[ocie]

I recently received the Massdrop x Beyerdynamic DT 177X GO and am finding I need to have my computer volume at ~100 for them to be loud enough. Thus, I'm looking into a DAC. Unfortunately, I have no experience with any kind of dac/amp and need some help.

I will be using these for general use - music/video/meetings/general computer audio, but my main focus is gaming. I ordered these as I read they were supposed to have good positional audio, etc., and have a closed back, which is a requirement in my household.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I am open to suggestions on other closed back headphones if you believe these may not be appropriate.

 

[bland125]

Hey there. The choice of DAC/amp is quite vast. Get a set that has all of the I/O you need, specially if you have speakers as well, you want your DAC and amp to have proper I/O some are USB powered while others need a wall plug. If you get separates (DAC and separate box amp), you will need interconnects as well. There are great offerings at <$200 or do from Schiit, iFi, JDS, Drop, SMSL, topping and more.

Your headphones are easy to drive on paper so you shouldn't have to worry about the power ratings too much.

 

[ocie]

Thanks! I didn't consider external speakers originally but after reading your comment am going for a schiit hel as it will drive external speakers when a headphone isn't plugged in

 

[bland125]

Great choice for sure!

 

[PurpleAngel]

I recently received the Massdrop x Beyerdynamic DT 177X GO and am finding I need to have my computer volume at ~100 for them to be loud enough. Thus, I'm looking into a DAC. Unfortunately, I have no experience with any kind of dac/amp and need some help.
I will be using these for general use - music/video/meetings/general computer audio, but my main focus is gaming. I ordered these as I read they were supposed to have good positional audio, etc., and have a closed back, which is a requirement in my household.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I am open to suggestions on other closed back headphones if you believe these may not be appropriate.

For FPS gaming, I would say to get the Creative Labs Sound BlasterX G6 or the Creative AE-5 (Internal) sound card.
If your not into FPS gaming, then a USB DAC/amp will do.
Another option is an optical input DAC/amp.
Run optical cable from your onboard audio to the optical input on the DAC/amp.
Then for $30, you can get Creative's X-Fi MB3 software, which processes headphone surround sound and can send that out thru the PC's optical jack.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Thanks! I didn't consider external speakers originally but after reading your comment am going for a schiit hel as it will drive external speakers when a headphone isn't plugged in

The Schiit Hel will not drive speakers (Itself), the Hel can send a line signal, to an amplifier (be it speaker amp, or another headphone amp) and that amplifier is connected to (passive) speakers (or headphones).
I guess when you plug headphones into the Hel, it stops sending a signal to the line-output jack,
unplug the headphones and the signal goes out the output jacks.