[buestad]

I just purchased the AKG K550 after a long search. These will be a considerable update for my almost ten year old AKG K101. I will be using these at work connected to my PC which is a Dell Precision tower PC. I mostly listen to pop, rock, folk, jazz from the 90's up to now through Spotify.
 
I have looked into dac+amps as well such as Aune T1 or Z1, but is it worth the money? Aune seem to be a good choise because it is relatively cheap and good, and easy for me to get my hands on (local dealer)
 
A DIY kit would also be interesting. I built an integrated 2x100W mosfet amp at high school, so now many years after a headphone amp would be an interesting project

 

[buestad]

I will need a DAC. The PC sound is not good enaugh. The headphones sound better coming from my phone which is a HTC One S (with the Beats Audio thing turned off)
 
I have ordered the Aune T1 from eBay. It was cheap, and has had some good reviews

 

[p a t r i c k]

I find my K550s sound better with better amplifiers. They are easy to drive but like all high quality headphones I've used the better the source and the amplifier, the better the sound from the headphones.
 
I use my K550s with my Sugden Headmaster, for example, and the quality of the reproduction is extremely high indeed.
 
Even if headphones are easy to drive, they will still benefit from high quality amplification.
 
If a poor amplifier is losing the signal, then the headphones cannot replace it.

 

[buestad]

My PC can very well power the headphones. Thats not why I want an amp. The DAC part is. If I use the line in I still have to use my sound card for converting to analogue... **** in - **** out I'll guess...
 
The Sugden amp seems like a good amp, but it is expensive and has no DAC (if I'm not mistaking)
 
I didn't want to spend a lot on an amp. Maybe around 200-300USD. I hope the Aune T1 will be a good start and hopefully lift the quality of the sound quite a bit.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

My PC can very well power the headphones. Thats not why I want an amp. The DAC part is. If I use the line in I still have to use my sound card for converting to analogue... **** in - **** out I'll guess...
 
The Sugden amp seems like a good amp, but it is expensive and has no DAC (if I'm not mistaking)
 
I didn't want to spend a lot on an amp. Maybe around 200-300USD. I hope the Aune T1 will be a good start and hopefully lift the quality of the sound quite a bit.

 
 
If you want to, go for Asus Xonar Essence ST soundcard. You'll get a much better DAC / amp than anything else you can get for 200$, it will run the K550's with ease, and if you change the op-amps you can make it sound as good as some DAC/amp combos that cost 4-5 times more.

 

[buestad]

Good tip derbigpr! I have just briefly considered buying a new soundcard, and the Asus Xonar cards has come up. To bad I didn't check this out furter! but by looking inside my PC, I'm not sure if I can fit another PCI-e card. The video card is so big that it almost covers the two next slots...

 

[jono454]

Buddy has the K550 with the Fiio E9+E17. He says he doesn't really hear a difference. 

 

[buestad]

I ended up buying an Aune T1 from eBay. It was half the price of the local dealer.

 

[pclov3r]

I picked up a Audinst HUD-MX2 for $198 during the promo and IMO it improves the sound alot.

 

[jwang302]

I connect my K550 to the e17/e9k combo. There is more extension to the bass and there is more clarity.