Whats a good amp/dac under $100

[Oldnavy180]

So during the amazon prime sale I picked up some Sennheiser PC 350 Special Edition 2015 headphones. Some reviews and the site (and information listed) said that an amp was needed because the headphones have a 150db impedence. I was wondering what would be a good amp under $100 (the lower the better) and also has a bass boost function because these cans lack a little in that department.

Thanks for reading and replying

 

[Chugalug_]

The Creative Sound Blaster E3 is a great choice for a value headphone amp.
Currently goes for $89 and offers impressive lows and mids for the money from my experience with it (Sennheiser G4ME ZERO and Bose QC25).
You won't find an amp with specialty functions and software etc. unless you spend an extra $100, at which point you start to get into the audiophile range of amps.
Imo however, with those headphones you'll want to save up until you can get a better quality amp, as you will get much better sound for your money if you spend $150-$200.
All up to you however.

 

[Oldnavy180]

The Creative Sound Blaster E3 is a great choice for a value headphone amp.
Currently goes for $89 and offers impressive lows and mids for the money from my experience with it (Sennheiser G4ME ZERO and Bose QC25).
You won't find an amp with specialty functions and software etc. unless you spend an extra $100, at which point you start to get into the audiophile range of amps.
Imo however, with those headphones you'll want to save up until you can get a better quality amp, as you will get much better sound for your money if you spend $150-$200.
All up to you however.

What do you think of the Fiio E10K? https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468481079&sr=8-2&keywords=Fiio

Also where did you find the Creative Sound Blaster E3 for that cheap?

 

[Chugalug_]

The Creative Sound Blaster E3 is a great choice for a value headphone amp.
Currently goes for $89 and offers impressive lows and mids for the money from my experience with it (Sennheiser G4ME ZERO and Bose QC25).
You won't find an amp with specialty functions and software etc. unless you spend an extra $100, at which point you start to get into the audiophile range of amps.
Imo however, with those headphones you'll want to save up until you can get a better quality amp, as you will get much better sound for your money if you spend $150-$200.
All up to you however.

It was $89 on newegg at the time of posting, but the price seems to have gone up!
The only difference between the E3 and the E1 however is that the E1 does not have bluetooth functionality, which means that if you're just going to use it in wired situations, the E1 saves you at lot of money.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J79KNPM/ref=twister_B00V9N63RG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
The E3 is 104.99 on amazon, and the E1 is 49.97.

In regards to the Fiio E10K, it has great mids and bass with a warm tone to it.
It is quite basic in functionality but does the job, supporting up to 1500 ohm headphones.
The only problem I have with it is that the soundstage is quite small, which may be a problem that annoys you as it does me!
Your choice, both are good for the price.


What do you think of the Fiio E10K? https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468481079&sr=8-2&keywords=Fiio

Also where did you find the Creative Sound Blaster E3 for that cheap?

 

[Rocky Bennett]

To the OP, just a real quick note. Those headphones are not listed at 150 db, that does not make any sense. A decibel is a unit of loudness and 150 decibels would make you instantly deaf. Maybe those headphones are listed as 150 ohms. Also, the product that you linked to at amazon looks like it a really nice little amplifier that should suit your needs.

 

[Dragos Manea]

Another option would be https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Xonar-U7-Sound-Card/dp/B00E7QA9E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468495558&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+xonar+u7, but i dont know how it is compared with the fiio

EDIT: I have the xonar u7 but in my case is as a soundcard due to 192khz with 24bit and goes to a sony home amplifier 2x100W RMS (the sony is 5.1 but it has only a 2 channel amplifier, the other channels are emulated by various technologies DTS and so on)

 

[Chugalug_]

Another option would be https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Xonar-U7-Sound-Card/dp/B00E7QA9E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468495558&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+xonar+u7, but i dont know how it is compared with the fiio

EDIT: I have the xonar u7 but in my case is as a soundcard due to 192khz with 24bit and goes to a sony home amplifier 2x100W RMS (the sony is 5.1 but it has only a 2 channel amplifier, the other channels are emulated by various technologies DTS and so on)

Frequency does not equal quality.
There is much more to headphones and audio than just frequency and statistics.
Keep in mind that this is not primarily a plug in headphone amp, it is a sound card, and will likely have different qualities to that of an amp.
This card in particular has had issues with the device dying after a short period of use, and has very tinny sounding highs, which may be something major to consider.

 

[Oldnavy180]

I've heard that internal sound cards are cheaper than amps and work about the same as some nicer ones... Anyone have any good ones for under $60?

 

[Chugalug_]

The Xonar DSX goes for just under $60 and is great value for money.
One of the best budget sound cards out there.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NjTmP6/asus-sound-card-xonardsx

 

[Chugalug_]

Its still good, but not quite as good as the DSX. Its definitely worth spending that little bit extra for the higher frequency.

 

[Dragos Manea]

Another option would be https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Xonar-U7-Sound-Card/dp/B00E7QA9E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468495558&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+xonar+u7, but i dont know how it is compared with the fiio

EDIT: I have the xonar u7 but in my case is as a soundcard due to 192khz with 24bit and goes to a sony home amplifier 2x100W RMS (the sony is 5.1 but it has only a 2 channel amplifier, the other channels are emulated by various technologies DTS and so on)

Frequency does not equal quality.
There is much more to headphones and audio than just frequency and statistics.
Keep in mind that this is not primarily a plug in headphone amp, it is a sound card, and will likely have different qualities to that of an amp.
This card in particular has had issues with the device dying after a short period of use, and has very tinny sounding highs, which may be something major to consider.

Yes the DAC SNR ratio, i m not a beginner in the domain, i know quite a few stuff about audio.

To the topic, you can go for an internal sound card i prefered the flexibility to conect the card to my notebook or to my pc depending on my needs, but yes that are pretty good, avoid creative, they have terible drivers.

 

[Chugalug_]

Another option would be https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Xonar-U7-Sound-Card/dp/B00E7QA9E0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468495558&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+xonar+u7, but i dont know how it is compared with the fiio

EDIT: I have the xonar u7 but in my case is as a soundcard due to 192khz with 24bit and goes to a sony home amplifier 2x100W RMS (the sony is 5.1 but it has only a 2 channel amplifier, the other channels are emulated by various technologies DTS and so on)

Frequency does not equal quality.
There is much more to headphones and audio than just frequency and statistics.
Keep in mind that this is not primarily a plug in headphone amp, it is a sound card, and will likely have different qualities to that of an amp.
This card in particular has had issues with the device dying after a short period of use, and has very tinny sounding highs, which may be something major to consider.

Yes the DAC SNR ratio, i m not a beginner in the domain, i know quite a few stuff about audio.

To the topic, you can go for an internal sound card i prefered the flexibility to conect the card to my notebook or to my pc depending on my needs, but yes that are pretty good, avoid creative, they have terible drivers.

Ah, I see.
I used the E1 driverless as simple plug in amp for mobile devices, so I guess I never really had experience with them!

 

[Dragos Manea]

Just a simple google search creative driver problems and you will see that the forums are full of problems, i had one internal creative and i said i will never buy a product in my life from them, along with the strugle to make it work (yes the driver would install but it wont install corectly and the sound card would not work) volume issues, sometimes the volum would drop without any reason and the list can go on. I thought i had bad luck witht his product, i thought it would be a single item which has problems but when i sarched on forums i saw that are lots of peoples with driver problems from creative.