[Arin7]

So what's your budget? Perhaps some of us here could suggest an alternative to a sound card that doesn't cost a kidney. Because I can't afford something like the WA7 either . I will say that I've got a TEAC AI-301DA (mine has headphone and speaker outputs as well as BT, but the UD-301 I think is the equivalent for solely headphone use) and it pairs very well with the HD600. Bought mine used in like new condition from Hifi Heaven for a tad over $300.

My budget is around $200 for sometime I was considering Schiit magni/modi stack but I am not sure how it'll work out.

 

[Arin7]

Highs in general take much less power/energy than lower frequencies to reproduce. If you're hearing brightness, it could be that it's being UNDER-driven.

My 20 year-old Stax SRM-1 energiser (read: amp) sounds bright to me, but I attribute it at least in part to age, and think my particular unit may need to have the capacitors replaced. My 1 year-old 353X energiser sounds fuller to my ears. What I hear as brightness in my SRM-1 may in fact be the opposite, a lack of adequate power to the lower frequencies.

THank you for the interesting tip! I heard SB Zx headphone output has a 21 ohms of power, odd enough I can't find it on official spec sheet, and as I was asking around some people said the less the output impedance the better it should be something around 6 ohms or even less like 4, but to be honest with you I dont understand what they mean by impedance of the output itself maybe it's too technical for me.

 

[Midgetguy]

My budget is around $200 for sometime I was considering Schiit magni/modi stack but I am not sure how it'll work out.

Not as high as I had hoped (honestly, hoped my TEAC unit was within budget as I'd have recommended that ), but plenty to get something good. The Schiit stack is a good route, always has been. Equally good route in my experience has been a pair of Chinese products I still have and will use again sometime: Topping D20 DAC and SMSL sApII Pro. The D20's been succeeded by the D30, but I don't think it's that much different. At the very least, if price is very much a consideration, there's a seller on Amazon with the D20 $81 shipped from Hong Kong while the D30 is about $120. sApII Pro hovers around $70 and offers up a ton of power as well. Near as I could tell when I was running this setup (haven't used it for a while now because of the TEAC), the D20 was very clear and flat and the sApII Pro did nothing to alter that.

 

[DavidA]

THank you for the interesting tip! I heard SB Zx headphone output has a 21 ohms of power, odd enough I can't find it on official spec sheet, and as I was asking around some people said the less the output impedance the better it should be something around 6 ohms or even less like 4, but to be honest with you I dont understand what they mean by impedance of the output itself maybe it's too technical for me.

Impedance is a rating for both the headphone and amp output, for the HD600 its impedance is 300ohms and what is normally recommended is a amp with an output impedance of 1/8 the headphone's rated impedance so there is a good damping factor (control of the speaker movement). If you do a search on speaker impedance you'll find quite a bit of info and with some headphones getting the impedance matched to the headphones will make a difference in how they sound together. With that said many like a OTL (type of amp design - tube amp like a BH Crack) that usually have output impedances quite a bit higher, 60-120ohms, that pair quite well with headphones like the HD600. One of the cheaper ways to find out how impedance matching affects the sound is an amp like a Project Sunrise or other amp from Garage 1217 since these amps let you adjust the output impedance without having to turn them off and since its only one tube its a economical way to experience a tube amp. These amps are just a bit over your budget but I'd recommend saving a bit since they offer a much more flexible design that you can easily tune the amp to match any headphone.

I also like @Midgetguy suggestion of the Teac AI-301DA (I have the UD-301 that he mentioned and also have the AH-01, older version of the AI-301), great all in one solution. The Magni3/Modi setup is decent but I save a bit for either the Modi MB or Modi2uber since they offer optical and coax in addition to USB which will give you more flexibility in connections.

 

[Pahani]

THank you for the interesting tip! I heard SB Zx headphone output has a 21 ohms of power, odd enough I can't find it on official spec sheet, and as I was asking around some people said the less the output impedance the better it should be something around 6 ohms or even less like 4, but to be honest with you I dont understand what they mean by impedance of the output itself maybe it's too technical for me.

You are very welcome! I take it for granted that people know lower frequencies are more power-hungry, and fail to mention it often.

An illustration is my (very limited) knowledge of what the crazy 2-ch Speaker guys do.

1. Firstly, they remove any internal crossover which may be inside the speaker, and build their own, custom crossover network for each speaker, which is located OUTSIDE the speaker. The crossover may be 2-way (tweeter/midrange), 3-way (tweeter/midrange/woofer), or whatever matches their particular speaker configuration.
2. You would think they then run a Stereo amp and call it good. No, they prefer to run a Monoblock (single channel) amp to each speaker.
3. The truly crazy will go a (very costly) step further, running a Monoblock amp for each output of their custom crossover! i.e. if they have a 3-way external crossover, they may run 3 separate Monoblock amps. PER SPEAKER. 6 amps total.....
4. They then tune each amp's power level manually so the full-range sounds integrates and blends seamlessly. This is where the relation between the different power demands of tweeters and woofers comes into play. I'm making big assumptions here, but I assume they tune the lower frequencies first and take it to just below clipping, then "walk up" the frequency range and tune the other amps to SPL-match the woofer's output.

I am most assuredly NOT one of those people, and my knowledge is limited only to basic reading on the subject. Others could have actual experience and/or vastly superior knowledge to mine. My speaker knowledge is limited to my current 7.2.4 channel Atmos setup, which is a completely different animal. And again, even there my knowledge may well be easily surpassed by others, but I'm learning

 

[Midgetguy]

Impedance is a rating for both the headphone and amp output, for the HD600 its impedance is 300ohms and what is normally recommended is a amp with an output impedance of 1/8 the headphone's rated impedance so there is a good damping factor (control of the speaker movement). If you do a search on speaker impedance you'll find quite a bit of info and with some headphones getting the impedance matched to the headphones will make a difference in how they sound together. With that said many like a OTL (type of amp design - tube amp like a BH Crack) that usually have output impedances quite a bit higher, 60-120ohms, that pair quite well with headphones like the HD600. One of the cheaper ways to find out how impedance matching affects the sound is an amp like a Project Sunrise or other amp from Garage 1217 since these amps let you adjust the output impedance without having to turn them off and since its only one tube its a economical way to experience a tube amp. These amps are just a bit over your budget but I'd recommend saving a bit since they offer a much more flexible design that you can easily tune the amp to match any headphone.

I also like @Midgetguy suggestion of the Teac AI-301DA (I have the UD-301 that he mentioned and also have the AH-01, older version of the AI-301), great all in one solution. The Magni3/Modi setup is decent but I save a bit for either the Modi MB or Modi2uber since they offer optical and coax in addition to USB which will give you more flexibility in connections.

Hence the recommendation of the Topping/SMSL stack I previously used too. The Topping D20 doesn't cost much and it has USB, optical, and coax inputs. Clean sound too, very good product.

 

[god-bluff]

You can get a Musical Fidelity V90 HPA easily for €200/$ new although I think that's far too much. Second hand half that (I paid a fraction of that) It's a quality headphone amp with a pretty decent Burr Brown USB DAC built in to get you going. It drives the 600 very nicely. Detailed and nice airy staging. Silent background with a nice smooth linear volume pot unlike.the original v can. Lovely build and perfectly formed. Not my best amp but its a nice introduction to the world of class Refined British hi fi.

EDITED Considerably due to me silly mobile/clumsy thumb interface .

 

[Arin7]

Thanks everyone for all the info and tips I'll try to go with a Schit or may go with a Xonar stx II while building a new PC

 

[Midgetguy]

Thanks everyone for all the info and tips I'll try to go with a Schit or may go with a Xonar stx II while building a new PC

Good luck, and importantly, have fun!

 

[Arin7]

Good luck, and importantly, have fun!

Thank You

 

[Anarion]

Thanks everyone for all the info and tips I'll try to go with a Schit or may go with a Xonar stx II while building a new PC

Imo, avoid Xonar at this point. Creative AE-5 is much better choice.

 

[DavidA]

Imo, avoid Xonar at this point. Creative AE-5 is much better choice.

Is there a reason for "avoiding" Xonar? I've had less issues with Xonar DG, DGX and STX than the Creative ZX and Audigy2 but have not tried the AE-5. I used to love the old SoundBlaster cards but lately I've found them to have noise, driver and just dying early issues while I haven't had as many issue with the Xonar cards.

For the HD600 the STX was a decent pairing but I still prefer a tube amp for the HD6 hundred series except for the HD660S.

 

[Anarion]

Is there a reason for "avoiding" Xonar? I've had less issues with Xonar DG, DGX and STX than the Creative ZX and Audigy2 but have not tried the AE-5. I used to love the old SoundBlaster cards but lately I've found them to have noise, driver and just dying early issues while I haven't had as many issue with the Xonar cards.

For the HD600 the STX was a decent pairing but I still prefer a tube amp for the HD6 hundred series except for the HD660S.

Drivers. I think the latest official driver for that Xonar was from 2015. Also with AE-5 the volume control is wired directly to the dac so you can use wasapi exclusive mode in direct mode without fear that your ears would explode.

Quality wise the AE-5 has really good headphone amp. Annihilates my O2 when I measured both. >10 dBA difference in dynamic range (this was limited by ADC used, in reality the difference is likely larger), stereo crosstalk (>11 dB). The difference is noticeable. Also the output impedance is low. Definitely worthy upgrade from my previous Zx.

 

[Wes S]

Lots of good info in this thread lately! Good stuff!

 

[teb1013]

I have just returned to wearing my HD600s after wearing my newer HD700s for a while. I find the 600s sound richer and are more comfortable than the 700s, even though the latter are probably more detailed. Easier to wear for extended times. I’m going to give the good old 600s a bit more wear!