I know, I know, this question may be asked thousand times, but I can't find it using search function, so please forgive me and give me some help.

I used to live at home and enjoy my father's nice home audio setup, nice old fashion cd player, tube amp, and big speaker, and I got bunch collection of classical cds. However, now I go to graduate school and live in dorm, after paying those expensive tuition, I am just a poor student(I even don't have a car!), and can't use speaker in dorm. So I am looking into the world of headphone.

I did a lot of research on head-fi, so I know this world is quite expensive Headphone, head-amp, cd player, cable, blah blah blah, just like a hell for poor student. But all I have are just a lap-top(so can't upgrade sound card), a md player, a cheap dvd player and sony ex-70(I know, all craps)

Anyway, music plays an important role in my boring life, I do want to listen some good music. All I can do is saving money and upgrade step by step. So I can only spend like $200 to buy things in about every six months, now I need some suggestions to help me buy things right.

What is the optimal upgrade path for a biginner do you think?
For example:

low-impedance but expensiveHeadphone=>head-amp=>DAC=>cd player, or

cheap headphone=>head-amp=>expensive, high impedance headphone=>nice cd player?

Now I am thinking to get a pair of Er-4p(since low impedance) first and then a meta 42, but since the sound chip and cd-rom on my lap-top are just crap, I definitely need a good source, but i don't know should I get a cheap redbook player or just use a cheap DAC to improve the sound from my dvd player. But I am also thinking to get a not so bad medium quality headphone like sony v6 or Grado SR-60 first, since if I have to save up for ER-4p, I have to wait another six months without good music. It's really hard for me to decide.

Any insight?

chungglin,

I would suggest a low impedance closed headphone to start with. Some suggest the AKG K240S for about $100. Still others suggest the Sony V6. etc. Then just enjoy it as long as you can without regard as to what you wish to buy next. In it's own time your hearing should become more discriminating and will therefore naturally gravitate to higher quality headphones. You should then be in a better position to make a better informed decision as to what you truly want to purchase. If a fuller sound than what is put out from your laptop is desired, a cheap workaround would be to connect the computer sound output to a receiver AUX input. This should suffice for awhile until such time as your finances allow you to spend excess income. Until such time it would be foolish to buy what you want and not what you need.

Chungglin,
Welcome to Head-Fi. Sorry about your wallet.

You mentioned going with the V6 as an introductory headphone. About 10 years ago I bought a pair as my first set of "good" cans and they still sound better than ever. In fact, I'm listening to them right now out of an old Sony cd player (read, no dedicated amp) and they sound suprisingly good. Since they don't require a whole lot of juice to run, I'd wager they'd even sound decent out of your laptop.

Anyway, that's my endorsement for these great beginner cans that don't make too big of a dent in your wallet.

Good luck!

sr-60s or v6s get my vote here, both are surprisingly good for the price.

you can consider getting an external soundcard.

V6 sounds good, the cd-780 on ecost also sounds tempting, I might just go for it since it's only $31 anyway.

My source are really a problem, my lap-top doesn't even have a line-out, only headphone-jack. So the only way to upgrade it is buy a usb external card(endigo?), but I am not sure it's a good idea since the crappy cd-rom of lap-top. For my DVD player, it doesn't have a headphone jack, so I do have to use headphone-amp, or the only way is from the headphone jack of my tv-set(that's what I do now).

V6 sounds good, the cd-780 on ecost also sounds tempting, I might just go for it since it's only $31 anyway.

My source are really a problem, my lap-top doesn't even have a line-out, only headphone-jack. So the only way to upgrade it is buy a usb external card(endigo?), but I am not sure it's a good idea since the crappy cd-rom of lap-top. For my DVD player, it doesn't have a headphone jack, so I do have to use headphone-amp, or the only way is from the headphone jack of my tv-set(that's what I do now).

The Indigo is a PCMCIA card so it doen't use USB. I'm currently looking into one of those myself. And I don't really think that your CD-Rom matters all that much as there are ways to work around that. You could rip your CDs and compress them using a lossy or even lossless codec. Depends on the available space you're willing to sacrifice.

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The Sony V6's are a good bet if you don't need hyper-analytic sound that comes with the ER-4P's. They price is about right for you as well. As for the standalone player vs. DAC, I would imagine that you won't find a redbook player that'll be a significant jump in this price range. Even some of the Sony SACD players probably wouldn't give you as much of a jump as a DAC would. However, this is definitely open to debate.

As for the the issue of "should I buy now and get cheap stuff or buy later and get better stuff" issue, I'd recommend that you wait. It has been a personal preference of mine to save up peg the top of each component category for my conceiveable price range. In the long run, it saves money if you plan to upgrade in the distant future.

However, if you don't think you'll upgrade in a year or so, you might considering buying now.

V6/7506 would be good, the grado's as well but don't forget, the grados don't isolate so you might piss off your roommate. I have a pair of 280's and with sufficient burn in they are wonderful and easy to drive as well (careful on these make sure you get them somewhere you can return them since some people don't like them... these have a either a love or hate relationship with their owners). I really love my PX200's for on campus since they isolate fairly well (great for in library to block out noisy people without being one of them ), they also look cool and fold away and come with a nice case so you can stash them in your backpack w/out worrying about crushing them. They also happen to sound really good for portable cans (another can that needs serious burn in though).

On a side note, PC mall has among the best prices I've found on the net but the BBB has recordings of people having issues with returns (not my experience, but I live near one of their locations and can shop at their retail store so that may change things a bit). If you're concerned about this, get your stuff from Headroom, everyone here seems to recommend them very highly and I've never heard anything bad about their return policy.

Anyway if I were you I'd try to keep my budget down to $100 or less on your headphones and pick up an echo indigo for your laptop (card bus not USB), these run around a hundred. I personally have an AudioTrak Opto Play (USB) which if I remember correctly was $60 (might have been $50) and it's pretty good but for DVD playback it's a little on the quiet side (not enough juice to drive cans to high volume) but the sound is very nice. The sonica might be an option but it's only line out. If you'd rather not take your chances with your laptop, you have serveral amp options for running off your DVD player. My personal setup runs my cable, DVD-Video/Audio, and AudioTrak Opto Play (from my laptop) into a Niles AXP-1 switch box ($70) and then into a PreSonus HP4 headphone amplifier ($99). I'm using Monster Studio Link 500's from the DVD-A player into the Niles and from the Niles into the amp ($60.00), the cable box is connected with Python cables ($6.00 at the electronic swapmeet or maybe they were $4... can't remember they sound nice though) and the AudioTrak is connected with Monster standard mini jack to RCA. While I know it's not the best sound (not considered audiophile), the sound is clean, clear and powerful, it worked in my budget and I was able to get everything from brick and motar stores. I know this isn't in your current budget but I pieced it together starting with the DVD-A/V player, amp and one set of cables then picked up the Niles and cabled the rest when I had more money down the road. I had some issues with the mids being overly recessed at first but burn in took care of that and now they are only ever so slightly recessed. You might also consider a DIY amp (there are builders if you'd rather not do it yourself).

If it helps, you can get the HD 280 Pro's from PC Mall for $69.99 (check the buy page... you can also print this page and run to your local Guitar Center and they should honor the price, a bunch of us have done this). PC Mall also carrys the PX200's for $39.99. Fry's electronics (if you happen to have one around) has the V6's for around $80.

I had a pair of px200 from headroom before, but finally got rid of it since it's too tightl for my head, don't know if hd280 also have this kind of problem. Open or closed is not that a big concern since I am in a 4-bedroom apartment, a little leak is acceptable(as long as not speaker), though closed is nice if I want to use it outdoor.

I am not good in electronics, so I can't DIY amp or cable and have to rely on those DIYer such as JMT. Now since I have two choices for my source,

1. indigo for my lap-top(about $100)
or
2. save more to have a JMT meta42 for my DVD player(about $200)
or even the third one:
a Tascam cd-401 redbook player(it seems it has headphone jack) on ebay now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=3272

I suggest getting a SuperMini amp. I have both a SuperMini and a portable META 42. Although the META sounds a bit better it is not easy to tell the difference between the two and the SuperMini is around $120 shipped.

For headphones you can get a pair of Grado SR60s (don't have them but have the 40s). This way you can use the DVD player for playback.

When you have more money you could consider getting an external soundcard. My current computer setup is the M-Audio Sonica => SuperMini and it provides very good sound for not too much money. This way, you'll have decent sound for now and later on you'll not only have the DVD player as a source but also the laptop. As stated before you can rip your CDs using EAC/LAME and sound quality will not really be an issue.

Depends if you need isolation. If not get the SR60's, MS1's, 497's, or take a chance on the 780's. If isolation is a must go V6's or 280's. Under $100 I say go open unless you need closed.

If you can afford the 4P's though they're pretty nice (have had mine for four days). I'd take them over the above with an amp. They are revealing as you've said. Besides the integrated card issue, which files are you using? WAV, FLAC, MP3, etc.? If lossy what bitrate?

Thank you for all of inputs. Before opening this thread, I was saving up for ER-4p, but I was really wondering if crappy sources+high resolution headphone=crystal clear crappy music??
And anyway, now I just can't stand for waiting another 6 months, because all those craps, I listen to classical music much less than before, now I only listen some rock-roll or pop music from my lap-top and md player since it doesn't make any difference.

I think I would give CD780 a try, openness is not a serious problem for me, when I need isolation(like workout or in library), I still have ex70. I think someday I still will buy ER-4P(a long time later

All I want is listen my cd collection(basically symphonies and piano sonatas), so I think a CD player with amp or amp+DAC would be better for me. Supermini is tempting, he even gives students $10 discount But since I will only use amp at home, I don't know if I should save some more for a JMT meta 42.

By the way, I am not familiar with those rip CD track things. Can anybody tell me if even after I rip CD to wave file, I still need a good sound card, or there is no difference?

It would be better with a decent soundcard no matter what you use. Some cards put out a decent amount of power, so depending on the phone matchup, an amp may be less necessary.

JMTaudio and HeadSave both have Metas (and Mints) for near the price of the Xin amps. Not recommending one over the other, just saying the price differences between the three isn't much.