[VVord]

Hi all! I'm looking to change it up a bit as my K702's are just a tad bit bright for my liking as I'm looking to possibly buy into a slightly warmer sound via Dac/Amp. I've been using the Fulla 2 and the SMSL M2 which sounds identical to me. I am a gamer so positioning is very important.

I'm looking at a $200ish limit unless you have an honorable mention that floats around there. Thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

If you sold off the Fulla 2 and SMSL M2, would you up your budget from $200ish?

Hifimediy (optical) DAC, $55 + shipping/tax.
https://hifimediy.com/DACs/ready-made-dacs/SPDIF-9018-DAC?sort=p.price&order=ASC

Darkvoice 336SE OTL tube headphone amplifier, $214-$250.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se
Also sold thru eBay and Amazon.

What is the make and model of your motherboard?
For now you could skip on getting the DAC and just get the 336SE?

 

[VVord]

If you sold off the Fulla 2 and SMSL M2, would you up your budget from $200ish?

Hifimediy (optical) DAC, $55 + shipping/tax.
https://hifimediy.com/DACs/ready-made-dacs/SPDIF-9018-DAC?sort=p.price&order=ASC

Darkvoice 336SE OTL tube headphone amplifier, $214-$250.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se
Also sold thru eBay and Amazon.

What is the make and model of your motherboard?
For now you could skip on getting the DAC and just get the 336SE?

Thank you very much for response. I for whatever reason did not see your response and I'm subscribed to this thread.
Yes, if I sold my two dac/amps I'd have a larger pool of cash. My MOBA is an Asus Strix B350-F which can handle the headphones just, it needs amplification which I can get off the Sonic studio.

Now would Darkvoice and the Hifimediy be the better option without getting really pricey? There's one on Ebay I was looking at though it takes a lot of me to trust someone from Ebay that isn't a vendor. https://www.ebay.com/itm/DarkVoice-...424582&hash=item36322e6340:g:cN4AAOSw4aha-zGs

 

[PurpleAngel]

Thank you very much for response. I for whatever reason did not see your response and I'm subscribed to this thread.
Yes, if I sold my two dac/amps I'd have a larger pool of cash. My MOBA is an Asus Strix B350-F which can handle the headphones just, it needs amplification which I can get off the Sonic studio.

Now would Darkvoice and the Hifimediy be the better option without getting really pricey? There's one on Ebay I was looking at though it takes a lot of me to trust someone from Ebay that isn't a vendor. https://www.ebay.com/itm/DarkVoice-...424582&hash=item36322e6340:g:cN4AAOSw4aha-zGs

The Sennheiser HD600/HD650/HD6XX series has gotten a lot of postitive feedback on Head-Fi, but I've never listen to them myself.
And I would assume most HD600/HD650/HD6XX owners would recomend that you buy an add-on external headphone amplifier to drive the headphones to their best, over plug the HD6XX directly into to the motherboard.

Now instead of buying both a head amp and headphones, just put all the audio budget towards the headphone, maybe something a little easier to drive, then the 300-Ohm HD6XX?
I sometimes have to use my computer's on-board audio (Realtek ALC1150?) to drive my 250-Ohm Beyerdynamic T90 headphone and the on-board audio does a decent job of drving them.
I would assume the Realtek ALC1220 would offer even a slight improvement, over my ALC1150.
So something to think about.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hi all! I'm looking to change it up a bit as my K702's are just a tad bit bright for my liking as I'm looking to possibly buy into a slightly warmer sound via Dac/Amp. I've been using the Fulla 2 and the SMSL M2 which sounds identical to me. I am a gamer so positioning is very important.

I'm looking at a $200ish limit unless you have an honorable mention that floats around there. Thanks!

Unless that brightness is caused by distortion on your current amps (whether you're driving them hard or not), changing up to a new amp or DAC-HPamp probably isn't going to help a lot. Apart from some tube amps that will deliberately screw around with the response, spending more on an amp just means the response will be more transparent. if anything they're have more power to handle dynamics and transients and to some that seems "warmer" because by comparison, when driving a relatively harder to drive headphone like that (lower sensitivity with lower impedance that makes low output impedance on the amp important) because now they can hear more of the low end.

Also some of those tube amps alter the sound more because of lower damping factor due to high output impedance. Unless you have full specs, it can do the opposite and sound brighter on some headphones, so you're basically playing Russian Roulette there. If they're OTL amps, on top of the lowered damping factor on low impedance headphones, power output will be lower at lower impedance vs high impedance, which adds another problem. The K701 sounds like a tin can with a Little Dot MkII for example.

The K702 reaches deeper into the bass region and its treble peak isn't as tall, though more of a plateau from 6000hz to 9000hz. Chances are, at best, with an amp like Violectric or Meier with very low noise and distortion levels but err on slightly softer sound when pushed (unlike the O2 and some Schiits), for the most will just not make that worse as even these will not drastically trim that. You'd probably be better off continuing with the Fulla2 for now (mostly because you already have it), but install Equalizer APO and input the following values:

1200hz : -2dB
2000hz : -3dB
5000hz : -2dB
6000hz : -3dB
7000hz : -4dB
8000hz : -4dB
9000hz : -3dB

Then maybe save up for a Gilmore Lite Mk2 in the meantime.

 

[Me x3]

Multiple roads can lead you to a sound that's more to your liking:

1) EQ
2) Sell K702 and get K712 (similar but warmer and more focused)
3) Sell K702 and get HD650 (similar performer in terms of technicalities but significantly fuller and smoother)
4) Get a warm sounding setup:
DAC: ModiMultibit - BifrostMultibit - FiiO X5 3rd Gen (Super Slow Roll-Off Mode)
AMP: Violectric - Asgard 2 - FiiO A5

 

[Monsterzero]

The AGD R2R-11 is a warm sounding amp/DAC. It does an excellent job of driving my AKG K701s.
Its above your budget but I much prefer it vs. the usual Schiit suggestions.

 

[VVord]

Again, thank you all for the responses. I was looking at the 6xx's which are currently on MassDrop. I was thinking about just getting them and waiting out and use Equalizer APO like @ProtegeManiac for now with my K702's and buy better Amp later on.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Again, thank you all for the responses. I was looking at the 6xx's which are currently on MassDrop. I was thinking about just getting them and waiting out and use Equalizer APO like @ProtegeManiac for now with my K702's and buy better Amp later on.

The K702 would need that amp more than the HD6XX so if you totally do not want to use an amp then the HD6XX isn't as worse off without it barring severely limited voltage output (like with some mobile devices with crappy audio output). They have less issues with damping factor due to high impedance (this isn't a problem with your Fulla2), but since amp output drops at high impedance, depending on the severity of that drop, you can end up basically just having a problem with power for driving the HD6XX. Not to mention that if you only have a minor problem with the K702's response then this might swing too far to the opposite direction.

Snce you already have the K702, and presumably it's too late to return them, just install EQ APO now. If you like the result then good. Second step, maybe try a better amp later on, with and without EQ APO. If you like either then that's it. If not then that's when you try the HD6XX.