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WA2 + HD650 + VDAC.... where do i go from here?

post #1 of 8
2/3/11 at 7:54pm
Thread Starter 

i'm really enjoying the sound of my current setup,

 

and of course i have the voice saying "how can i make it sound BETTER??"

 

should i go for a more expensive DAC or better HEADPHONES or....???

 

this is my FIRST setup.

 

i appreciate your direction on this.,

 

Tom

 

meandmywoo.jpg

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post #2 of 8
2/3/11 at 9:28pm

nice picture :)

 

maybe upgrade the DAC

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post #3 of 8
2/3/11 at 9:35pm

id also say DAC too if you are happy with the hd650 sound.  upgrading the DAC seems to be the rage lately.  i went the other way and went headphones... im happy. either way you go, in a few weeks or a month or so, youll wonder about the other anyways! dont stress. jus pick one and go! :)

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post #4 of 8
2/4/11 at 6:11am

1.  Upgrade the quality and taste of your music

2.  Decide on what specific part of sound quality you want to improve

3.  Come back after a month or so after finding out, then ask the same question.

 

We can start dropping names of better products, but that won't help you identify what will really satisfy the fancies that you don't know yet.

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post #5 of 8
2/4/11 at 1:49pm

 

LAmitchell, I have been hearing "the voice" as well and now that I've got 100+ hours on my WA2/LCD-2 combo, I'm fairly confident that even better results will be obtained by changing from my modified Asus Xonar STX sound card to an external DAC. I resisted "the voice" as long as I could.

Notwithstanding tube rolling of the WA2, starting with the DAC as the next step makes the most sense to me.

After spending a few weeks reading reviews of many external DACs, I narrowed my choices down to these 3:

- Anedio DAC (ESS 9018 dac) $1270.00,
- W4S DAC-2 (ESS 9018 dac) $1499.00 and
- Van Alstine Vision DAC (Wolfson 8742) $1299 with switchable input option. (I believe I read a recent post by "Skylab" stating that he has the Vision DAC on order).

The Anedio is tempting for the 30 day evaluation/full refund if you don't like it policy, whereas the DAC-2 has a 15% restocking fee. I think the Vision DAC also has a 30 day full refund policy if you don't like it. All 3 DACs are within a couple of hundred dollars of each other, so price wasn't really a deciding factor for me. In the end, the features, functions and reported sound qualities of the W4S DAC-2 (which I believe will mate well with the WA2) swayed me.
I've just placed my order for the W4S DAC-2.

Good luck with your decision.

 

 

 


Edited by Rizlaw - 2/4/11 at 4:00pm
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post #6 of 8
2/4/11 at 3:12pm

Hey Tom, nice picture there. smile.gif

 

It shows how much you love your current setup...i also think upgrading your Dac could be a nice step up.   

 

 

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post #7 of 8
2/4/11 at 6:40pm

For my money, the weak link in your rig is the DAC. Upgrade that first. Both the amp and the HD650s will allow you to hear all the difference a good DAc upgrade will bring. Then you will start having a better idea what your "flavour" is and what direction to go in generally.

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post #8 of 8
2/4/11 at 11:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rizlaw View Post

 

LAmitchell, I have been hearing "the voice" as well and now that I've got 100+ hours on my WA2/LCD-2 combo, I'm fairly confident that even better results will be obtained by changing from my modified Asus Xonar STX sound card to an external DAC. I resisted "the voice" as long as I could.

Notwithstanding tube rolling of the WA2, starting with the DAC as the next step makes the most sense to me.

After spending a few weeks reading reviews of many external DACs, I narrowed my choices down to these 3:

- Anedio DAC (ESS 9018 dac) $1270.00,
- W4S DAC-2 (ESS 9018 dac) $1499.00 and
- Van Alstine Vision DAC (Wolfson 8742) $1299 with switchable input option. (I believe I read a recent post by "Skylab" stating that he had the Vision DAC on order).

The Anedio is tempting for the 30 day evaluation/full refund if you don't like it policy, whereas the DAC-2 has a 15% restocking fee. I think the Vision DAC also has a 30 day full refund policy if you don't like it. All 3 DACs are within a couple of hundred dollars of each other, so price wasn't really a deciding factor for me. In the end, the features, functions and reported sound qualities of the W4S DAC-2 (which I believe will mate well with the WA2) swayed me.
I've just placed my order for the W4S DAC-2.

Good luck with your decision.

 

 

THANK YOU rizlaw.

 

that's the kind of info i was hoping to get from this post.

 

i will now start planning/saving to spend the amount of $ you listed.

 

let us know which one you go with. hopefully by then i will be able to buy

and will base my choice on yours.

 

Tom

 

 

 

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