Hazardous Metal
Member
Holy hell. The dt880s do way more than what you're getting currently. You're going to need amping for those to sound right. Link the Monoprice DAC, if you would. It might not be able to fully power those either.
In my pre-600 ohm experience, a cheaper portable DAC/amp like a Fiio E07K did the job for improving audio and playing at the right volume to anything I had. I picked up a 600 ohm dt990 and that was no longer the case. Up the volume to power the headphones? Clipping, muted bass, and harshening treble. Up the gain instead? Same issue.
I bought a dedicated amp, Schiit Magni 2, to go with it. With the Magni 2 in the chain I've been able to pin down the problem to the Fiio, likely its built-in amp. Up the Fiio volume and lower the Magni 2 and the sound changes & clipping show up consistently with all of my headphones. I have to have the Magni 2 maxed on high gain and adjust the Fiio as low as I can accept to minimize its amp's flaws at higher volumes.
In related news, I finally have a Schiit Modi Multibit on the way and I'm pretty excited for the line out and what should be a significant upgrade in sound. Oh, and nearly identical right angle adapters from QVS and KK Cable don't sound the same. The KK Cable adapters negatively color the sound. Made me glad that I had the QVS and a normal rca cable to compare to and catch it.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00KVVX2QW/
^ This guy.
I hope that's enough. ;~; Already spent more money than I was hoping to go into this whole thing. I'm not opposed to spending more if need be I guess, would just suck.