Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
Other than that situation (which was more an experiment than an actual intended use case as I have a desktop DAC), I have been very impressed by the DACport Slim when used as a convenient portable DAC with a great form factor. I cannot hear any noise at all when it is on low gain using closed or open headphones (HE 400s, K7xx, K553, HD 518, SR80, Koss Porta Pro). I never use the high gain setting as it would be far too loud for any of my headphones.
I do not own any IEMs as they are painful for me to use and accentuate my mild/moderate tinnitus. I envy those of you who can enjoy "very loud silence" as I have no idea what that is like! :)
So I cannot comment on whether the DACport Slim is a good match for IEMs if that is what you are into, but it is also fair to say that *MANY* other amps are not suitable for IEMs either, and definitely not at this price point.
For the vast majority of other headphones, I've found that this product offers a much more enjoyable listening experience over plugging directly into my motherboard output. The sound signature is pretty transparent, but seems somehow smoother and less fatiguing to me.
Also -- I would like to chime in and report that I've had ZERO issues from day one on Windows 10 with my DACport, so it is not completely the fault of @CEntrance . If you are having driver issues, Microsoft and/or your computer's OEM are likely the real ones to blame. Those parties would have FAR more resources to test configurations than a small company like CEntrance does.