp and dac out there. I have one now and it drives my Ether C and Beyer T1.
 
Mar 9, 2019 at 6:02 AM Post #4 of 21
Chord Hugo is good. Else you can consider JDS Labs The Element or EL DAC + EL AMP stack. All of them pair well with HD800S
 
Mar 9, 2019 at 6:32 AM Post #5 of 21
Opinions will be divided about any brand. Whether it is Schiit, Audio-GD or Chord it doesn't matter. Some people don't like the sound of Sabre DACs while others do. Some think the AK4490 DACS are too soft. Some swear by R2R or Non over sampling. There's tons of options out there.

Best is to figure out what kind of sound you prefer and what works best with your headphones.

I personally would not recommend a portable chord dac for desktop use. I think there are better options out there for you headphones.
 
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Mar 9, 2019 at 1:43 PM Post #6 of 21
robert766 said:
Opinions will be divided about any brand. Whether it is Schiit, Audio-GD or Chord it doesn't matter. Some people don't like the sound of Sabre DACs while others do. Some think the AK4490 DACS are too soft. Some swear by R2R or Non over sampling. There's tons of options out there.
Best is to figure out what kind of sound you prefer and what works best with your headphones.
I personally would not recommend a portable chord dac for desktop use. I think there are better options out there for you headphones.
Click to expand...
Yep, there is a variety of good brands and models of headphone amplifiers and DACs.
 
Mar 9, 2019 at 4:57 PM Post #7 of 21
I second the Audio GD NFB 11.28. or the R2R The 11.28 and the HD800s is the combo I am listening to right now and I could not be happier. Audio GD is an incredible value and I honestly believe if you get something closer to $1000 there will be a very slight difference between that and the Audio GD. Since I am running the same setup please feel free to reach out with questions.
 
Mar 9, 2019 at 7:46 PM Post #8 of 21
Thanks for the input people. I hadn't heard of the Audio GD NFB 11.28 yet but I'll check it out. I'd also prefer to stick to a stationary dac/amp. I don't want to pay for it to be portable because that's a feature I won't be using.

What I really care about is an excellent sound stage and great bass notes. The RME AD Converter ADI2DAC was one of the the dac/amps that had extremely low frequency response so that's why I liked it. But I could also be very well confused, because I definitely do not know what all of these tech specs mean.
 
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Mar 9, 2019 at 8:56 PM Post #9 of 21
zblackwell said:
Thanks for the input people. I hadn't heard of the Audio GD NFB 11.28 yet but I'll check it out. I'd also prefer to stick to a stationary dac/amp. I don't want to pay for it to be portable because that's a feature I won't be using.
What I really care about is an excellent sound stage and great bass notes. The RME AD Converter ADI2DAC was one of the the dac/amps that had extremely low frequency response so that's why I liked it. But I could also be very well confused, because I definitely do not know what all of these tech specs mean.
Click to expand...
Sound stage and bass are are more dictated by the type of headphone you buy, not so much the DAC chip.
Or how good you are with EQ settings.
 
Mar 10, 2019 at 8:28 AM Post #10 of 21
PurpleAngel said:
Sound stage and bass are are more dictated by the type of headphone you buy, not so much the DAC chip.
Or how good you are with EQ settings.
Click to expand...
For bass I agree, although the amp plays a big role too. But for soundstage the DAC plays a huge role that’s one area where the Chord DACs are class leading
I’d also rec a used Hugo
 
Mar 10, 2019 at 9:20 AM Post #11 of 21
Class leading? What other amp/dac manufacturers have you compared chord products to? And what headphones did you use? What about the soundstage do you think is better? Wider, more depth, better imaging?
 
Mar 10, 2019 at 7:31 PM Post #13 of 21
Mar 11, 2019 at 11:55 AM Post #15 of 21
robert766 said:
Class leading? What other amp/dac manufacturers have you compared chord products to? And what headphones did you use? What about the soundstage do you think is better? Wider, more depth, better imaging?
Click to expand...

class leading in term of portable, are there better desktop amp/DAC? yes but Chord hugo is probaly king of portability, you really cant beat the power it possess for potable, not to mention how cool it is, I always get questions about that the hell is that but no one know what it is...I once left it at a munich(?) airport while I was charging it, thank god no one took it and the planes did not took off.
 
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