Question Is The Marantz HD-Dac1 a Good Amp/DAC for 2019?

Knight77

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I’m looking to get a pair of HD660S Headphones and wanted to ask if the Marantz HD-Dac1 Amp/DAC a good pairing?

It came out a few years ago and I believe does 24-bit audio? Is it worth needing an DAC that does 32-bit audio?
 
It's still a pretty good amp combination but a lot will depend on what you are feeding it with. There is some serious competition available depending on how much you want to spend, Lehmann Linear D offer a superb combination amp/DAC, Simaudio Moon 230 HAD will set you back £1500. As will a Naim DAC V1. Looking at those prices the Marantz looks something of a bargain.

The headphone section on the Marantz is the same, with more power, that is fitted to their amps and CD players, I have an sa8005 and cd6006. Although they are pretty good, especially with low ohm high sensitivity 'phones they are easily outclassed by the likes of the Lehmann Linear, especially for those 'phones that like a bit of power, such as the 660s.

Is it still a good amp, answer has to be yes.
 
It's still a pretty good amp combination but a lot will depend on what you are feeding it with. There is some serious competition available depending on how much you want to spend, Lehmann Linear D offer a superb combination amp/DAC, Simaudio Moon 230 HAD will set you back £1500. As will a Naim DAC V1. Looking at those prices the Marantz looks something of a bargain.

The headphone section on the Marantz is the same, with more power, that is fitted to their amps and CD players, I have an sa8005 and cd6006. Although they are pretty good, especially with low ohm high sensitivity 'phones they are easily outclassed by the likes of the Lehmann Linear, especially for those 'phones that like a bit of power, such as the 660s.

Is it still a good amp, answer has to be yes.


This is solely going to be plugged into my PC.

What would you recommend for the HD660S in this respects?

My budget would be up to £750 but ideally I want to spend between £300-£500.

However - I want to make sure I easily power and get the best out of the headphones.

I do listen to Lossless Audio / FLAC / WAV files.
 
the 660's sound sublime on tubes.

id recommend getting something like a dark voice amplifier and a decent dac like a topping d20
 
I've never tried a tube amp with headphones, in fact not had a tube amp since the 1970s. If you keep the DAC and the amp as separate units then that is always going to prove an easier, if not cheaper, upgrade option.

Biggest problem I found when looking for headphone amps was actually finding them in a dealers to audition. The favourites were there, the Rega Ear or Arcam rdac but I thought my Oppo planars deserved better. Almost impossible to find someone selling tube amps in my neck of the woods.

I'm fortunate enough that I use the DAC in my Marantz SACD player, which can also act as a DAC hub and so it was basically a straight connection to my Lehmann Linear headphone amp which is a solid.
 

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