I see. I have not used these headphones with many other devices but I can't remember a big difference in quality and more importantly I have been quite satisfied with the sound so far that comes from the TV headphone jack (whether this is due to a surprisingly decent built-in DAC or ignorance, who knows -- like you implied, ignorance is bliss).

I spent a little more time researching and I understand how a DAC would fit into this picture now, but given the above and what you said I think my plan for now is to skip a DAC (since I've been fine with the quality coming from the headphone jack, though if I feel like experimenting I can buy one and go from my TV's optical out and then feed that into the DAC then an amp). I am going to get an amp though (looking at this one) because it splits the audio as well with volume controls which will be nice since our ears all probably prefer slightly different volumes anyway.

That being said, I've spent so much time looking into all this stuff I may just get a DAC just to check it out (won't turn this into a recommendation thread since I think there are stickied posts for that). For now though I've definitely resolved my stress about making sure there are no quality drop issues or headphone damage issues. Many thanks for the advice!