What to get to drive HD-600?

Hello everyone,

It seems long posts don't garner much interest, so I'll keep it short and simple this time.

Besides a soundcard from Asus or Auzentech, what are my options for an external dac/amp or dac+amp for driving HD600's, along with SRH840's and my Audioengines?

That in itself would be a simple question except I also need a mic-in for gaming use, and my budget is roughly $200 or so for either a combined unit or two separate units. I'd also prefer Firewire, but I'm not too sure why other than my friend suggested it. Otherwise, I have no idea where to begin.

Thanks.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Apologies for the late response, but I went on vacation and came back to a ton of work.

Anyway, I took a look at that Musiland, and it does look nice. Unfortunately I'm trying to consolidate my equipment, and it doesn't seem to have a mic-in.

I could technically stay with my current Audiofire2 if I was going to have to buy a preamp or something to connect my microphone anyway.

That said, the only "all-in-one's" I can find are the Asus Xonar Essence, and Auzen X-fi Bravura/Forte and both of those are sound cards.

I don't mind that too much, except I've gotten used to have an external audio interface which made it very easy to swap connections.

The only affordable external interface I've found that seem to have a good DAC, mic-in with preamp and a capable headphone amp seems to be the Echo Audiofire 4 (higher end model of what I'm using right now.)

As a bonus, it comes with additional I/O's for me to plug in my PS2, as well as other headphones at once.

Unfortunately, I've heard that the headphone amp in the Audiofire is not particularly great, which means I'd end up buying another amp, and thus increasing my overall spending even more.

However, I'm thinking the AF4 could 'tide me over" until I save for an good amp (something like the Matrix M-stage, maybe?) and use the AF4's DAC that way.

But then I'd end up spending nearly, or over $500 for those 2 devices which blows past my original $200-250 limit. If I end up with this, then is there an integrated DAC/AMP combo with a pre-amp'd mic-in at that price just to keep it all together in one unit, or is that plan looking like my best bet?

That is a good point, and the "upgrade over time" bit is probably the only reason I'm considering separating the units. An all-in-one does save desk space though, and some of the hassle of an explosion of cables.

That said, I can agree with getting a separate "good" amp later down the road, but if I were to do that, would the Audiofire4 be the best DAC to fit my needs, or are there are good DACs out there with a mic-in? I'm willing to settle on 2 boxes for a DAC and amp, but I'm not willing to have to add yet a third box (pre-amp) just to plug in my mic to game with. I have read generally good things about the Audiofire, but they don't seem to be very popular around here for whatever reason. One other alternative I found was an M-audio Firewire Solo, but their drivers seem really shoddy, where Echo's drivers have been rock solid.

As far as the amp goes, I haven't seen that name before (though admittedly, I never needed to research anything like this, and I just go off of what my friend uses.)

What should I look for there?

What was wrong with the Essence? By most reviews here it seems fairly well regarded, although I'm not entirely sure about their drivers.

I could use the mic-in on my motherboard, because that's what I'm using now, but I wanted to try to simplify everything by moving everything together.

Technically, if I was set on continuing to use my mobo, I'd just re-use my existing Audiofire2 and just pick up an amp, because that would be the cheapest.

The Audiofire sounds fine to me (granted I haven't heard 'better') and it also seems well-liked from Google searches of Gearslutz, which is why I figured I could pick up the AF4 that included something for the mic.

Doesn't seem like I have many other options for DACs, since they mostly don't have a mic-in (without it, I think I'm better off staying with my AF2, unless the DAC is fairly cheap and really, really good/better than the AF2.)

In both scenarios, would a dedicated amp be better? My friend claims the M-stage cleared up all complaints he ever had about his HD580's, so that's what I'm leaning towards if I decide to pick up an amp (pending going over to do a listening test.)

Are there any other good ones around or under that price to consider?

Thanks for the info about the Essence. I was pretty set on it a couple months ago when I was insisting on getting a PCI/e card instead of an external.

A couple months of using the AF2 and its diminutive size gave me time to consider otherwise.

Thanks for the suggestion on the amp- I'll check it out. The Musiland looks very nice, but unless it sounds noticeably better than my AF2, it's going to sit in the same role it currently is in; just a DAC with possibly fewer I/O's and still no mic-in. In that case, I'd rather just stay with my AF2 just because it's already here. That said, I'm trying to look up reviews and comparisons, but it's pretty tough for some reason. I can't get an AF4 for $200 though, unless I look to used, but no one is selling one. I can, however, get a new one from B&H for around $260+tax, I think. Unless I can get a couple more suggestions for alternative DACs (the couple I browsed seem to cost on the verge of $500) I'm very tempted to go the Audiofire4 route. Same sound signature as the already-familiar AF2, rock solid drivers, mic-in and just enough I/O's where it doesn't seem excessive, but I have enough to not have to swap a lot.

If I go the separate DAC and amp route, what do you guys think of either an Audiofire2/4 or another DAC, paired with the Matrix M-stage? From that massive thread it sounds like a winner, although seems like it could be FOTM or something.