Looking for a desktop setup Budget 1000$

What do you do with your computer? Are you a gamer or casual user? Do you watch a lot of movies, master audio... What? I could tell you the parts to buy to build one or I could just say, "Grab an ASUS."

If you aren't planning on building... Just buy an ASUS or a Mac, as your preference takes you. Those two brands because they are the most reliable on the market. If you were going to be building a PC I'd be telling you to get most of your parts directly from ASUS anyway.

You really need to give us specifics on what you want to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kellybundy110 

 by setup i mean head audio setup for headphones.

Something like Amp/Dac? Which hp's are you buying? 

So you don't need speakers at all? Just a dac, amp, and headphones? $1000 for just that leaves you a pretty wide range of options. If you liked your HD 555's than I would suggest the Senn HD 650's ($450), a Little Dot MK IV ($300), and an HRT Music Streamer II usb dac ($150). It should blow your current setup out of the water. 

I suggest you get the best headphones within your budget before getting a expensive dac or amp, as you will see a much larger difference getting better headphones than a dac or amp.

I suggest you look at getting a pair of lcd-2's and a fiio e9 + any half decent dac (uca202, emu 0202, e7, etc).

wouldn't the lcd-2's use up pretty much the entire budget? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by bik2101 

wouldn't the lcd-2's use up pretty much the entire budget? 

Yes and they are entirely worth it, the lcd-2's with a cheap amp and dac will sound better than cheaper headphones with a much "better" dac and headphone amp.

the tubes can be swapped around. some have different sound characteristics than others. but there are also different types of tubes - power tubes and just regular (?) sound tubes (sorry not sure exactly how to refer to these). 

Hi,

I would generally recommend you spend your money on the best pair of headphones you can afford in your budget, and allocate your remaining money among DACs and Amps. 

You may also consider used gear as Head-Fi has a very active FS/FT community. I found a STAX SR-404/SRM-313 combo in excellent condition for less than $700 and I am doubtful that any amp/headphone combo for less than $1k can deliver a similar level of performance. Only downside there is that STAX system is not compatible with other headphone gear. But that may actually be a blessing in disguise as it cuts down on your urge to upgrade...

Until you realize you can have more than one system and start collecting gear again. Sigh.

Jack