TR Forums

I have a set of HD555's that I'm currently using for my gaming desktop. I want to move them to work, and am looking at replacing them at home with something 'nicer'.

While I cannot point to any fault of the cans, and as they're used primarily for gaming with sporadic music and video streaming use, nothing I play through them is of any notable quality. I keep no collection of music, rips or otherwise; at best, I'm streaming YouTube (which has surprised me) as well as using my Pandora subscription.

So here's the thing: I want to try something nicer. There are certainly more affordable options in Sennheiser's inventory that are similar to my HD555's, and then there are the HD600 and HD650 step up cans, and like these Beyers, are higher impedance. The sub-HD600 cans can, like my HD555's, continue to be driven (well enough) off of the onboard audio on my Z170-AR (which is indistinguishable from an X-Fi I was using), but I'd need an amp for something nicer.

So that's what I'm asking about here: if I were to jump on the Beyer sale at Newegg (actually Beach Camera) that has these cans for about $100 less than Amazon, I'd still have to pony up for an amp, at least, and same for something in their range. Should I look closer at the Schiit amps that Amazon is pimping, for example?

well if you want something nicer than you're going to end up having to upgrade your source anyway, because those 555's are about as good as it gets from "normal" soundcards and the like. I recently got myself a Fiio E10K for my HD595's to replace an older DAC/AMP, it's a great little amp for on my desktop (and has a separate line output for my speakers) although it's a bit bright for my tastes

Honestly, the stuff on the Z170-AR is actually pretty good. Not audiophile good, but I'd never know the difference- my point of comparison, an X-Fi that was *far* better than the previous ASRock Z68 and Z77 boards I had, sounds no different, and the board does have dedicated headphone amps and isolation for the audio circuitry.

And do note that games and streaming audio don't rate high in terms of source quality- but that's not what I'm going for here, really. I'd grab an amp to at least handle the extra impedance (which even your HD595's don't *need*), and would consider a DAC (or DAC/AMP), but I'm mostly asking where to start, for those that have experience with Beyer's cans.