Reddit mentions of FiiO E17K (E17) Alpen 2 Portable Headphone Amplifier USB DAC with Extreme Audio 3.5mm Stereo to RCA Cable

• Budget - Around 200 bucks Canadian ( Maybe a little more)
  
• Source - My desktop and my Fiio E17K
  
• Isolation - None needed, less isolation is a bonus because I want to be able to hear others, but it doesn't matter that much.
  
• Public? No, purely for home use.
  
• Preferred type I prefer over-ear, but am open minded for on-ears
  
• Tonal Balance Emphasis on mids or highs, don't care too much about bass. Also want to avoid reference/ neutral headphones.
  
• Past Headphones I use these for gaming [ATH-AD900X]
  (https://www.amazon.ca/Audio-Technica-ATH-AD900X-Audiophile-Headphones/dp/B009S331VU)
  and these for travel and school Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear. I like them both for their purpose, but I'm not particularly fond of the Sennheisers shrill highs, and I feel the Audio Technicas are a little too neutral for my music.
  
• Music I listen to a good amount of nu-metal bands like Slipknot, Avatar, Korn, Ghost, System of a Down, and Megadeth + plus a little bit of jazz like John Coltrane
  
• What would I like to improve I'm just looking for headphones that are a bit more specialized for jazz and metal, unlike my current audio gear.
  
• Location I live in Canada, so prices in Canadian would be appreciated. Thanks.
  
  I've also been looking for headphones myself but am stuck between the Motorhead Iron Fist, the ATH-M50X, and the Grado sr80e, any new suggestions are welcome, though.
  

Whether or not an IEM requires a DAC&Amp is not a question of the price tag. It depends on the sensitivity and impedance.

Balanced Armature drivers, like the ones in the Savannah, are extremely sensitive and they pick up everything. the Savannah has 4 balanced armature drivers per side...so getting a proper DAC/Amp should be on your bucket list.

In addition the problem with balanced armature driver IEM models is not high impedance, but how low their impedance is. An impedance mismatch between the drivers and the source device causes incorrect damping

For something like the Savannah you should be looking at stuff like this:

• Oppo HA2
  
  
• FiiO E17K

I would highly suggest against a DAC that draws power from the phone itself, even though you may have a power source nearby, it isn't good for the phone battery to be charge/discharged multiple times a day.

I'd instead look for a DAC/Amp with it's own battery, like the FiiO E17K

The Hifimans are awesome. You can get the HE-400i for under $200. Amazing light planar sound. Extremely neutral and well resolving. Lacks a little bit in the bass department for some, but you can get a headphone amp (like the FiiO E17K that I have) that has some bass boost and be QUITE happy. I have the sibling 400S, which has a little bit more bass, was originally a little less expensive, but I paid around $300 (4 years ago) and was happy to.

The downsides to them are they are large and open backed. If you can't accommodate open backed, look elsewhere.

Edit: Ima put mine on now.

I've got an E17 that works just fine on Fedora. The E17k should work as well.

Bought these for my kids Sennheiser GSP 600 Professional Gaming Headset

Overall, pretty good. Comfortable, FAR above average fidelity for a gaming headset, mic is probably one of the best mics I've ever used that is part of a gaming headset. Again, my kids like them.

I personally don't like gaming headsets.

My personal gaming rig does not use "gaming" headsets.

I use regular low end audiophile headphones paired with a mixer + mic.

• beyerdynamic dt990 pro I prefer the open back headphones for the wider soundstage. VERY comfortable for long play sessions.
  
  
• FiiO E17K (E17) Alpen 2 Portable Headphone Amplifier USB DAC
  
  
• Yamaha MG10XU 10 Channel Mixer
  
  Again this is solely for gaming and not listening to music.
  
  For music it depends what I'm listening to but I have two primary set of cans.
  
  
• Sennheiser HD 800 S Reference Headphone
  
  
• Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation
  
  This is my primary amp for music:
  
  
• Sony Signature Series Audio Component Amplifier
  
  I caught the "headphone" bug so I've got tons of mid range cans too e.g. Sennheiser HD660, HD700, a couple of tube amps etc.
  
  Hope it helps.
  
  
  
  

My copy/paste skills failed me. I meant to paste this one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00VET0NZ8/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1478099332&sr=8-13&pi=AA140_QL70&keywords=Fiio

I have this model Fiio :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VET0NZ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Probably would let go for 80$

Can't upvote this enough.

I use the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x studio headphones for my PC and PS4 with a portable DAC and gaming headsets can't compare.

I highly recommend the ATH-M50x headphones to anyone in the market for a $125-150 headset.

Alright I'll go with these if there aren't any other recommendations.

Just to be clear its this and this right? Seems it comes with an RCA cable so I should be good (?)

All good offerings. That TEAC is probably the best.

I would also look at Fiio E17K ($139) and E18 ($119 on sale), and Creative's E3 ($99) and E5 ($179). Fiio and Creative make the best portable headphone amps/DACs in that price range.