[Dark Leviathan]

I’m looking for an AMP or DAC for my headphones. I’m looking at the Schiit Magni 2 and Modi 2 setup. My budget is those two combined, ~$240. I’m asking because my motherboard is the ASUS Crosshairs VI Hero which has a binned ALC 1220 DAC on there. It sounds impressively good as an onboard DAC so I’m wondering if I can just forgo the Schiit DAC and just get the AMP. The headphones itself is 45ohms so it’s pretty easy to drive anyways. Should I just get the Schiit amp, amp+dac, or a more expensive amp alone? Don’t need anything crazy just something good for the HE560. Thanks

 

[ProtegeManiac]

The headphones itself is 45ohms so it’s pretty easy to drive anyways.

Low impedance that puts the load at the range where most amps make the most power doesn't make for "easy to drive." Most amps even if they make much more power at 32ohms than at 300ohms will still have an HD650 go a heck of a lot louder than a HE400i or HE560, which means you'd get to a sufficient or loud listening level with less power and much farther from clipping.

Not that the Magni2 will be totally insufficient, just that it will not have an easy time driving that vs any 300ohm headphone out there, and probably not even as much as the 600ohm T1.

I’m asking because my motherboard is the ASUS Crosshairs VI Hero which has a binned ALC 1220 DAC on there. It sounds impressively good as an onboard DAC so I’m wondering if I can just forgo the Schiit DAC and just get the AMP...Should I just get the Schiit amp, amp+dac, or a more expensive amp alone? Don’t need anything crazy just something good for the HE560. Thanks

You can do that, just hook up the amp to the FL+FR speaker output on the motherboard.

If anything the problem might be if you're using the headphone virtual surround DSP. Normally it comes out of the SPDIF output and headphone output, but sometimes not the speaker FL-FR output. So if you're using that, check your manual or tech support, otherwise you're gonna need the Modi2 Uber.