Recommendations for inexpensive USB DAC / headphone amp combo

[dmagnus1]

Looking for a little pre-Xmas advice.

 

My son is a graduate student in musical composition (by way of undergrad political science degree and D.C. think tank circuit - he had his midlife crisis early). He listens to music straight off of his Mac Powerbook via a decent set of headphones he just bought. Up to this point, he has been completely naive about the importance of compression type, music player, and DAC processing with respect to sound quality, accuracy, and listening experience. For Xmas, I would like to get him an inexpensive outboard DAC and headphone amp so he can start to appreciate what he has been missing.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations for an integrated DAC/amp unit in the $150 range? Headroom and NuForce have units priced at about $130, and I am sure there are others out there. Their price-point prevents them from getting much serious attention from the magazine reviewers out there. I would like to hear if anyone has any experience in this lower-end market segment before I roll the dice and pick one myself.

 

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!

 

[Audio_ELF]

I'm not sure I this is relevant... But if he's looking for something to record too; then look at EMu's USB devices.

 

Eloise

 

[dmagnus1]

Thanks Eloise - I think he has access to a wide variety of pro gear at school - in fact, his "scholarship/grant" stipulates that he work as a recording technician for many of the performances at his school. I was thinking of something that he could tote around with him and interpose between his laptop and headphones to improve his listening experience. I see that HRT, which has some very well-reviewed DACs in the sub-$500 market, also makes a low-end DAC/amp (Headstreamer), and I may go with that unless I hear from someone who has had a bad experience with it.

 

Thanks for responding.

 

Are you really an elf?

 

[thesurfingalien]

I believe Fiio has some stuff that has been reviewed quite well. The E7 (http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E7-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B003E6K1VK) for example. Rather inexpensive too.

 

For the rest, I believe there will not be too much differences in sound-quality at the given price-range. Some might have more features than others, and looks / finishes and build quality might vary.

 

Peter

 

[nutcaseguy]

Hi,

 

Nuforce makes a whole line of very portable usb dacs from $100 - $450 approx. All of their low priced usb dacs have a headphone amp.

 

http://www.nuforce.com/hp/support/guides/dac-guide.php

 

They are very popular. I use the Icon HD usb dac ($350) and am very pleased with it.

 

 

Gordon

 

[senmurv76]

If you are willing to spend a bit more have a look at the Schiit ASGARD

 

[dmagnus1]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I went with the HRT Headstreamer - asynchronous USB in the stated price range. Now I will have to convince him to re-rip everything in ALAC instead of AAC. Appreciate all the comments!

 

Happy Holidays

 

[jhwalker]

Please let us know what you think of the Headstreamer - I'm very intrigued by this solution, as well, to enhance my travel experience

 

 

[sjsanford]

...of a few of his favorite tracks ought to convince him of ALAC vs AAC! Not sure his musical tastes, but female vocals, acoustic rock (or acoustic anything), chamber trio, slow piano duet with another instrument, rock tracks with some space around the instruments, etc. Okay, fine, almost anything! Should be fun - what a great gift!

 

[Jud]

You will find a tremendous amount of spirited discussion on DACs and headphone amps in the price range you've mentioned (and of course above) at head-fi.org.

 

I personally own the Schiit Bifrost DAC, have heard the Schiit Lyr headphone amp, and both sound great. However, these units are likely above the price range you're considering. (Bifrost is $450 with USB input. It's $100 less if you get it without the USB input and connect it to the Mac's Toslink output. Schiit's least expensive headphone amp, the Asgard, is $250. So the combo would be $600 using Toslink, $700 with USB.)