[homeboyjesus]

Dear fellow hi-fi enthsiasts,
 
Being new to high fidelity headphones I have been doing some serious research on DAC's and would like to solicit some advice from this amazing community. I recently purchased a pair of Sennheiser HD 598's that I will be pairing with a soon to be purchased Schiit Valhalla. I mostly have 24/96 Flac files I will be listening to from my MacBook Pro (either via USB or I can do optical out) and I'm having difficulty differentiating between all the DAC options. One other side-note is that the 598's are somewhat temporary as within two years I plan to upgrade them to a pair of HD 650's and I'm hoping to have a system that will excel for both.
 
In regards to the DAC I have mostly considered the Fiio E7, NuForce Icon uDAC2, and the Ibasso D4 "Mamba". I have read both that the E7 and uDAC2 use the same DAC and some who say as a stand alone DAC the uDAC2 sounds better. I'm not really sure what benefits the dual DAC of the D4 present however I know that model supports 24/96 where I read that the other two don't necessarily support it (again I'm somewhat confused on all this DAC excitement). I would prefer to keep my cost in the $200 price range but I'm not against going a bit outside that for a significant audio fidelity advantage.
 
I believe it also important to note my primary music tastes lie in classic rock; however I also enjoy some blues, jazz, and the occasional hip-hop or electronic track (I find I'm a sucker for some Daft Punk). I do use Amarra as my primary player and personally prefer an "EQ-less" experience. 
 
My question is what DAC do you recommend for my setup and why? Any input is greatly appreciated as I feel a bit lost in my search.

 

[Koolpep]

I can only recoomend the E7 and the icon HDP as DACs because I have them myself.
 
However, the E7 does not support 24/96, it will get downsampled to 16/48 via USB. It's also important that you purchase the L7 together with the E7 which gives you access to use the E7 purely as DAC. The L7 is a small box that adds a USB input to line-out 3.5mm to the bottom of the E7 using the E7s DAC and NOT it's amp. The Valhallas (supplied) cable goes into that box and you can enjoy them together.
 
I currently use the E7 in the office as DAC/amp and at home the Schiit Asgard with icon HDP (as DAC only via optical) with my HD598 and love the combination. I think you will love the Valhalla too, heard it recently at a friends house and it sounds really nice. Enjoy!!
 
Maybe you want to use the D3 from Fiio as a DAC, it supports optical in and 24/96 as well? Just a thought...

 

[Koolpep]

Hi!

I just bought a Schiit Valhalla used. So I can "experiment" with exactly the same setup that you have.

I will test the NuForce icon HDP as reference (via optical), the E7 via USB and the D3 via optical cable.

All connected to the Schiit Valhalla -> HD598 and let you know what the differences are. My feeling is that they might be smaller than I think...

 

[homeboyjesus]

Koolpep,
 
Thank you already for the input. I am extremely excited to hear your results, especially if the difference is quite minimal the D3 is an amazing price. I do love my 598's so far and once I have settled on the DAC I can spend more money on one of my favorite wallet draining activities!

 

[Koolpep]

Hi Guys,
 
due to some unforeseen appointments, I had to postpone my test a bit. Hope to get it done tomorrow evening. Will report.
 
So long,
K

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

and now?  Nothing? =/