Headphone amp or audio interface?

[Nx1]

Well, ive had a pair of Allen & Heath XD-53's for quite a while, and i primarily listen to them through my macbook. I listen to a lot of techno and although the headphones sound great i feel like my computer is limiting them. These are big headphones, and i think they could use some sort of external aid to pump them up to optimal performance.

Which leads me to my question.. What would be best for me to listen to my xd-53's through my laptop. A headphone amp, or some interface with a nice soundcard? or is nothing needed at all?

[darkcatt]

Well a head phone amp is only going to do 1 of 2 things.

1 Boost a low volume
2 give you multiple outputs for more head phones.

If you are interested in maximizing audio quality then you should look at what is touching the audio. Historically any computers on-board sound card is mediocre at best. So getting something like an RME Baby face would be a MAJOR change in your sound quality.

[stellan0r]

I have an RME FF400, but this is probably too big for what you want and need, also it is pretty portable when it's running via firewire.

So I do recommend the Apogee One, which is small, great sounding and not that expensive. Or get the new Duet 2, if you need more in's&out's!

[darkcatt]

There is the Lady Face and the BABY face.

Both are amazing smaller options

[darkcatt]

http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_babyface.php


http://www.rme-audio.de/download/sheets/ladyface.pdf

[nuxnamon]

you should definitely get a audio interface.. it'll be of greater use if you don't already have one and it will have a better headphone amp than the macbook.. the only time you'll be thinking about a dedicated headphone amp (outside multiple outs)is when you've gotten some high-end headphones that need a dedicated amp.. and it's not just about getting the the signal louder, but better imaging/resolution/detail..

[Nx1]

Thanks for the suggestions, and im actually considering a Nuforce uDAC-2.. would that be wise?

[twisted-space]

http://centrance.com/products/dacport/

[Akshara]

I've been using a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP for a few months now, and actually prefer it to my "nicer" interfaces. For $400 you get both a portable headphone amp and a quality audio interface, yet with Focusrite's VRM speaker modeling technology.

Their VRM Box is only $100 and would be a pretty good portable headphone amp for the Macbook too, without the audio input interface.

[h4nc0]

http://centrance.com/products/dacport/

Using DACPort here. Very nice headphone amp and low latency operation both under Windows and MacOSX. If you absolutely don't need more in/outs, it's fine.