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KC-130
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May 15, 2018
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The Schiit products are a popular place to start and are easy to sell when you want to upgrade. You'll be able to quickly get a feel for what many of the other audio-heads are referring to in their reviews. The Fiio products are also a popular starting point and if you go with the Fiio E17K Alpen 2 portable dac/amp I would definitely add the Fiio K5 desktop amp for another $90. The E17K alone will sound very good on some headphones and fall short on others... adding the K5 amp as a dock for the E17K and you have a very re-sellable setup for about $160. xDuoo offers a small but not-as-portable TA-01 which was recently offered here on MD for about $119. The TA-01 contains dual dac-chips (CS-4398) in addition to a single-tube amp in a combined unit. It works great with any headphones sold on MD. It's a reliable unit that does not overheat and has easy re-sell. Personally, I enjoy the sound from the "Chord" products made in the U.K. I've been using their dac/amp combos for a while and recently paired them with other amps including the Cavalli Tube Hybrid, also sold on MD. As for headphones, the Sennheiser HD 650 (or 6XX here on MD) can be bought slightly used for around $160. You'll easily spend that much on any other brand of headphones but get much less for your dollar. As a personal preference, I would not purchase any pair of headphones that has bluetooth or wifi. Those headphones include a built-in dac which will not do your wallet or ears any favors. That's my quick 2-cents minus the subjective audio jargon.
May 15, 2018
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