O2 Headphone Amp build - design by NwAvGuy

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makepeace

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Tis the season to be making things. This is the second thing that I'm posting about building. I just bought a pair of AKG K7XX's, and apparently they need an amp. I considered the Schiit Vali and Magni, as well as purchasing an O2 from JDS Labs. Decided I didn't want tube warmth for these (mostly for critical listening) and apparently the Magni vs O2 are much of a muchness with these phones.

Enter DIY. Decided I may as well make the O2 as I like it, saving a few bucks while I'm at it. I've got all of the parts and am busy designing an enclosure. Going to do things slightly differently from the traditional builds for these. More details to come.

I have but one question that I was pondering today... Is it mostly pointless (sound quality wise - not level wise) to use a headphone amp without a dedicated DAC? I'm going to be using my PC as the source (mostly) and I realised today that it has it's own (probably mediocre) amp. Will I get rid of the slight sibilance and drop in transient performance with high energy signals with this amp inline with my PCs headphone out, or do I absolutely need a DAC to achieve this? The level I get out of my pc is mostly fine for me with these phones - I'm mostly after SQ.
 
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