Headphones

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Do your headphones REALLY perform much better with more expensive DAC/AMP? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by FrankieWilde11@alien.top to c/headphones@hi-fi.community

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I have the Sennheiser HD600, Neumann NDH-30, Audeze LCD-X.

I use these with my SSL2 hp out, and with Qudelix 5K.

I spoke to someone about my impressions and his first question was: which dac/amp? and when I told, he just winked.

So my question is: is the difference this obvious with a more expensive dac/amp combo? Should I spend another 6-800 euro to get one? Do your headphones open up/perform that much better?

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[–] ProphetNimd@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Not really, no. It's more about usability for me.

I bought a Qudelix 5K to use out and about since I don't know how much longer I'll be able to have a phone with a headphone jack, and it's easier to do chores around the house with that clipped to my shirt instead of my phone in my pocket.

I have an iFi Zen Air DAC at my desk since the headphone jack on my computer is in kind of a goofy location and I also really like ASMR, so sometimes I want to jack my volume up for that. It can be nice to have that extra headroom for cases like that, or if your music is mastered really low for some reason, but I only spent $100 on that.

I fully think that people who proselytize the difference a DAC and/or amp make are just trying to justify the exorbitant money they put into their own stuff. This sub is also rife with people who are always chasing that high of buying new toys, so they never really enjoy what they have and just keep buying new stuff and using this sub to talk themselves into it.