comments:
> my motherboard DAC Most consumer-grade equipment have lackluster, or even terrible, DACs. This includes most PCs (modern Macs are the exception), and most computer docks/hub. Buying a dedicated DAC, most any DAC, is going to be a dramatic improvement. Do not expect any such dramatic jumps again just by switching between dedicated DACs or amps. You may see some variations in sound between DAC/amp products, but these will be only minor variations compared to the leap you made from a cheapo built-in DAC that was added on to some motherboard almost as an afterthought. It is quite difficult to buy a bad dedicated DAC product in 2026. From the USD $ 9 Apple USB-C Headphone Adapter, to the $ 20 FiiO Snowsky Tiny or the new $ 59 iFi GO Link 2, you will experience excellent sound reproduction on all of them. I know so first hand, using all three of those when away from my listening station with a $ 549 Element IV by JDS Labs. From what I’ve seen on multiple reviews, your FiiO K11 R2R is an excellent DAC/amp. If you have money to burn, I would spend that on a headphone with a sound profile that meets the needs of your ears with your music. But hopefully your $ 4,000 worth of headphone and IEM (Sony MDR-Z1R & Sennheiser IE900) already meet those needs. Another thing to consider is your music source. If you pay for a music subscription such as those from Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music, or Apple Music, then you have access to CD-quality or better (Hi-Res Audio) content. But you may need to flip some settings to get the richer (higher amounts of data) streams. For example, see Apple Music settings. You may not see as dramatic a jump in quality with lossless/Hi-Res content as you did in going from motherboard to a dedicated DAC/amp, but you may find violins a little sweeter, vocals a little richer.