[DrMurali1985]

Hello Head-Fi forums!
 
I was wondering if I could get some advice from you guys.
 
Recently got hold of a pair of AKG K702s and am absolutely in love with them so far, but now (as expected) need something a little more substantial to drive them. My sources included high bitrate AACs from iTunes as well as 24bit FLAC files from my Mac and iOS devices. 
 
Was taking a look at a few DACs and was hoping to get some advice or suggestions on what would be a good match for the K702s. I have a budget of about £200-400 and was hoping to get the most bang for my buck.
 
I was taking a look at the following
 
Onkyo DAC-HA200
Onkyo DAC-HA300
Sony PHA-2
iFi iDSD micro
 
I quite like the Onkyo DAC-HA300 probably due to the fact it can be used as a standalone player as well as a DAC/Headphone Amp.
 
Thanks for your help
 
Murali

 

[cel4145]

I'd recommend the Audio-GD NFB-11 or NFB-15 for your computer. These units will have more power than portable devices in your price range.

For portable use, keep in mind that the AKG K702 are difficult to drive and really need more than your average portable amp/dac will provide. A Fiio E12 or Cayin C5 headphone amp could be a good choice to drive your headphones with your portable devices.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Check out the FiiO X5 Gen II (sells for around 225 GBP)
http://www.head-fi.org/t/765943/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-impressions-and-discussion-tour-application-megathread

 

[DrMurali1985]

Thanks for your suggestions!
 
As much as it's a tall order, are there any devices that I can use for both my iOS devices as well as my Mac? I would quite like to keep things all digital if possible rather than going iOS device's DAC through to a headphone amplifier.
 
Or does this make minimal difference?

 

[cel4145]

iOS devices can be problematic: http://blog.jdslabs.com/?p=838

 

[DrMurali1985]

Oh yes, it seem that the USB power requirements seem to be a bit of a problem. Followed the link you posted from JDS Labs and the unreleased Element looks very compelling.. https://www.jdslabs.com/products/151/the-element/

 

[DrMurali1985]

Had a feeling that finding something for an iOS device was going to be problematic. In terms of something for the desktop, I followed your link and started looking JDS Lab's Element. That looks really compelling

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
As much as it's a tall order, are there any devices that I can use for both my iOS devices as well as my Mac? I would quite like to keep things all digital if possible rather than going iOS device's DAC through to a headphone amplifier.
 
Or does this make minimal difference?

 

Many newer iOS devices running iOS7 and up can work with some DACs as long as you have the CCK-USB adapter they don't require the host device (which in this case is the iOS device) to power them beyond what it can deliver. The problem is how you hook these all up - both the phone and the laptop will be on the USB input. So unless your Mac still has the optical output function via the 3.5mm headphone output, you're going to have to disconnect and reconnect the USB-A end of the cable between the Mac and the CCK-USB adapter on the iOS device.

 

That said, as much as it's convenient and uses less power, storage is an issue on iOS devices unless you buy the 64gb and 128gb models (and actually fill them with music instead of apps); some wireless solutions can't do lossless either (some can't even do 320kbps initially, but that might not be as much of an issue now). Basically, you might be better off just using the Mac.

 

I used to use my iPad for that and didn't mind shuffling music around since it's such a convenient interface, but then iOS6.3.1 happened and took away the USB audio function so I started using my SGS3, which can do the same using USB-OTG and has a 64gb microSD card.