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Showing 1 of 1412 conversations about:
AKG K553 Pro Studio Headphones
Kyros
108
Apr 11, 2015
Any suggestions for reasonable DAC/amps for this pair of cans? Preferable something that's dropping at the moment here :)
travelinjack
55
Apr 11, 2015
KyrosYou really don't need an amp for these. So either the Centrance Dacport, the Musiland or the Focusrite would work.
Ogen_the_Matic
324
Apr 11, 2015
KyrosRecently received the CEntrance HiFi-M8 through Massdrop ($560) and it's working well with AKG K7xx headphones (also through Massdrop). Suspect that it will work well with these, also (I'm in this drop).
Don't think you'd go wrong with the CEntrance DACport for $150 in a current drop here either!
Also have Schiit Audio Magni2 Uber ($150) & plan to get their Modi2 DAC (providing Massdrop quits tempting me with deals like this!)
Head-fi.org has tons of forums well worth checking out.
Hope this helps!
Eudis
42
Apr 11, 2015
KyrosAnyone. These cans can be driven by headphones. So having a dac/amp will only give it a slight improvement.
roelst1
13
Apr 11, 2015
travelinjackTechnically you won't need an amp for any headphones. The AKG K553 will do fine without a DAC+amp or just an amp, but as with all good headphones having an amp will increase the listening experience.
Kyros
108
Apr 11, 2015
Ogen_the_MaticI've forgotten to mention that I've only a humble laptop at the moment, not having "The Rig" anytime soon as there are bigger things to sink my budget into. Any pluses or minuses with that?
Ogen_the_Matic
324
Apr 11, 2015
KyrosThere's about a zillion choices for straight DAC's. Dragonfly ($150) and Modi2 ($99) come to mind.
It'd be well worth a couple of hours of reading on head-fi.org in my opinion.
whatup69
92
Apr 11, 2015
KyrosWhat are your sources? Eg. If it's laptop or smartphone then what kind of laptop/smartphone etc. If you sift through the discussion thread, you'll see that these don't really need any additional external amping and a DAC is only really useful if you are getting interference from your sources. The K550 which these are based on shows no discernible improvement from a iphone compared to an E10k or a much more powerful and in comparison, 'higher end' amp/DAC like the Audio GD NFB-15. Improvements from amp/DACs are highly headphone dependent and specific. Anyone who makes blanket statements such as 'technically you don't need a headphone amp for any headphone' is really spreading misinformation. Not all 'good headphones' will improve in terms of the listening experience when paired with an additional amp/DAC. Save your amp/DAC funds for different, harder to drive headphones that will benefit from the additional amping. You won't know if you need a DAC or not until you plug these into your sources and hear them for yourself. In addition, Head-fi can be very misleading and is a cesspool for the hive mind spreading nonsense. It is a great resource with vast amounts of quality information that can be really helpful if you are more experienced and know how to wade through and differentiate from the genuinely good info/reviews from the bullshit. I'd recommend the reddit /r/headphones subreddit instead. Just my $0.02
lixxiee
4
Apr 12, 2015
whatup69tl;dr Not all headphones will have a substantial improvement with a DAC/amp, and is dependent also on source. Consider listening and comparing before needlessly spending money.
+shameless plugin hate on Headfi
Crypto
7
Apr 13, 2015
Ogen_the_MaticYou're falling in the audiophile hole, enjoy your stay and don't forget your wallet.
Diesel
48
Apr 13, 2015
whatup69I have to agree. I have a couple of DAC/amp setups, and a bunch of headphones, and the K550 (which these are based on) was really the only one that didn't scale noticeably in terms of sound quality when run through an amp. It sounds pretty much the same sourced out of my unamped Galaxy Note 3 or iPod Classic, my iBasso D10 or iBasso DX50, or my Schiit Lyr or Asgard 2.
All of my other headphones see dramatic improvements in SQ when an amp is used. So, if these are going to be your go-to headphones, don't worry too much about spending a lot on a DAC/amp.
travelinjack
55
Apr 13, 2015
KyrosI am listening to my K550 from my laptop without any problem and can hear no difference when I use the amp/dac.
idklel
219
Apr 13, 2015
CryptoWallet? What wallet...
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