DAC/headphone amp for MiSTer recommendations?

[Devastator]

I’ve seen a lot of discussion surrounding DACs for MiSTer but all for speaker setups. I’m a headphone user for my MiSTer (I use ATH-M50s plugged into the I/O board). Can someone recommended a small DAC or headphone amp that will help with audio quality from the MiSTer?

I got a schiit modi3+ on the way but it sounds like I can’t use that strictly as a headphone amp?

Looking for a sub $250 solution if possible.

Thanks!

[FritoZipper]

I would buy one of schiits headphone amps with that modi3+ that should be awesome for mister.

[lamarax]

I swear by this little thing

When paired with a no-frills DAC, it's sublime, and the lot comes way cheaper than the 300+ most "audiophile" brands are asking for a combined device (that's still made in China with much of the same electronic guts).

[pbsk8]

I never bothered to use my headphone connected directly to the io mister board,

I use my headphone connected to my 27'' monitor. There would be better quality coming from the io board?

[FritoZipper]

I never bothered to use my headphone connected directly to the io mister board,

I use my headphone connected to my 27'' monitor. There would be better quality coming from the io board?

No! the Dac in the De-10 nano is junk and it has electronic interference noise from the mister itself. Use Toslink with external Dac or Hdmi audio.

[justaguy]

The output from a Modi (or pretty much any other standalone DAC) would be more than enough to drive low impedance headphones like yours. In fact it would be too loud without lowering the volume, either in the MiSTer UI or with a variable attenuator (e.g. Schiit Sys) between DAC and headphones. TOSLINK output -> passive TOSLINK switch -> DAC without volume control -> variable attenuator -> headphones was my standard console gaming audio setup for several years and it sounded fine to me, though audiophiles would complain about the DAC's output impedance being too high.

Adding an amp would be an easy way to provide volume control and lower the output impedance, but you don't want one with too much gain, otherwise the volume knob won't have much usable range (any position above some low threshold would be unbearably loud). Try to find one with switchable gain and set it to the lowest setting. I use a Schiit Magni 3+ but any decently reviewed amp should be fine.

[Devastator]

Thanks everyone. I ended up getting a magni too. Wish the Loki came in black too as that would make this the perfect little setup but my whole desk/motif is black and woodgrain.

[JonnyTenebrous]

Here's another recommendation for a headphone DAC/Amp to use w/ MiSTer. The OP has already chosen a great solution, so this is just another option for people perusing this thread in future. I'm using the Creative Sound BlasterX G6. I find it to be a whole lot of DAC/Amp for the price (~£100). It is very clean and has discrete bi-amplification (one amp for each channel), and two gain modes (Hi & Lo). Hi gain can very easily drive my 300ohm Sennheiser HD600s, which I've never before encountered in an amp of this size and price range - it definitely thumps! It supports USB input (from PC or modern games consoles), analog input via 1/8" stereo jack, and digital via mini TOSLINK (via the same ports as the analog ports). For MiSTer audio I use TOSLINK via Digital IO board, and the quality is very good.

It can mix USB audio input with the digital/analog inputs, so you can listen to audio from your PC (MUNT/Fluidsynth with AO486 core, or even Spotify for example) while using the MiSTer. It has microphone input. It has fully-configurable support for 5.1 and 7.1 virtual surround processing via an internal HRTF... settings for which are saved internally, even when used apart from a PC. Dialed in, I think this actually sounds quite good and I use it frequently to get a more spacious speaker-like sound when playing games on MiSTer. It allows you to bypass all internal digital audio processing with the press of a button, in case you want to use it as a "pure" DAC/Amp, in which case it supports up to 32-bit/384khz high resolution audio files (overkill, imo). Unusually, it also supports Dolby Digital / DTS audio decoding (the oldschool kind) and outputs this via virtualised surround... I haven't found a use for this with MiSTer yet, but am hoping one will come along (I wish there was a way to convert SNES analog Dolby to DTS!).

Anyhow, I find the Sound BlasterX G6 to be an absolutely perfect headphone audio solution for my MiSTer.

[lamarax]

Anyhow, I find the Sound BlasterX G6 to be an absolutely perfect headphone audio solution for my MiSTer.

This one looks absolutely serviceable, affordable, and easy to source where I'm from.

Now I'm badly regretting to have ignored such obvious mainstream offerings, before going all out hipster for such a simple thing...

Thank you my (Steam) friend!

[edit] ...aand bought (for 125€)! I'm sure the convoluted setup above should still serve with my CRT

[lamarax]

moreover... nice!

I should have mine by tomorrow!

[Hodor]

moreover... nice!

I should have mine by tomorrow!

That web makes solid and out of the audiophile crap reviews. I think it's a must see before buying any audio DAC/AMP.

[jdsilva]

Thanks everyone. I ended up getting a magni too. Wish the Loki came in black too as that would make this the perfect little setup but my whole desk/motif is black and woodgrain.

I have a Loki and I very rarely ever engage it. It's a neat toy, but it's actually not very useful unless you're trying to fix a specific problem.

The magni was a good choice to complement the Modi

[lamarax]

hmm Today morning I received the G6; it's feature packed I'll tell you that! Didn't install the Creative crapware on my pc, so I tested it in the default configuration (I just connected it to my pc for a brief second to flash the firmware). Preliminary verdict: it's good in 'direct mode' with the MiSTer, but somehow doesn't sound as mellow as the homebrew cmoy amp I posted above. Still, it will stay with my LCD setup, while the previous one permanently migrates close to my CRT

[pbsk8]

Hi, Would anyone recommend this aiyma dac-02 here?

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Decoder- ... B07TBF488G

or is there a similar brand but cheaper? This one I intend to buy from ali express, it is cheaper there for me.

[pbsk8]

So, I got the dac 02 aiyma in the end.

do I have to change some thing on mister ini on audio parameters to fully use this device?