Well, some people will tell you to get this, some will tell you to get that. Then some amps will change the sound, some that will completely dissatisfy you.
My philosophy is, if it's made to be portable, keep it portable. Don't add bulk to your chain; the ES5s were fine-tuned to sound exactly like it sounds right now. It's also very sensitive for use with any portable music player. IEMs are meant to be just enjoying a very hi-fidelity sound on-the-go. You have amps and dacs for intense listening sessions at home with your full-sized headphones. Why put spoilers, body kits, engine mods, aftermarket exhaust and coils, and brembo brakes to a luxury sedan?
If you love the sound as is, keep your rig as it is. If you REALLY need a DAC/Amp for some crazy reason, then you're going to be aiming for a very transparent combination, which is definitely extremely hard to come across. I do notice that you're wanting to use this rig with your MBP, so it's semi-stationary. I have the O2/ODAC and, though I didn't get to listen for very long, the Dragonfly held its ground against my combo pretty well. If I had a Dragonfly, I wouldn't find it worth the $ and the hassle, to upgrade to the O2/ODAC, which is as transparent neutral as it gets for a portable.
Further, spending $700 bucks on an amp like an RXMK3... A Schiit Mjolnir costs $750. A used V200 costs $700-750. Can you really justify an RXMK3? What's worth it to somebody will not be to another, so all this is really up to YOU to decide.
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Hey guys, kind of a new ES5 owner here (well I've had them for ~3 months but had to send them in a few times so haven't spent a ton of time with them). Absolutely love them, especially after spending years with the ES3X which I think it perfectly improved upon, and now I'm trying to find a good DAC/Amp combination to use with my Macbook Pro. I've seen some suggestions but I'd just like to get another gauge on what people have been using/have used (especially since most suggestions were for portable setups). Portability isn't really a factor at all for me and my preferred range would probably be $300-$700. I've used the Dragonfly with them and that definitely improved on the headphone jack of the MB but I wonder if I can get a little more out of these beautiful earphones... I also admit I'm not sure if I should spend more money towards a DAC or amp.