[marabouguy]

Hello.
 
Let me begin by saying I am a newb in regard to most of the audio stuff, barely started researching about DAC, headphones and so on, so bear with me

. I came into contact with this forum a couple of days ago and it seemed that there are alot of experienced people here, just like me, that try to achieve the best possible sound.
 
I recently bought an EMU 0404 and a pair of Sennheisers HD 650. The sound is beyond great, and the new headphones offered me a new perspective of sound and instruments....however I've encountered a problem along the way.
 
Apparently, to my disliking, the EMU cannot take certain songs to high enough sound volumes, which for me as an EDM listener is a  bigproblem. To this I have a couple of questions:
 
1) Not having a high enough volume, can this mean that the EMU 0404 does not provide a good quality for the HD 650?
 
2) What AMP would suit my needs at a resonable price? (up to 500€)
 
Thank you for taking your time reading this (and hopefully answering

 

[killkli]

First, what version of EMU0404 are you using?
USB version is quite different with PCI bus version, since USB version provide a headphone plug for monitoring.
The headphone plug is not very good and not very powerful, for normal headphone it might be sufficient but it's not enough for HD650.
 
As for PCI version, it's another matter. It only has two balanced 6.3mm out channel and it's for line-out not for driving headphones.
If you use some kind of adapter to combine the line-out to single end 6.3mm headphone plug for HD650, there should not be volume problem, 
since the line-out is of very high voltage value (about 2Vp-p I guess.) but the sound would be dry for certain since it's not for the kind of use.
 
All in all, EMU0404 is not suitable for driving HD650 alone, even if you're using it's USB version which has kind of headphone amp inside.
As for what headphone amp to use, there are many, M-stage is quite hot on the forum it seemed, and would be of very good value choose.
Schiit Assgard is also fine if you don't mind somewhat weaker vocal representation (but great in bass and electronic field.)

 

[saber8689]

Up to 500 euros eh? Look into a Woo Audio 3, or even the wood audio 6 if you can afford it.
 
For something cheaper the Little Dot MKIII or MKIV are worth considering.

 

[marabouguy]

Thanks for the replies. I use the USB version of EMU 0404. Except volume driving, is the EMU reliable quality-wise? And if not, what other source do you recommend? Thanks
 
 

 

[saber8689]

The emu 0404 is a pretty good DAC, there is no reason to replace it. You will see the largest gains in performance with a good amp.