Advice for headphone amp and dac

Schiit is a good bet at that price range. They make great budget stuff. Makes good sense to get a good quality DAC/Headamp as a start. 

I have had cutting edge headphone systems for over forty years. The sound quality gets better and better if you invest wisely. I am sure I had those Sennheiser headphones in the early 70's. You  have lots of opportunities to get better headphones as well. 

I have maybe the best headphone in the world today at my home for a home demo. It is very expensive ($10k), so I am selling the very best headphone amp for it to essentially trade the amp for the phone. I cannot listen to an amp but can listen to a phone.

I am replacing the headphone amp with a stack of cheaper Schitt gear that is rather good, maybe 85% as good.

My point is that Schitt gear is really good, especially their top end gear, and do not let the price fool you.

Not to be rude but your headphones are no where near good enough to justify spending $700.00 on an amp/DAC..I have also owned Schiit gear & I myself was NOT impressed,finding the Hybrid Vali II amp highly microphonic..
With your budget I would get a new pair of HiFiMan Sundara & a Xduoo TA-22 Hybrid amp/Dac or even a pair of HiFiMan Ananda Nano & a budget amp/Dac from Topping,SMSL or Xduoo...

My system is low cost and top system if i think about the AKG K340 experience after his 6 steps optimization ... ( it was the only one real hybrid ever designed and the best headphone flagship of AKG because of his complex acoustic design put to rest because of optimization cost and the other possible headphones design experience in the more portable emerging market window at the times )

For the speakers: very good small nearfield system with the sextett as complement...

All the gear cost of my 2 system is : 1000 bucks....

My main system:

Hidizs AP80 pro battery powered and files bank /dac/equalizer---> Sansui Au-Alpha 607i ---> hybrid headphone AKG k340 (bass version)+improved mods... Nothing else is necessary -

my very satisfying secondary system :

And SPS nos french battery dac+tube preamp Douk P2+Fosi mk01 amp+ AKGK240 sextett or M-Audio AV40 speakers modified

I dont need to upgrade ( i even tried ) ...

Happiness in audio result from acoustic information and experiments not from buying gear...

It is my experience...

Buying gear is often the easy way to reach results but the lost occasion to study,learn and experiments to reach the same goal at a very low price...

Chord Electronics Mojo 2 (headphone amp and FPGA DAC) Fits your budget well.

Powerful enough to drive almost all headphones (not electrostatics)

At its price point it is class leading. Excellent clarity, detail and separation and will plug directly in to your MacBook.

The Mojo will also scale well as you invest up the ladder.

Enjoy the music!

I bought a Topping DX3+ for headphones and it’s not bad at all. $200 from Amazon. You can go up the Topping range if you want to spend more money. 

Mojo2 will do perfectly. I suggest avoiding the Poly streamer. It’s a nightmare losing connection and needed to be reconfigured often if used with a phone. Less problems with computers. Mojo2 has also an excellent EQ.

My son has had good luck with a Schiit Vali (his is not microphonic; I wonder if the previously mentioned example had a microphonic tube in it) and Modi Multibit combo. It drove my Sennheiser HD800S’s with drive and authority with a really exuberant sound. I must say that I was impressed! A Schiit Lyr might be a better ticket, though the Asgard with the multibit built in DAC might be the most bang for the buck. If you want to keep within the Sennheiser family, the new HD660v2 is easy to drive and sounds pretty good. I heard it at the Capital Audio Fest a few weeks ago.

Thanks very much everyone. I have spent the morning checking out your suggestions. Topping I have researched before. The Xduoo TA-22 looks interesting and good reviews. The Chord Mojo 2 also. These 2 I was not familiar with at all. Glad I asked. Thanks

Since there are already a lot of good suggestions on this thread, I thought I'd give an "out of the box" idea: A vintage, mid seventies receiver! With your budget, you could get a really nice Marantz/Harmon Kardon/Sansui/Sony/Pioneer receiver. They look amazing when fully restored with LED kits and would match your Sennheisers from the 70s perfectly! All you would need is a Schiit Audio DAC and you're in business. 

I have a top of the line system, but my integrated amp doesn't have a headphone jack, so I'm using a Tandberg TR-2045 from 1978 as my headphone amp for the rare, late-night listening seshes and it sounds phenomenal (I use Sennheiser HD 600s).

Just another option. 

Good Luck! 

I think exactly the same. But instead of a receiver i recommend for example in the Sansui line the AU series or the alpha series.

I have also a top system so surprising for the price i pity those who had paid more for a marginal S.Q. differences, then i believe you . To beat my 1000 dollars system think about minimum 15,000 bucks. And even with it Only the Immanis probably can beat my modified K340 .

I suggest the same to the OP : low cost product with acoustic thinking and reading  and experiments .

Since there are already a lot of good suggestions on this thread, I thought I’d give an "out of the box" idea: A vintage, mid seventies receiver! With your budget, you could get a really nice Marantz/Harmon Kardon/Sansui/Sony/Pioneer receiver. They look amazing when fully restored with LED kits and would match your Sennheisers from the 70s perfectly! All you would need is a Schiit Audio DAC and you’re in business.

I have a top of the line system, but my integrated amp doesn’t have a headphone jack, so I’m using a Tandberg TR-2045 from 1978 as my headphone amp for the rare, late-night listening seshes and it sounds phenomenal (I use Sennheiser HD 600s).

Just another option.

 

Good Luck!

mahgister and crawfishdaddi. I understand what you're saying. Something to consider except I'm not sure I want to add a big box to my rack. Back in the 70s and 80s I had receivers or amp/preamp that I used the Sennheizers with. They worked fine.

There is a vintage dealer near me. I'll check their site out of curiosity.