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HD800 on current amp or Stax

post #1 of 27
11/17/09 at 6:41am
Thread Starter 
Hi wanted to ask people opinion on where my funds should be going =)

Currently have
HD650 powered by WA6+PDPS+Sophia princess. Source is Asus Essence STX

Recently had itch to upgrade. So here are the two options Im considering.

HD800 powered by same amp possibly upgrade to dedicated DAC.

Go for STAX SR-007 MK2 coupled with Wooaudio GES amp.

For those who have upgraded to STAX, is it still worth keeping the HD650 around?

looking forward to your input.
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post #2 of 27
11/18/09 at 12:57am
This is coming from an HD800 owner, and I've tried it single ended with a Woo6: I'd go with the STAX SR-007 + Woo GES.

Although I must also say that you'd probably want to upgrade your source shortly after you upgrade to either the SR-007 or the HD800.
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post #3 of 27
11/18/09 at 2:46am
I've really liked HeadphoneAddict's Apuresound cabled RS-1 with his WA6. The MS-2i I owned sounded like a less resolving Lambda on my HeadAmp. I would give one of those a try before passing on the WA6 to someone else.
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post #4 of 27
11/18/09 at 3:09am
koruki, simply put - your ears and your money, biased opinions will run riot.
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post #5 of 27
11/18/09 at 7:05am
Thread Starter 
thanks for the input. Unfortunately there isnt much opportunity in little old New Zealand to try out high end gear so I have to rely on the opinions of those with more experience on headfi.

what would by a suitable DAC for high end set up like this?
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post #6 of 27
11/18/09 at 7:53am
I would invest in a source upgrade. All you're going to hear with both Stax and the HD-800 is how crap your sound card is in my experience. For the price of what you're looking at, you could get a kick-arse vintage Stax rig AND a decent source quite likely.
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post #7 of 27
11/18/09 at 8:26am
No matter what, you need a Dac!
I sold HD650 after getting O2. But don't sell all your dynamics, you will still want that sounds!!
I went to Stax instead of HD800 because 1. heard Stax is THE thing! 2. Wasn't sure if HD800 sounds excellent for my amp (Balanced is prefered for HD800). 3. I will still wonder about Stax after getting HD800. 4. HD800 price will likely go down sooner, so you can get it cheaper later while enjoying O2 now.
But then you need to buy Stax amp. So, well, Hack, lets not talk about price
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post #8 of 27
11/18/09 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
What would be a reasonable DAC for such set up? I might get it first and use it with current set up, but want to make sure I don't need to upgrade when moving to something like Stax
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post #9 of 27
11/18/09 at 9:16pm
I'm naturally going to recommend the DAC I have, the Audio-gd Reference 1, as it is gives both a very natural sound, and one that is incredibly detailed, perfect for use with Stax, but is limited to coax input for sound quality reasons.
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post #10 of 27
11/18/09 at 9:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by koruki View Post
Hi wanted to ask people opinion on where my funds should be going =)

Currently have
HD650 powered by WA6+PDPS+Sophia princess. Source is Asus Essence STX

Recently had itch to upgrade. So here are the two options Im considering.

HD800 powered by same amp possibly upgrade to dedicated DAC.

Go for STAX SR-007 MK2 coupled with Wooaudio GES amp.

For those who have upgraded to STAX, is it still worth keeping the HD650 around?

looking forward to your input.
As others have said, a good source starts to become worthwhile when you move up to these good headphones.

The HD800 and Omega2 sound very different. I have no idea which you would prefer. I bet more people would prefer the O2 setup, but the O2 setup costs quite a bit more than a comparable HD800 setup.

With an HD800 setup, you could get by with a 900$ amp and the headphones are 1400$. = 2300$us
With the O2, you're looking about closer to 3600$.

If you don't have a lot of money to spare, then I would wait until you can try both of these headphones out at a new zealand head-fi meet.
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post #11 of 27
11/18/09 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Towert7 View Post
With an HD800 setup, you could get by with a 900$ amp and the headphones are 1400$. = 2300$us
With the O2, you're looking about closer to 3600$.
Buying the O2 used for around 1300-1500 then adding the SRM-717 around 1000 used, which is a great amp for the O2 price/performance wise would get you to around the same price you quoted for the HD800 rig. Price should not be a factor for either of these phones. It just depends on how much you want to spend.
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post #12 of 27
11/18/09 at 10:16pm
You could likely find a used 717 for 900
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post #13 of 27
11/19/09 at 12:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
I'm naturally going to recommend the DAC I have, the Audio-gd Reference 1, as it is gives both a very natural sound, and one that is incredibly detailed, perfect for use with Stax, but is limited to coax input for sound quality reasons.
Thanks for the recommendation. How does this compare to the likes of the Apogee minidac and Benchmark DAC1?
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post #14 of 27
11/19/09 at 6:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by koruki View Post
Thanks for the recommendation. How does this compare to the likes of the Apogee minidac and Benchmark DAC1?
After using my Ref 1 for any period of my time, my friend's DAC 1 sounds harsh and "digital".
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post #15 of 27
11/19/09 at 4:09pm
Thread Starter 
I'm going to hong kong in December and king wa said he can post one to a Hk address for $14usd shipping. Never ceases to amaze how quick they reply emails even with back and forth questions! Great service.

*Edit Just borrowed my friends Little Dot DAC 1 and amazed at the improvement, can't imagine how much better the Reference 1 is going to be! Roll in December!
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