Hi
I have been reading this forum for the last week or so...
I have recently been looking at doing a complete overhaul to my computer audio setup. I don't have a ton a money to spend and I listen to a pretty wide verity of audio sources. (Music 50%, TV 35%, Games 15%.) I like a good V shaped audio profile and I listen to a lot of Classic Rock and Alternative music. (Think Tom Petty and Modest Mouse.) My best music sources are only 320kbs so I can't really take advantage of / afford very expensive equipment. I listen to Speakers and Headphones pretty much 50/50 and I'm looking at upgrading both.
I currently am listening to a SupremeFX sound card that came with my Formula II Maximus motherboard => Headphone splitter => One side to a Panasonic SA-AK95 (that I have had for like 12 years) the other end I switch between my headphones. My current headphones are Steelseries 4H, Behringer HPX2000, and Technics HP-DJ1200A. The best I can tell the specs on my Panasonic SA-AK95 is two 70w amps with bi-amped 4 way speakers. Each Speaker has a 17cm Sub, a 12cm low mid, 6cm hi mid, and piezo tweeter. As far as I can tell the Sub is on one amp and the other three elements are on the other amp, The SupremeFX card is X-Fi but based on a Realtek chip set. Also even tho I switch my headphones quite a bit I leave the mic out on the 4H's always plugged in and use them quite a bit for voice chat when I happen to play games.
I'm not looking to spend any more more than $500 and I want to get the best upgrade I can on both ends of speakers and headphones. Currently I'm looking at something like a uDAC-2 runnig a Dayton DTA-1 and MTX Monitor 60i speakers, and going with either Audio-Technica ATH-A700 or ATH-M50s cans. I'm thinking I can use the uDAC-2 to run the DTA-1 and my music cans while just leaving my 4H's always plugged into my old sound card just for when I game.
The things that I'm really wondering is if the uDAC-2 is going to be a good choice for me switching between speakers and headphones as much as I do or if there may be a better choice, If the DTA-1 is as good as the old T-Amp 2, and if the MTX Monitor 60i's are really going to be any kind of improvement over the speakers that I currently have. Also I'm wounding what cans are better for what I'm listening to / my preferences and if there is some other headphones that are really good in about the same price range that I'm over looking at?
Thanks in advance for trying to answer any of my question, If you need any more details I'll try to do my best to give them to you, and also I'm sorry if anything that I'm asking seems stupid or redundant.
