Headphone Connection

[BMWS1000RR]

Hello.
Please excuse this 71 year olds basic question and ignorance as this is all new to me.
I have been streaming music from Amazon HD via my laptop or mobile using either iFi xDSD, iFi HipDac 2 or Dragonfy Cobalt.I have bought the WiiM Prp Plus and connected it by ethernet direct to my router but,I have no idea how to get the music to my headphones( I don't have a Hi-Fi system)do I need to buy a headphone Amp with phono in/out?.I am not familiar with the things I see on here eg: files,codecs,flac,wma etc it does'nt mean anything to me.
All I want to do is get music from Amazon HD in better quality than I am doing now

 

[norfolk_lad]

Hi. This is what I do. I use a small headphone dac/amp and stream a digital output via an optical connection from my wiim pro to it. The headphone dac/amp unit is the topping dx3pro+ costing £199. My headphones are the sennheiser hd660s2. I'm really happy with the set up. There are lots of dac/amps to choose from. Hopefully others will comment on their headphone setups.

 

[Mr Ee]

Hello.
Please excuse this 71 year olds basic question and ignorance as this is all new to me.
I have been streaming music from Amazon HD via my laptop or mobile using either iFi xDSD, iFi HipDac 2 or Dragonfy Cobalt.I have bought the WiiM Prp Plus and connected it by ethernet direct to my router but,I have no idea how to get the music to my headphones( I don't have a Hi-Fi system)do I need to buy a headphone Amp with phono in/out?.I am not familiar with the things I see on here eg: files,codecs,flac,wma etc it does'nt mean anything to me.
All I want to do is get music from Amazon HD in better quality than I am doing now

I think that all those dac/headphone amps you list are usb dcs, so can't be used with the wiim.
Well, the xdsd also has bluetooth, so you could send from the wiim to the xdsd that way, but it probably won't sound as good as you want!

You could get a new headphone amp with RCA inputs (not phono, that normally means turntable).
Many headphone amps also have a dac, such as the topping dx3 pro+ that Norfolk Lad suggested.
Seeing as you have the wiim pro plus, which is generally considered to have a significantly better dac stage than the plain old pro, then you may not want / need a headphone amp with a dac too.

btw, I rate the fiio k11 over the topping dx3 pro+. It's cheaper too.

 

[Wiimer]

Hello.
Please excuse this 71 year olds basic question and ignorance as this is all new to me.
I have been streaming music from Amazon HD via my laptop or mobile using either iFi xDSD, iFi HipDac 2 or Dragonfy Cobalt.I have bought the WiiM Prp Plus and connected it by ethernet direct to my router but,I have no idea how to get the music to my headphones( I don't have a Hi-Fi system)do I need to buy a headphone Amp with phono in/out?.I am not familiar with the things I see on here eg: files,codecs,flac,wma etc it does'nt mean anything to me.
All I want to do is get music from Amazon HD in better quality than I am doing now

If you want using your current DAC, connect the WiiM pro plus to the iFi xDSD with a Coaxial cable. If you want to try the WiiM's DAC, you'll need a headphone amplifier with analog inputs.

 

[BMWS1000RR]

Hi. This is what I do. I use a small headphone dac/amp and stream a digital output via an optical connection from my wiim pro to it. The headphone dac/amp unit is the topping dx3pro+ costing £199. My headphones are the sennheiser hd660s2. I'm really happy with the set up. There are lots of dac/amps to choose from. Hopefully others will comment on their headphone setups.

Thank you for your reply,so you don't use the coaxil connection?,it rather seems that I have a couple of redudant amp/dac's now.I was looking last night ate the Toping E30 II+L30 II combo which is advertised with free RCA on ebay for £298.I will wait for more replies but you've set me on the right track,thank you.

 

[Mr Ee]

If you want using your current DAC, connect the WiiM pro plus to the iFi xDSD with a Coaxial cable. If you want to try the WiiM's DAC, you'll need a headphone amplifier with analog inputs.

The xdsd model I looked up only had usb and bluetooth input.
Guess there's more than one with that base name?

 

[Wiimer]

The xdsd model I looked up only had usb and bluetooth input.
Guess there's more than one with that base name?

I'm likely talking about other models, but maybe there's a combo input for SPDIF.

 

[BMWS1000RR]

If you want using your current DAC, connect the WiiM pro plus to the iFi xDSD with a Coaxial cable. If you want to try the WiiM's DAC, you'll need a headphone amplifier with analog inputs.

Hello.There is no coax input on the iFi xDSD,only usb A or C & S/PIDF

 

[BMWS1000RR]

I think that all those dac/headphone amps you list are usb dcs, so can't be used with the wiim.
Well, the xdsd also has bluetooth, so you could send from the wiim to the xdsd that way, but it probably won't sound as good as you want!

You could get a new headphone amp with RCA inputs (not phono, that normally means turntable).
Many headphone amps also have a dac, such as the topping dx3 pro+ that Norfolk Lad suggested.
Seeing as you have the wiim pro plus, which is generally considered to have a significantly better dac stage than the plain old pro, then you may not want / need a headphone amp with a dac too.

btw, I rate the fiio k11 over the topping dx3 pro+. It's cheaper too.

Yes,I've looked at the Topping E30 II/L30 II combo,i'm thinking that's the way to go.

 

[Mr Ee]

Hello.There is no coax input on the iFi xDSD,only usb A or C & S/PIDF

If it has spdif then you can use that.
Or, of course, get the Topping combo anyway. You can never have too much hifi...
Technically, you don't *need* the E30 dac as the wiim can do that part. I've no idea which sounds "better" though.

 

[Wiimer]

Hello.There is no coax input on the iFi xDSD,only usb A or C & S/PIDF

I think the SPDIF input is a combo input of Coaxial and Optical.

 

[norfolk_lad]

Thank you for your reply,so you don't use the coaxil connection?,it rather seems that I have a couple of redudant amp/dac's now.I was looking last night ate the Toping E30 II+L30 II combo which is advertised with free RCA on ebay for £298.I will wait for more replies but you've set me on the right track,thank you.

Yes the option to use coax is there. I use coax from my other Wiim Pro to a topping dac in my main hifi setup which connects to my amplifier. Both my Wiim Pros are the 'non plus' models which is fine for me because I use external dacs.

 

[Wiimer]

Yes,I've looked at the Topping E30 II/L30 II combo,i'm thinking that's the way to go.

Do you need Topping E30 II?
I think the WiiM Pro Plus and Topping L30 II are sufficient.