Not all headphones are created equal — some require a whole lot more power to drive than others. My favorite pair of reference headphones, for example, the Audeze LCD-X, take a whole bunch more power to sound at their best than, say, your Sony WH-1000XM5.
That's where a super high-quality headphone amp comes in. Now, you don't need anything really off the wall for headphones to sound good, but something like the new Rotel DX-3 will give your cans everything they need to sound epic.
Boosting the signal
The DX-3 is a powerful beast. Despite it's small size (perfect for the desktop), it' packs enough juice to make even the most demanding of the best audiophile headphones sound at their best.
You can hook up beefy over ears, or even wire in-ears to get the effect, with loads of different outputs on the front. You can plug in with a 6.35mm or a 4.4mm balanced connector.
The headline feature though is the built-in DAC, which will decode the music on your laptop, phone, or other digital source far better than their own built-in DACs. It supports even the highest resolution digital tracks, so you don't have to worry about losing definition from your favorite Qobuz or Tidal streams.
It's all controlled with a color screen on the front of the device, so that you can see exactly what the DX-3 is doing. There's a lovely meaty volume knob on the front as well to make it easy to dial in the perfect volume. There's a remote control in the box as well should you want to control the unit from a distance.
All of this doesn't come cheap, mind you. It's going to cost $1,499 — which is more than the brand new MacBook Air M4. It will go on sale, Rotel says, sometime in March.
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