Good Amp at around 100$ or less. Must be PC and Mobile Device Compatible.
Ibasso D-Zero sells for $99+shipping, works with PCs (I use it with my laptop) as well as Androids with USB audio via USB OTG (I use this as a transportable set-up around the house).
Although of course by next year something else might come up.
I've seen a number of FiiOs fit that description well.
Actually, not really. The Fiio E07 fits in the price range, but AFAIK it has problems with being used as a DAC for mobile devices. The Fiio E18 was designed as a DAC for Androids, although given the wide variety of Android versions with minute revisions per device manufacturer as well as carriers (ex. T-Mobile Galaxy Note has no USB audio, but the Verizon version does), it would be best to check first if your particular device is compatible.
Greetings! I am currently planning to buy an AKG K712 Pro when I go to the US next year (At least, if the current Amazon price stays the same).
I have heard that it needs an amp to get the best sound out of it, so I'm currently scouting for a good amp at around the 100 dollar price range.
Just a few notes on what you're about to pair up:
1)
These AKGs need gobs of clean, high current power. Unless its impedance doesn't swing as much as the K701/2 (it doesn't really swing
that much but if you're starting at 52ohms, that can be a handful for many amps) I'd doubt you can find a good enough amp (let along one with a DAC) for $100 for use with that headphone. With my own desktop amp, the Meier Corda Cantate.2, the x7xx cans wake up enough to be comaprable to the dynamics and bass impact of the HD600; however, put both on a Burson Soloist, and the HD600 doesn't sound by better, but the K701/Q701
really woke up it was like Dynaudios on powerful amps, with dynamics better than even a Grado on a good amp, and yet has a better soundstage image (a bit more out of the head, vocals clearly more forward in the center than guitars at the sides, etc) that these AKGs have over other headphones. What stopped me from upgrading? I didn't have $1500 for the Burson Conductor (which has a DAC, unlike the Soloist), and I didn't have the K701 anyway.
At a minimum I'd use the O2+ODAC, but aside from being outside your price range (and I personally don't like the layout of the sockets on these), people generally don't like how the O2 is too flat in response, as well as likely due to a smaller power supply it delivers less power and current than bigger amps, more noticeable on a headphone like the AKG K7xx than, say, on a Sennheiser HD580/600/650.
2)
Reviews regardign the E9/E09K. I only remember two reviews that said they liked it with the Fiio desktop amps. What's telling about those two reviews was that one of them only had his Discman to compare the E9 to, while the other was comparing it to the more transparent O2 amplifier.
3)
Fiio X3 driving the Q701 Quincy Jones. At a minimum, the cheapest DAC-HPamp (well, it's actually a portable player, but if hooked up via USB can function as such) that I liked with the Q701 was the Fiio X3; by sheer guessing, that should extend to the E17.
However, note two things about this. First, this is the Q version, and some noted that this one has a bit stronger bass response than the K version, likely due to the Q emblem partially blocking the rear of the driver, essentially making it less "open." it might not be as "flat," strictly speaking, but for some people that helps enough to make music enjoyable (and besides, it's the headphone's response, not the amp or DAC adding bass instead of a neutral, clean, powerful enough signal more useful for hearing what each headphone is really like). Second, if you get the X3 instead of a DAC-Amp, you get a portable player too, whose only disadvantage vs strapping a DAC-amp to a mobile device like a smartphone is that you'd hear calls coming in with the latter.
