[csmx123]

Currently I use my 32 ohm DT880 on my Mac Mini. How do I improve sound qualities?

 

[AutumnCrown]

A DAC or Amp or combined DAC/amp will improve sound quality over the headphone jack of the mac mini. These range in price from less than $50 to over $1000. You generally get what you pay for in terms of sound quality. Almost anything will be an improvement over the one in the mac. The Schiit Fulla and Geekout V2, at $90 and $300 respectively, are good places to start looking.

 

[serman005]

You should read about DAC/amps and ought to consider upgrading your cans--the single best improvement in any system comes from improving the headphone component. That said, your hadphones are very good and you would have to spend a fair amount of money to better them. Thus, for you, the most cost-efficient method of improvement would likely be a DAC/amp setup. In addition to the Fulla and Geekout mentioned, you should look at the FiiO products. If you want to spend less money and want portable, the E17K is a good starting place.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Currently I use my 32 ohm DT880 on my Mac Mini. How do I improve sound qualities?

 
Apple products usually come with decent built in audio hardware.
A Schiit Fulla ($90) might make a a good value for trying to improving audio quality.

 

[Mr Head P Hones]

The fiio e10k or bravo v2 would be a good option to get the most out of those headphones

 

[techboy]

Honestly, USD 100 amp/DACs won't improve your Apple gear. They might even be worse. Or at most about equal. You need to raise your budget.

 

[csmx123]

Honestly, USD 100 amp/DACs won't improve your Apple gear. They might even be worse. Or at most about equal. You need to raise your budget.

how much do I need to spend in order to get the best sound quality?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Currently I use my 32 ohm DT880 on my Mac Mini. How do I improve sound qualities?

 
Get a DAC-HPamp but given how Macs have decent enough audio hardware for anything with reasonable impedance and sensitivity, most cheaper stuff might not make much of an improvement (and that's even if you can perceive such improvements). I have an Ibasso D-Zero and for the most part if it was just how much tighter the bass is and how much smoother high frequencies are I wouldn't bother lugging it around with my laptop, but what I really use it for at work the convenient volume slider (ex. depending on workload, my Win7 AMD APU laptop  doesn't respond quickly to hotkey inputs).

 

[techboy]

how much do I need to spend in order to get the best sound quality?

At the very very minimum an IFi Micro iDSD or Chord Mojo. Preferably a tube/hybrid amp like Project Ember II or Schiit Lyr or SS like Project Polaris. With the last three amps, you can avoid having an external DAC as the iMac DAC is anyway pretty good.

 

[cel4145]

Here you go. JDS Labs Element: https://www.jdslabs.com/products/151/the-element/. Nice dac/amp that will work well with a variety of headphones should you ever decide to upgrade.

But as the others have pointed out, best SQ upgrade comes from upgrading headphones. However, if you are into the hobby and see yourself buying more headphones in the future, I see no reason not to go ahead and get an external DAC/amp now in anticipation of that.