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Need your help with new system components and setup

post #1 of 8
6/25/11 at 10:13pm
Thread Starter 

I just remodeled my office and have the new furniture and desk in there. Now it's time for the fun stuff...

 

This will be a completely seperate system from my home theater (which is in a different room). Basically my only source will be my laptop (my 2011 MacBook Pro or my Lenovo T410) where I play all my music from. The other component I have are my Sennheiser HD600 headphones. After looking on this forum for hours I'm convinced I want to get an amp and a DAC (or a combination of both). I also want to get a pair of nice active speakers/monitors as well (M-Audio or similar).

 

My main question is around the different setup choices and which components would be best. I'm not sure how to do this. For instance can I send music from my laptop through a DAC that feeds both my speakers and headphones? If so, how does the headphone amp factor into that? With my plan is it better to do a combo amp/DAC or seperates?

 

I have...

Laptop for main and only source

Sennheiser HD600

 

I need

Amp/DAC

Active speakers

Setup and configuration help

 

 

 

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post #2 of 8
6/26/11 at 2:36am

budget?

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post #3 of 8
6/26/11 at 3:36am
Thread Starter 

Up to $2,000 for the amp, DAC and speakers.

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post #4 of 8
6/26/11 at 5:36am

 As the DAC will be used with different laptops you probably need one with a good USB input.
Asynchronous USB is said to be best for audio but a DAC is of course more than a USB protocol only.
Today a fair number of “DACs” combine DAC, pre-amp, headphone amp and as a consequence volume control in one box.

This allows you to connect haedphone and speakers to the same box.

You might have a look at the Benchmark DAC1 for an example

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post #5 of 8
6/26/11 at 9:55am
Thread Starter 

Makes sense. The Benchmark DAC1 Pre looks like the perfect all in one product for me. Is there a centralized place to see other brands with the same features? I looked at the Peachtree Decco2 and Nova and they seem to be similar with the main difference being they have a built in 2 channel amplifier?

 

Any other options you guys can recommend with the same core features as the Benchmark DAC1 for comparison?

 

Also, what if I were only going to use it with one laptop - say my MacBook Pro? In that case is there a better connection than USB? 

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post #6 of 8
6/26/11 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 

And after looking into the Benchmark DAC1 product more closely the DAC1 USB suits me better than the DAC1 Pre.

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post #7 of 8
6/26/11 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 

So I've found some really good options for what I need (thanks to Roseval for pointing me in the 'all in one' direction).

 

However I still need some help deciding. This will be a desktop application and I want to go with one of the units that combine a quality DAC, quality headphone amp, volume control, solid plug and play USB functionality, and balanced outs. The unit that looks (and sounds) the best to me so far is the Bel Canto DAC 2.5 however I've read that the USB function is not up to par with other units at a similar price point. I've also read that the headphone amp on the Benchmark DAC1 leaves a little to be desired.

 

So far on the list I have...

 

Benchmark DAC1 USB

Bel Canto DAC 2.5

Grace M903

MHDT Havana DAC Balanced

Musical Fidelity (looking into this right now)

Others??

 

Any others that I should be looking at?

 

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post #8 of 8
6/28/11 at 6:20am

I think your wasting too much money on the dac, it's just a dac all modern properly made dacs sound almost exactly the same, i'd spend $500 max on the dac, you should spend a bit more on the headphone amp and the most on the speakers.

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