[Crell]

I'm about to buy some new headphones - likely the Hifiman Arya Organic.
I'll use these with my Uniti Nova when not using speakers, but I want a new amp setup in my office I can also plug the Arya's in to when I'm working.

Ignoring the price of the headphones, and with a budget of roughly £/eur 1000, I'm getting confused between DACs, amps and streamers. There's so much choice, I'm going round in circles watching various Youtube videos.

1. Main use case will be hi-res streaming from Tidal, Qobuz and streaming from Spotify to the Headphones.
2. Secondary use case (not that important) would be to connect a PC or Macbook pro
3. Third use case is to possibly hook up speakers in the future (not that important - but a nice to have).

I'll be accessing Tidal & Qobuz through their mobile apps or desktop clients primarily.

A) What Amps / DACs / Streamers would you suggest?
B) Do I need a DAC as well as a Headphone Amp?

Things I had on my options list so far:
Topping A70 Pro (Do I need a DAC ?)
Schiit Jotunheim 2 - the other models are really hard to get in the UK so ruled out Lyr+ and Mjolnir 3
Ifi Neo
Fiio k9 Pro ESS
Fiio R7
Hifiman EF600

Thanks in advance!

 

[msing539]

If you opt for a streamer, something to note is that they don't (easily) pass computer audio. In addition to music, I also use my computer for YouTube videos and Netflix, but everyone has a different use case. Some streamers you control with an app off your phone or tablet, some via your web browser, some directly on the device. From my experience, they can sound cleaner than being hooked up to your computer.

If you decide to run something off your computer, no streamer needed.

 

[spittis]

Not clear on why you would need a streamer - if you have a PC or Mac you can just run the streaming service apps there, and whatever other sources you want (YouTube etc), and you'd only need a DAC and headphone amplifier for which your budget is more than adequate, something like Topping A70 + D10 DAC would be a great place to start.

 

[Crell]

If you opt for a streamer, something to note is that they don't (easily) pass computer audio. In addition to music, I also use my computer for YouTube videos and Netflix, but everyone has a different use case. Some streamers you control with an app off your phone or tablet, some via your web browser, some directly on the device. From my experience, they can sound cleaner than being hooked up to your computer.

If you decide to run something off your computer, no streamer needed.

Thanks, useful to know. The main use case will just be for music streaming and I’m less bothered about streaming from the computers

 

[Crell]

Not clear on why you would need a streamer - if you have a PC or Mac you can just run the streaming service apps there, and whatever other sources you want (YouTube etc), and you'd only need a DAC and headphone amplifier for which your budget is more than adequate, something like Topping A70 + D10 DAC would be a great place to start.

Thanks, If I went the Topping route, could I use a mobile phone as the streaming source (would that be via Bluetooth as I don’t see a RJ45 port on them or WiFi capability ? )

Is there any loss of stream quality in using Bluetooth ?

Can I ask why is the DAC needed?

 

[spittis]

Thanks, If I went the Topping route, could I use a mobile phone as the streaming source (would that be via Bluetooth as I don’t see a RJ45 port on them or WiFi capability ? )

Is there any loss of stream quality in using Bluetooth ?

Can I ask why is the DAC needed?

You can use your phone as a source, usually that would be through the USB connection. So the phone connects to the DAC through USB, and the DAC connects to the amplifier with RCA cables (usually), and you connect your headphones to the amplifier.

The DAC (digital to analogue converter) converts the digitally stored/streamed data into an analogue signal which then is amplified in the amplifier to actually drive the headphones (drive = produce sound). A separate DAC is usually recommended, built in circuits on computers can be of inferior quality and come with noise issues, and modern phones usually don't have analogue audio outputs anyway, so you need a separate DAC in some form if your source is a phone. If the phone has a 3.5mm headphone output then it has a built in DAC and amplifier, but it most likely isn't adequate to power high-end headphones.

With DAC's you quickly open a whole can of worms when it comes to what a good DAC is and how much it costs, I personally do not believe there are audible differences between any descent DAC's, meaning they are audibly transparent, and my limited education in signal processing as an electrical engineer supports this. You will get very different viewpoints regarding this however, and some people spend a lot of time and money on testing different DAC's hunting for improvements. I'm just bringing this up in case you read other threads here, I always encourage people to form their own opinion. More expensive DAC's can have other features though that make them worth it compared to cheaper model, but e.g. the Topping D10 should already be audibly transparent, meaning you don't get better sound quality by spending more. With amplifiers it's more complicated, as they always impact the resulting sound at some level. Good solid state amplifiers are usually "neutral" and in a way transparent the same way a good DAC is (as long as the amp can provide adequate power), while a tube amplifier adds distortion and thus alter the sound more, sometimes this is wanted. There's a lot more to unpack and read about here if you're interested.

To get back to your question, are you still going to use this setup at home, despite your phone being the main source? Or would you benefit from having it being portable? If portability is of any value, I would recommend products like the Chord Mojo2, iFi xDSD Gryphon etc, which have both the DAC and amplifier in the same package, and they have a built in battery so you can use them on the go.

Regarding bluetooth, it's generally not used in stationary applications like this, and normal DAC or DAC&amp combos do not have a bluetooth connection, although the mentioned iFi Gryphon has it.

 

[Thomasr]

Is there any loss of stream quality in using Bluetooth

On paper, yes there is a difference. Bluetooth LDAC tops out at roughly 2/3 the bitrate of CD quality.

In practice, I struggle pretty hard to actually hear that difference. I stream via Bluetooth quite regularly when I can't be bothered messing around with a physical USB connection.

 

[BDalton]

I feel the same ..I mostly wear my iem's at the gym or work and just leave my phone off to the side. I have a iFi GoBlu that I use to bluetooth with .. I don't want that extra bulky bundle contraption in my pocket. I hear there is a better bit bluetooth coming soon that will be able to get the higher bit rate