I have the Sennheiser HD600, Neumann NDH-30, Audeze LCD-X.
I use these with my SSL2 hp out, and with Qudelix 5K.
I spoke to someone about my impressions and his first question was: which dac/amp? and when I told, he just winked.
So my question is: is the difference this obvious with a more expensive dac/amp combo? Should I spend another 6-800 euro to get one? Do your headphones open up/perform that much better?
One of my first electronics projects was building a headphone amplifier out of some 9 volt batteries and some good-quality op-amps.
I compared the result against my $$$$ “audiophile” headphone amp and… I couldn’t tell a difference.
Since then I’ve been more interested in the best bang-for-the-buck headphones/amps/dacs and not the fanciest ones, and that’s served me well.