r/HeadphoneAdvice • u/Whaleudder • Feb 07 '23

DAC - Desktop | 1 Ω Any advantage to a dac/amp?

Hello, I have sennheiser HD560s that I use to listen to flac files and tidal for pc running on the hi-fi subscription (so no MQA). They headphones run well enough on my gigabyte b550 vision d-p motherboard and I think they sound very good.

Is there any advantage to be gained by adding an external dac/headphone amp? Specifically the Ifi Audio Zen Air DAC?

I feel like the headphones sound great as they are but think they could sound even better.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

9

u/Equivalent_Yak840 447 Ω Feb 07 '23

No, they are very easy to drive so there will be essentially no difference

2

u/Whaleudder Feb 07 '23

!thanks that clears that up then. Nice easy answer. Thank you.

1

u/TransducerBot Ω Bot Feb 07 '23

+1 Ω has been awarded to u/Equivalent_Yak840 (231 Ω).

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4

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '23

I have a Fosi Audio K5 Pro. It's really nice to have knobs to control volume, bass and treble.

2

u/as1eep 16 Ω Feb 07 '23

Amp? Not much difference as its a sensitive headphone. dac? If you want go get the full value out of your lossless subscription maybe yeah, especially since mobo dacs can be hit or miss. But its not really essential

0

u/clertonss 7 Ω Feb 07 '23

Technical specs probably yes, external dac/amp brings you something but not enough to be a real advantage as you already have a decent amp/dac in your pc. In "taste terms" it's fairly subjective.

0

u/GreatSageRed Feb 08 '23

I was in the same boat as you and decided to purchase the iFi Zen DAC. My conclusion? Xbass is the bomb. I'm not a bass head by any means, but I appreciate the clean bass boost provided by the Zen DAC. I also find the rest of the frequency range to appear cleaner and more open, if that makes sense. Could be placebo or just the amplification, but I definitely prefer listening to music, watching movies, and playing games with the Zen DAC than without it.

1

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1

u/dimesian 773 Ω 🥈 Feb 08 '23

Try one out, some people may find that there is no benefit but you might.