How to allocate budget among headphones, amps, and DAC (source).

Discussion in 'Leaderboard, Overboard, and Deals' started by purr1n, Sep 28, 2015.

  1. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Source first is what was mentioned by Purring as his 8th reason. I was just asking if the Yggdrasil is good enough of a DAC to resolve on a cheap but respectable setup.

    Personally I would rather spend a good chunk of it on headphones.
     
  2. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    Sage advice, thanks Purrin.

    I dipped my toe quite late in the shark infested waters of CS but I am really enjoying SBAF. Constructive discussion between knowledgable people not trying to sell me something, along with some really interesting threads.
     
  3. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    I have to start at the bottom again.

    Good thing the KSC-75 sounds pretty good as is.
     
  4. Colgin

    Colgin Friend

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    Would Senn HD6x0 be a sidegrade to say the AKG K7xx?

    When I started listening to headphones more seriously it was either just before introduction of Senn HD 800 and then Audeze LCD-2 or at about the time of the HD 800. So I still recall the time when HD6x0, DT880 and AKG K701 were (except for Grado fans and excluding Stax) kind of the top end choices, and those later became the "mid-fi" choices after the aforementioned "summit fi" gear began to roll out. In my mind, I had always considered the Senn, Beyer and AKG offerings as about the same level with different persons making different arguments for supremacy or just having different personal preferences. At the time, I went for the AKG Q701 and have since added the K7xx (although I plan to eventually unload one of these and keep the other).

    I have always wanted to own a HD 600 or 650 because I do like them and for benchmarking reasons, but at least on modest gear have simply preferred the AKG signature accepting its pluses and minuses. Here and on the old CS site I read repeatedly that the Senn HD 6x0 scale like mad, perhaps as good as anything sans the HD 800 itself. So, I am wondering if the HD 6x0 is an upgrade to any of the AKG 7-- models or more sidegraditis. Or is it sidegraditis until you get to really high-end front end gear when the HD 6x0 then pulls away. I have heard the HD 6x0 sound really amazing, particularly on high-end tube gear. I am now looking at purchasing an amp and DAC, which will probably be the subject of a post on the all purposes recommendation thread, with an aggregate budget of approximately $1,500 for both. More specifically, wondering if at that level the HD 6x0 is likely to pull away from the AKG cans or just be a sidegrade (albeit an interesting and enjoyable one no doubt).
     
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Having owned the 600, 650, 701, 702, and several versions of the 880... my money is on the HD600/650 (although granted I have not heard the newest K7xx).

    If you lean towards liking the AKG sound signature though, then perhaps just start saving up for the HD800.
     
  6. Colgin

    Colgin Friend

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    Not a matter of saving up for the HD 800. They have just never been my thing. As I stated elsewhere here this morning, each time I listen to the HD 800 I hope it is the time I will fall in love with it, but that has yet to happen.
     
  7. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Another thing the $150 and under crowd might want to know is, what should you spend your money on, IEMs or headphones? I would say go IEMs. Carbo Tenores, DBA-02s, RE-400s*, these can show you quality sound under <$150.

    *reliability issues
     
  8. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    Fyi, I think the DBA-02 Mkii is oop. They are releasing a Mkiii but it looks to me that they've tweaked the sound signature. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of other TWFK iems still in production. (Maybe the Vsonic GR01?). Your point is still taken though.
     
  9. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    I thought the variants were still around...Brainwavz B2, Rockit R-50. I haven't heard the latter, but I recall others mentioning it was a clone on CS. The B2 is definitely a clone, I can vouch for that.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 1, 2016
  10. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    Yeah, B2 is gone and Rockit has been promising to re-release the R50 for a while. I can't believe the company that made the B2 also made the S5... That was one of the most disappointing iem's I've heard.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 1, 2016
  11. BioniclePhile

    BioniclePhile The Terminal Man - Friend

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    Welp, I've definitely got it all backwards. Too bad all I want is the Gungnir Multibit and HD-650.
     
  12. Shaffer

    Shaffer Acquaintance

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    Coincidentally, I just sold my HD600 and bought another K702. While I ultimately think the K702 is a more resolving headphone that scales a bit better than HD6X0, much will come down to personal preference.

    In my own system I tend to go source first, transducer last. Rationale? If the information is not extracted from a given media to begin with, it will never be seen by the transducer and heard by the listener.
     
  13. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    After hearing the loaner M9XX, I feel like I have heard enough budget gear to revise the damn curve of diminishing returns for audio. It's more like this:

    [​IMG]

    Than this:

    [​IMG]

    To whom it must be said, of course there are exceptions to this.
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2015
  14. Ash1412

    Ash1412 Friend

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    I'm guessing the HD650s sit right on the inflection point of that curve :)
     
  15. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    650s might actually be below the curve, and pretty far along on the right.
     
  16. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I would say the curves have a a couple plateaus/groupings... Throwing some random pulled from my tuckus numbers around:
    Dacs at $5/100/500/1000...
    Headphones at $20/150/300/1000?
    Amps at 20/100/300/800?
     
  17. zaisan

    zaisan New

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  18. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    The 650s make me question what the hell I've been doing all these years in regards to gear.

    Suddenly things are piecing together correctly :bow:
     
  19. Kon Peki

    Kon Peki Friend

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    As a non-golden eared beginner in this hobby, I find that I can easily hear differences between headphones, can barely tell the differences between my amps, and am not sure I can appreciate differences between DACs. But I sure am enjoying the ride!
     
  20. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    Terrible advice folks - I would not follow this. No specifics, just all of it.
     

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