Here's my quick story. I've owned a fair amount of phones (sennheiser 280 pros and 595s, grado sr 225s, shure e2cs, e4cs, jays q jays and goldring dr150s). I still have the dr150s and the q jays.

I'm going of to college next year, which means that I'm going to have to leave my beloved 5.1 stereo behind (2 pairs of decent floor standers). I'm thinking that in school a full scale stereo wouldn't be too nice for the people living around me, so head-fi it is!

So, I have about 400-500$ to spend. Unfortunately, I don't think that open phones will do me much good (I expect dorms to have noise, and I'm a late nighter, so no need to leak noise for others to hear).

So, source will be a computer. From here, I'm up for suggestions. How can i get the best sound from here? How should i spend the money? All on phones? A dac/amp combo and then phones? Fancy Soundcard + Phones? Help give me some options. What would you do?

Note- I do like the sound of the dr150s. If you haven't heard them, I consider them to be ultimate ksc 75s. I like how they make acoustic guitar sound. I'm not a super basshead. So, what closed can+ amp would you guys recommend?

$400-500 isn't much to work with when you are talking possibly 3-4 items needed.

First lets work with what you might have. Does your computer have a decent sound card? If so you might be able to limp by on that for a while until you can afford a proper DAC. This would allow you to spend more on a good set of cans and a decent amplifier.

If you have just onboard sound you'll certainly need a proper DAC right away as this is the single most important item in a low end system, considering the onboard source quality. One way to get some bang for the buck is DIY. If you can assemble an inexpensive DAC like a BantamDAC or y1 (AMB project also 'gamma 1') or have one assembled for you (not as cheap of course) you'll have a good source on the cheap. There are options from iBasso that have DACs and amps combined in small enclosures. I know many (maybe all) are battery powered though, but it's an option also for decent quality for both components.

DIY is good for amps also, but you can also get decent prebuilt amps from many vendors. Depending on your choice of headphone something like the Little Dot 1+ can be a cheap option with the flexibility in sound of both solid state and tube (Hybrid).

As to the phones themselves, I don't like closed phones so I haven't found any worth recommending for the sound I like (even $300+ closed phones) so I'll leave that for someone else.

Gamma1 + Mini3 from MisterX, and pick a closed headphone that meets your fancy. AKG k271 / Audio Technica ATH-A900 / Ultrasone Pro 750 may be appropriate? That's an effective simple option, if you do more research you can probably tailor something more to yourself.

Thanks for the quick responses. As for a soundcard, I've got an auzentech xplosion. It's alright. Im listening to my dr150s right now and they seem adequately powered.

My budget won't exist once im in school - so I cant really go piece by piece.

I was thinking I could even do one of those compass's, a Zero, or the new Behringer (sp?) and then have 200 or so for the Headphone. Is this a bad way of going about this?


Way i see it is that in this price range I get the A900, the denon 2000, the beyer 770, or the ultrasone 750 with the dac/amp combo. Is there anyway to beat this? How can i get better sound for the price?

Check AKG also. They have so many phones I can't keep up with what is what, but there may be one worth checking out.

Denon D2000 might be tough on your budget, you'll certainly end up close to or over $500 with a DAC and amp. Don't expect the cut rate prices you see on the D2000. Those vendors are all out of stock because Denon cut them off. The only place you'll find them will be near retail ($300ish). I personally found the phones very poor, but again I don't like closed phones at all so that was no surprise.

Btw, a side note about Behringer products.. Even if they are the best sounding I would recommend not purchasing them due to the tactics their designer uses on this forum including lawsuit threats against people simply asking a question seeking information. No need to further this man's career if he isn't interested in helping the community. Demonstration of said tactics StanleyB1 is the designer.

Seems like that guy is a jerk...sad because everyone says his products are quality. Cross off the behringer. Why harass your customers?

As for the D2000, I see buy.com has it for under 200.

Also, I have nothing agaisnt buying used (in fact nearly all of my headphone purchases have been used and I have had nothing but positive experiences here on head-fi).

Is this the right path? As of now, the Zero Dac/AMP seems to be my best option, though the compass is more money, I could possibly afford that too.

Well, depending on your schedule, if you want to do the used thing you could easily end up with a pretty sweet deal if you give it time. This would definitely give you the best bang for the buck, but it's also the waiting game.

This would be a good time to take advantage of the Compass promotion. It's a high quality DAC/amp that at least initially will be sold at cost for $258. That leaves you quite a chunk for good cans.