Cheap small Headphone amp for desktop

[Niku-Sama]

first off I'll say I am powering a pair of these:
Audio Technica ATHA500X

I've had them for about 2 years, I wasn't thinking when I bought them that they are 48ohm so even at full tilt on any thing I own except my A/V receiver its not very loud. they sound fine though.
going to need to fix that as my Plantronics 777 are finally starting to crap out on me so I figure its amp time.

so basically I just need to push a bit more power, any recommendations? kinda looking at cheap, not sure how the new job is gonna pan out so I am trying to be cautious but do something at least.

was considering this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008B5U2/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I11AQAQF44CNG8&colid=SZRGKZRZSCUX

all the way to this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TEA2025B-Hi...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

or some where in between. I imagine the ebay one might.....probably would be crap but hey maybe some one has experience with it

 

[Pinky]

48ohm isn't *that* much, but for higher volume then you probably need one. There's too many options to even start to guess which is 'best' for you. I'd stick to a name brand if only for a warranty and decent quality control.

Massdrop.com often has some boutique models listed with user discussion about each, then you can cross reference those models on amazon, ebay and alibaba.

Little dot seems to be popular, as both an amp and DAC. But they start around $100(?).

 

[Janus67]

I got a micca origen and have liked it a lot.



possible nsfw language. it is also the review for the newer version (origen+)

 

[Niku-Sama]

yea I know 48ohms isn't a whole lot but its apparently more than the computer can output at a decent level.

I wasn't thinking about a DAC aswell but that might not be a bad idea, should get rid of the whine I hear when I move my mouse. My guess is the onboard audio is close to the usb controller on this thing.
I was poking through that guys videos and I found this:
https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-Opt...os-20&linkId=d258eeeeb8b06ac255fd78bc955fde84

I think I might go for that one, gives it a decent review, should be able to push about 700mw at 48ohms and that would leave a little head room too.
i'm gonna wait till "prime day" to order, just in case I can get a better deal on it but I wishlisted it to keep track.

any other input is welcome till prime day and then i'll make my decision

 

[mjw21a]

I've found that the S.M.S.L M3 is excellent. Use mine with AKG K121 headphones

 

[Dolk]

Niku, the wine you hear from your audio may just be bad mobo layout. You can't get rid of those issues unless you get a better mobo

The "best" audio setup is to output USB/Optical to a DAC than AMP. Especially when you need a higher than average power output to produce clean audio in your headphones.

 

[Niku-Sama]

I don't get the whine on my Plantronics 777 when I use the USB dongle that comes with them, I do get the whine when I am using my speakers and my audio technica headphones when I am wired directly in, front or back, it does not matter.

so I get a little dac+amp I can use my head phones with out whine. I am not looking for over kill for the headphones and its more for the lack of power output on the computers audio than the whine although getting rid of it would be nice too and any dac I get is probably going to be better than the onboard realtek stuff that's about a decade old that's obviously too close or not properly shielded from my USB controller. on my speakers I can usually tune it out with some of the settings, its also not as bad since I went through the power unit in my sub for the system and re flowed a lot of the crap solder joints in there but still noticeable.

not many other people can hear it but I most definitely can so I imagine my hears are goods still