need help deciding a DAC, AMP for HD800

First things first tuk123, welcome to head-fi.org.

My price range is below $2000...

What are your guy thoughts and suggestions? i want top quality sound!

I bought used on the Buy/Sell forum to keep the costs down.

I rip using the highest bit-rate setting of 1.41Mbps, WAV and use a paid for downloaded copy of dBpoweramp (instead of their trial version) as my ripping software.  Just finished re-ripping the whole library a few minuets ago.

I use a HD650 w/custom headphone cables attached to a Burson HA-160, fed by a Xonar STX for a transport.

A used Stello DA100 Signature DAC will be delivered in the next couple of days and the DAC will be fed by the S/PDIF output from the STX.

My opinion, the best sound comes from high quality, uncompressed, highest bit-rate rips, ripped WAV, fed to balanced headphones (this point I've not experienced but I've read) using decent custom headphone cables.  I'll be using single ended as the HA-160 is single ended fed with RCA inputs but the DAC has balanced outputs to maintain up-gradability.

Cost wise?  Let's see.  STX + replacement of Power Supply Unit with a modular PSU, $400.00.  Custom headphone cable $380.00.  Used DAC/Amp combined, ~$1,100.00.  Ripper program $38.00.  Total $1,918.00, for killer sound.

YMMV, so surf around, read and see what tickles your fancy.

I, also, would like to welcome you to Head-Fi!

What about the Zhaolu D2.5A w/ Zapfilter II for sale on the boards right now? I'm actually thinking about buying it myself. That matched with a Halide Bridge, M2Tech HiFace, Firestone Bravo, or some other USB->SPDIF device should sound quite nice and leaves a bit of cash left over for an amplifier.

I'll say, and this isn't from experience so take what I say with a huge grain of salt, I'd be more worried about the USB conversion to SPDIF/I2S and analogue section than the DAC itself. Make sure the DAC has a nice output buffer (discrete or simply well regarded opamp) and that everything is running on clean, low ripple, linear regulated power supplies. Clean DC current is the key to a wide soundstage and deep impactful bass.

The HD800 is a crazy resolving headphone, so you're off to a good start asking what source and transport would be a good match. That said, nothing beats your own research, meaning auditioning various gear yourself. Depending on where you're located you might want to make it out to a meet. <----Good idea. And, depending on what amplifier you choose (PPA, M^3 and Dynalo are good places to start, imo), you might be able to purchase a couple of the D/A combinations in question. Direct A/B and keep the gear that you prefer. Give yourself a week for your ears to familiarize with a given setup, then switch. Changes in your rig will be much more audible this way as opposed to listening to one setup for two seconds, then the other. Unless night and day, not much help, and you'll probably prefer the more forward/louder setup at first. After a while you'll become more aware or various coloration, graininess, flabbiness, sibilance, etc. that perhaps wasn't immediately noticeable. And just because a piece of gear sounds good on one track doesn't mean it'll be as good on the next.

Good luck on your journey!

I use a modified PSaudio Digital Link.  Mine had probably too much work done to it,  got it done at RAM.  Cullen modded ones are the most common.  The Digital link used to be a grand but now around $700. unmodded and then you can choose to mod if you want.  I heard this one at Canjam 09 and got one with a higher end clock put in.  Even the one i heard was up there with all the upper end stuff.  My price went a bit over your range in the end with the mods i did but you can easily fall below it, my clock cost more than the dac itself.  Works great into the Zana Duex-HD800 combo!

Nuforce HDP

Quote:

Originally Posted by beeman458 

First things first tuk123, welcome to head-fi.org.

 

My price range is below $2000...

 

What are your guy thoughts and suggestions? i want top quality sound!

 

I bought used on the Buy/Sell forum to keep the costs down.

 

I rip using the highest bit-rate setting of 1.41Mbps, WAV and use a paid for downloaded copy of dBpoweramp (instead of their trial version) as my ripping software.  Just finished re-ripping the whole library a few minuets ago.

 

I use a HD650 w/custom headphone cables attached to a Burson HA-160, fed by a Xonar STX for a transport.

 

A used Stello DA100 Signature DAC will be delivered in the next couple of days and the DAC will be fed by the S/PDIF output from the STX.

 

My opinion, the best sound comes from high quality, uncompressed, highest bit-rate rips, ripped WAV, fed to balanced headphones (this point I've not experienced but I've read) using decent custom headphone cables.  I'll be using single ended as the HA-160 is single ended fed with RCA inputs but the DAC has balanced outputs to maintain up-gradability.

 

Cost wise?  Let's see.  STX + replacement of Power Supply Unit with a modular PSU, $400.00.  Custom headphone cable $380.00.  Used DAC/Amp combined, ~$1,100.00.  Ripper program $38.00.  Total $1,918.00, for killer sound.

 

YMMV, so surf around, read and see what tickles your fancy.

 

your headphone cable costs more than the headphones themselves.

Another DAC to consider (which I just learned about and am waiting impatiently for) is the Antelope Zodiac or Zodiac+.

http://antelopeaudio.com/en/products_integrity.html

The Zodiac+ is out already but there aren't really any reviews yet. 6moons is about to finish their review on it (it's half done, but no aural comparisons yet). $2500 U.S.

The base model Zodiac ($1500) is not out yet (Q1 2011 is the word).

There's a few threads here about the Zodiac+ though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuk123 

thanks for the warm welcome guys!!!

 

my music library consists of mp3 320KB+, FLAC and Cd's. I know a good cable is important but I will look into it only when i have got the rest of the stuff.

 

I like the looks of The Zodiac+ and the features of course. audio equipment is like furniture to me, sound, feature, looks all equally important. but at EUR 2,895.00 i just dont know if its worth it. if they going to make a DAC at that price it has to be the best of the best of the best!! The Zodiac+ is too much for me and I dont think i can wait for the base model Zodiac Q1 2011 is way too long 

 

thanks bcwang for the Nuforce HDP i will look into it tonight after work, but from what i can see from their web page currently the stock is unavailable.

Your priority on the cable is right.

May I ask if you are in Europe? The price for the Zodiac+ in the states (via distributors) is $2500 U.S.D. so I'm not sure if 2.895,00 euro is correct as that would be like a $1000 difference.

Yeah it's gonna be a tough wait...

 

tuk123 wrote:

i want top quality sound!

Allow me to restate the most important point of my initial comment which had nothing to do with cables that everybody has overlooked.  You won't get "top quality sound" from poor quality rips.

Priority should "always" be geared towards ripping highest quality files first, before anything else is attempted.  Unless spinning, ripping "highest" quality files is the least expensive upgrade every audiophile can effect for their system.  FWIW, if you're working from garbage files, you're feeding your gear garbage and no amount of expensive gear is going make up for lousy rips cause the digital information isn't there for the gear to work with.

As the saying goes, "Garbage in, garbage out."

Australia?  That's the home of the Burson HA-160.  Check out Audio-gd gear.  Huge following here.  But ya gotta do PayPal and I don't do PayPal.

As far as amps go, of the dozen or so options I sampled at CanJam, I think the HD800's are simply a beautiful match with Woo Audio's higher end tube amps.  They are sit back, close your eyes, and drop your jaw amazing when driven by the WA5, but this is a little beyond your budget.  The WA22 is also fantastic though and would give you the option of going balanced.

In your shoes, I would get a well reviewed, modestly priced source for now (for example, I'm a big fan of my keces dac which I've seen fs used for under 200), and a high end tube amp to make those HD800's really sing.

I would suggest a Parasound D/AC 1100 for the DAC and a Luxman P-1 or P-1u for your amp.  Ups your budget, but not by too much, and you'll be set for a very long time.

A used RWA Isabellina HPA sounds really good with the HD800. I used to have that combo and found it very enjoyable.