firesorceYou want the 110v or 220v depending on your local wall outlet voltage. is your countries closer to 110 or 220??
In Australia all our household power is 240V AC so I take the 220v.
You only need the high gain amp for headphones that are really hard to drive, ie they have really high impedance (this i don't know from experience, only what I have read). You will be fine with the medium gain.
CamboThanks. I checked, and my local socket can take up to 230V it seems.
If the gain works like that, isn't it always better to take high gain ones because they drive both high impedance and low impedance?
patmasse17You guys should read up on nwavguys blog, it's very informative.
If your source is a standard 2V DAC go the medium gain, if its weak go high gain. O2 clips over 7V, so times gain stage by input voltage.
@patmasse17 the SMSL is a combined DAC/amp, the O2 is solely an amp which needs an analog input from a dac, however it is a massively better amp.
botistoSo, I joined this drop, but then I read it may be a good idea to get an external DAC as well, as my pc's isn't exactly amazing. Another friend told me a sound card may also be a good addition. My question is, if I want to join the audiophile community on a budget, do I need an amp, a dac AND a soundcard, can I go with just an amp and a dac, or vice versa, just a sound card? Could any of you also list (budget) combinations of DACs and/or soundcards with this amp, if necessary? Thanks!
By the way, the headphones I'll be getting are either the HE350s or the HD6XXs.
Thanks!
firesorceIdeally you'd want an external DAC with your amp, something like JDS labs Ol Dac would be ideal. Then your chain is usb to dac to amp to headphones, no need for a sound card.
Having said that though the dac is probably the last thing I'd upgrade in the chain, there's no harm in trying your pc or a cheap sound cards dac first to save some money.
botistoFinally the picture's clear. Thanks for your help! After checking the JDS Labs website, I confirmed the O2+ODac combo is the exact same price as buying them seperate on their site, thus buying the Amp through massdrop now, and later maybe buying the Ol Dac through JDS isn't going to cost me an additional fortune. I can rest at ease and test the amp on my own pace.
botistoOne last question, JDS Labs' website recommends medium gain ( 1.0/3.3x ) with the ODAC, does that mean this applies to the OL Dac as well? If so, for the potential future, should I change my order on massdrop from the standard gain to medium gain?
botistoAlso if hes a gamer he might want the audio features offered by the soundcard. Most soundcards these days at least include a pretty damn good DAC, like the Z, so you Shouldn't need an external one. The headphone amps on soundcards tend to be sheet, though, with very high output impedance, gain isnt what it should be, ect. Just getting into things myself, it seems for gamers the best outcome is to get a SB-Z(or asus, i suppose, though imo SBX surrounds better, eax 5 support for older games is nicer, ect) and use the RCA outs to, well, an amp like this, which'll out to a set of (usually) open-ear headphones with a big sound stage(HD598 se/sr, DT880/990, akg k7xx/k612, Fidelio x2, AD700x, ect)