DAC/Amp ELI5, also what to get with my DT 990's, 250 ohms?

[Asulia]

Hey,



So a month ago I've picked up my Beyerdynamic 990's (250 ohms) and I decided to get the best out of it.



Now I am whole new to "high-end" audio. So I have no idea what a DAC is or an AMP, read some forums, didn't really help.



My budget is around 100-150 euro (110-170 dollar)



Can you recommend me some good stuff to pair it with?



If it matters, my motherboard has a good audio chip; Gigabyte G1 Z97 Sniper.





Thank you.

 

[americanaudiophile]

A DAC or digital to analog converter is a device or chip that does just what the description says. A digital file has to be converted to analog before it is amplified to drive your headphones. This would feed a headphone amplifier that would boost the signal to sufficient power to drive the 250 ohm load of your headphones adequately. I would post your question on the headfi.org forum as they will have more experience with what your headphones need to be driven and sound best. If you can afford an outboard DAC it is usually better than an internal soundcard but at your price range an amp alone might be a better option. It also depends on whether your music is mp3, lossless (usually means CD quality) or HiRes (better than CD quality).

 

[Asulia]

I did post it on head-fi but I've received 0 answers. Is my onboard sound a DAC or Amp?

 

[rexter]

As americanaudiophile gives you the technical about DAC,

Your onboard soundcard is both but it's basic. It's like you buying car without any knowledge whatsoever - let say you want to by a vehicle that'll take you from point A to point B and sales person sold you a Tata Nano. https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=elkmt6T18Uk

Being uninformed and nothing to compare it with, would you think a Mini would be a better vehicle? So onboard audio is pretty much the same. Those expensive DAC's and amps that cost more than your computer; like a Bugatti Veyron tire cost $9000 each, more than A tata's worth.

Consider the Aune Audio - X1 Pro or Aune T1 MK2 as your beginners DAC+Amp, you'd be surprise how much different it is from a discrete soundcard like the soundblaster or Asus Xonar.

You need to remember that while computer soundcard is trying to make 6 to 8 channels sounds good, with the same price; A DAC headphone amp/preamp is only trying to make 2 channels sound really good. Also, try not to compress to much of your audio file. 320 Kbps would really be nice for MP3 otherwise convert it to FLAC or WAVE files.