Superlux HD662 EVO Closed-Back + ??? recommended equipment - for 24 bit, 96000 Hz audio files

[Sephiroth Crescent]

Hi everyone. I'm new here, nice to meet you. I am still completely new to audio hardware such as AMPs, DACs, and setting it up. I did as much research as I could psychologically take and now I am here to ask some final advice.

To avoid any misunderstandings I will start with basic information.

Headphones: I have a pair of Superlux HD662 EVO Black Closed-Back over-ear headphones that I purchased in late 2017. I am absolutely happy and overwhelmed with their sound quality. I am really amazed especially at that price. I love the way they sound, the amazing strong bass, clean clear vocals, the soft smooth leather ear pads are also extremely comfortable for me because velvet pads make real irritation on my skin. So I am happy with my headphones and I don't intend on going for any other model in the near and far future.

I use my own-built PC for storage, archiving, listening to my music archives, watching my BD anime archives and BDMV Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai concerts...and playing games of course (Blue Reflection, Atelier Lydie and Suelle, Firis, Sophie, Assassin's Creed Unity, Syndicate...).

I listen to Hatsune Miku, I watch Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai 2013,2014,2015,2016,2017... my favorite Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai is Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai 2017! I also listen to FLOW, fripSide, Mika Nakashima, Asami Tachibana, Sagisu Shirou, Yousei Teikoku, Girls Dead Monster, Suzuki Konomi, Inori Yuzuriha, May'n, Nomizu Iori, Nagaoka Seikou, Coffin Princess, Kitamura Eri, Komatsu Mikako, NAO, Faylan, MYTH & ROID, Sphere, Erica Masaki, Motoi Sakuraba & Go Shiina, XX:me, Marasy, Takahiro Misawa... Those are just some of my favorite artists from my 3 TB archive.

My music FILES are in stereo:
lossless FLAC, 16 bit 44000 Hz and Hi-RES Studio Master FLAC 24 bit 96000 Hz and 24 bit 192000 Hz.

My Hatsune Miku BLU-RAY BDMVs have audio in lossless PCM stereo 24 bit 48000 Hz, and lossless DTS 5.1 24 bit 48000 Hz.

So finally to my question and want: because of my extreme love for Japanese music and my precious archives, I have come to a conclusion that I would like to try and squeeze a bit more into my basic audio system. I just have a feeling that there could be more to the sound quality output I have now. So I took a look ar my headphones manual and I see rhey have a recommee Superlux HA3D Amplifier. Now we come to the part of my motherboard sound system. I have my headphones plugged directly into the green 3.5 mm jack of the built-in motherboard sound card.

Specs of the motherboard audio are:
Rear Panel 2.0/7.1, 24 bit 192000 Hz
Rear Panel Combo Jack SPDIF: DTS, Dolby Digital, 2 channels 32 bit 192000 Hz.

OK, so I got the idea I could buy the Superlux AMP and some DAC and plug them in the SPDIF. BUT, now I am worried because I don't know is the SPDIF able to have sound in games? So will I have sound in games if I do that setup and use SPDIF? Also one of the most important parts is: I don't know what DAC to choose.

Now, what I realised while thinking about all that today, is, do I actually need to complicate things with buying all that equipment I don't even know how to CONNECT! XD

So my final question is: Is there a combination piece of audio equipment (within 100-120 dollars range) that can "show me the true power of my headphones"? The expert/musician that recommended and sold me the Superlux HD662 EVO said they actually sound like 400 dollar headphones. I have researched that a bit and discovered it was obviously true. But, while reading various threads I have seen people say "without an AMP->DAC you are holding those headphones back".

So now that I have thought all that through, what should I check out? Some unified device that will "unleash the real sound of ANY headphones"... but I have no idea what's it called...

I would greatly appreciate advice and recommendations... plus if anybody can throw in advice how to actually connect that... erm... whatever I'm going to buy after you guys tell me..

Thank you for reading, and I truly apologize if you encounter any typos in my text (my autocorrect is to blame for that...and I'm tyred all the time... haha).

Edit: Oh I forgot to say, I always use foobar2000 for listening to music. I would like if anyone can recommend slight equalizer modifications fit for my headphones.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Get a Schiit Magni 3

 

[Sephiroth Crescent]

Rules say I can bump my thread every 24h so thats what I will do untill I get a satisfactory response.

BUMP!

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Rules say I can bump my thread every 24h so thats what I will do untill I get a satisfactory response.

BUMP!

You already got an answer: if you want an amp for $100 or so just about the best one out there in that range, for your needs is a Magni 3.
Instead of annoyingly bumping up a thread that clearly no one has much interest in, maybe stop to wonder WHY no one is responding. You wrote too much irrelevant information and in a hard to follow manner. Most people look at your thread and somewhere around the third paragraph go, TLDR and move on.
Instead of making a pest of yourself maybe try to re-write the question in a way that will get more responses?

 

[Wiljen]

If you are amazed with the sound quality of the Superlux, the next step is to spend the $100 you would have on an amp and put it toward getting a better set of headphones. That will make way more difference than adding an amp. Simply put, there is only so much improvement that will be audible when the headphone isn't up to the task. Superlux makes some decent products and I am not trying to bash them just trying to keep you from spending money in a place that won't make the biggest difference.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

If you are amazed with the sound quality of the Superlux, the next step is to spend the $100 you would have on an amp and put it toward getting a better set of headphones. That will make way more difference than adding an amp. Simply put, there is only so much improvement that will be audible when the headphone isn't up to the task. Superlux makes some decent products and I am not trying to bash them just trying to keep you from spending money in a place that won't make the biggest difference.

@Wiljen You're barking up the wrong tree, the OP already wrote in another thread:
" Superlux 681 EVO are amazing headphones. You are good with them for a long time. You don't need any other. I believe you will not hear any improvement even if you buy ~400 dollar headphones. I also love Superlux, I have 662 EVO. I seen people on youtube compare our models to ~400 dollar headphones and barely hear any difference. You should know that before you decide to spend money on other headphones which will not be an improvement. You will encounter that experts here could possibly ignore that, be against Superlux entirely, and/or even make false negative reviews based on lies and pure american anti-asian propaganda, probably because of the Superlux origins and low price. Most people who spend hundreds/thousands on audio gear will get FURIOUS when someone else has the same experience on Superlux. You can find various anti-superlux propaganda videos on youtube, mostly from american"
He's got it all figured out man! Your obvious xenophobic Superlux hate isn't going to change his mind.

 

[Wiljen]

You're probably right. I own several Superlux models (HD660, 668b, 671) and wasted my money on things like the HD700 and Cascade anyway.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

You're probably right. I own several Superlux models (HD660, 668b, 671) and wasted my money on things like the HD700 and Cascade anyway.

I bet you can't tell any difference between them and the Superluxes but you are so mad at yourself that you wasted your money that you are trying to trick other people into buying expensive headphones as well.

 

[Sephiroth Crescent]

@Wiljen, thanks for your advice I appreciate it.
@Cruelhand Luke, thanks for your advice too. I'm sorry for posting too much text, that was entirely the rules's fault! It says I should write a lot of info about what I use my audio for and what kinds of music artists I listen to. So thats the only reason I wrote that much. Also, why do you hate me? As you can see, in the past year I was investing a lot into my music, so I just recently decided to explore headphones.. I know you are ridiculing what I said, but that's what an old musician told to me. I didn't make that up. If that's not true is he an idiot? He works in a shop with at least a 1000 guitars and owns at least 30, knoes his stuff like his back pocket, how am I suppose to believe he was wrong? You're probably gonna say "why haven't you asked him then?" - why should I bother the man who works all day, when I have knowledgeable youngsters like you, here on a free forum. I called him today to ask if they have extra wire...

My wire got a bit hard on a part that touches my hand... what should I do to soften it again?

But Luke honestly, my initial post - that small text is too tiresome for someone like you to read?

I don't know how to quote people...

 

[Wiljen]

My advice would be go listen to a really good rig. That way you know what is possible, it will frame the Superlux in its proper context of better than what comes with a phone and what is sold at a lot of department stores, but only the very bottom step into the audiophile world. If you were to get a chance to hear the Stax009 run by a BHSE amp or a Focal Utopia pushed by a Zana Duex, you would then have a proper idea of what is possible (if prohibitively expensive for most of us).

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

You seemed mystified by why no one was answering your question and assumed it had to do with some bias against Superlux headphones, or even anti asian sentiment around here, which is absurd. I was trying to explain to you why your question wasn't getting the response you crave. I took the time to read your whole post, I determined you need an amp in the $100 range...currently the best thing in that range is arguably the Schiit Magni 3...there are a few other good candidates, but I prefer the Magni. It will get the most out of your headphones. It won't make them sound better than $400 headphones, but they will sound their best.
You are basing all these very strong opinions you have on the word of one guy. "The expert/musician that recommended and sold me the Superlux HD662 EVO said they actually sound like 400 dollar headphones." There are hundreds of people on this forum that would beg to differ....myself included. I mean, you can cut that price in half to $200 and I can still recommend off the top of my head a half dozen sets better than your beloved Superlux. Heck, lets bump that price down to $150...I bet a Fostex T20RP or Sennheiser 58X would knock your socks off.
It's great that you like your headphones, but you come here, and in your first few posts spout off the opinions of one dude at the Guitar Center that sold you some headphones as if they are The Truth and it rubs people the wrong way.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hi everyone. I'm new here, nice to meet you. I am still completely new to audio hardware such as AMPs, DACs, and setting it up. I did as much research as I could psychologically take and now I am here to ask some final advice.
---
So finally to my question and want: because of my extreme love for Japanese music and my precious archives, I have come to a conclusion that I would like to try and squeeze a bit more into my basic audio system. I just have a feeling that there could be more to the sound quality output I have now. So I took a look ar my headphones manual and I see rhey have a recommee Superlux HA3D Amplifier. Now we come to the part of my motherboard sound system. I have my headphones plugged directly into the green 3.5 mm jack of the built-in motherboard sound card.

Specs of the motherboard audio are:
Rear Panel 2.0/7.1, 24 bit 192000 Hz
Rear Panel Combo Jack SPDIF: DTS, Dolby Digital, 2 channels 32 bit 192000 Hz.

If that's a fairly new gaming motherboard its amp circuit might be effectively on par with the HA3D.

OK, so I got the idea I could buy the Superlux AMP and some DAC and plug them in the SPDIF. BUT, now I am worried because I don't know is the SPDIF able to have sound in games? So will I have sound in games if I do that setup and use SPDIF? Also one of the most important parts is: I don't know what DAC to choose.

Any sound you have on the computer will go through SPDIF unless it's BluRay audio or DSD, which can't be handled by the bandwidth limitations or you disabled certain sounds from going through.

Even hardware DSP will go through SPDIF (unlike, in some cases, through the line level speaker outputs on some soundcards that have a dedicated headphone output) since DSP chips with those features will also handle SPDIF output.

Now, what I realised while thinking about all that today, is, do I actually need to complicate things with buying all that equipment I don't even know how to CONNECT! XD

Only if your headphones need more (and cleaner) power. At 93dB/1mW and 150ohms they could use a bit more power at that impedance, but you also don't have a severe problem with the high output impedance on anything but the crappiest motherboards (which pile on other kinds of distortion if not also noise in the amplification process itself; if the noise is coming from the computer's other components that's another matter).

Elevated bass output on Superlux headphones also means you're not cranking them up as much to hear the bass so in your application you might not even need the extra power.

So my final question is: Is there a combination piece of audio equipment (within 100-120 dollars range) that can "show me the true power of my headphones"? The expert/musician that recommended and sold me the Superlux HD662 EVO said they actually sound like 400 dollar headphones. I have researched that a bit and discovered it was obviously true. But, while reading various threads I have seen people say "without an AMP->DAC you are holding those headphones back".

That's when you use a low impedance, low sensitivity headphone or a high impedance headphone (if not also low sensitivity, but even old 600ohm headphones had high sensitivity in their time).

Like I said above though while 93dB/1mW is already on the lower (though not desperate for an amp low) range, the boosted bass might mean you're not cranking it up high enough so you won't need the extra power. At the same time, even if you get less distortion and noise, the difference might be obscured by how strong the bass response is that your attention will notice the bass more, though that might be cleaner on a better amp.

If you're sticking with those headphones and you have a decent, fairly recent model motherboard, upgrading your cooling system to a near-fanless (ie very low fan speeds, including an overkill 80Plus Gold PSU so you'd stay within its high efficiency point and might not have it run its fans unless you're running games or apps that will really make the GPU work really hard) and lowering the noise floor could potentially have a bigger improvement since you'd lower the noise floor.

So now that I have thought all that through, what should I check out? Some unified device that will "unleash the real sound of ANY headphones"... but I have no idea what's it called...

Any decent amp circuit with a good power supply design, whether it's a stand alone amp, an amp and DAC in the same chassis, or a soundcard with a good amp will improve the sound but of course the power output and the sensitivity and impedanceof the headphone will be considerations.

I would greatly appreciate advice and recommendations... plus if anybody can throw in advice how to actually connect that... erm... whatever I'm going to buy after you guys tell me..

Sciit Modi2 Uber and Magni3 maybe but personally I'd much rather just enjoy your system as is and consider electronics upgrades when you get a headphone that might need the extra power more.

Edit: Oh I forgot to say, I always use foobar2000 for listening to music. I would like if anyone can recommend slight equalizer modifications fit for my headphones.

Not sure what the bands on the Foobar EQ plug in are but try these at the nearest frequencies that are there:

20hz = -2dB
30dB = -4dB
40dB = -4dB
135hz = -2dB
225hz = +3dB
4600hz - -3dB
9500hz = -8dB