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£3000 budget for headphone set-up - help needed

post #1 of 8
11/2/11 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 

Hi all,

 

I am looking for a headphone only set up with a budget of £3000 in mind. This would include a pair of headphones, a DAC and an amp. It doesn't matter to me if the amp and DAC are two separate components or just the one. I will be using my desktop PC as a source (it has both USB and optical connections).

I listen to a wide variety of music but my favourite is singer/songwriter both male and female.

I have already shortlisted the Beyerdynamic T1 and Audeze LCD-2 but am not sure where to start with the DAC and amp. The Beyerdynamic A1 amp seems an obvious choice if I go for the T1 leaving me with around £1500 for a DAC - any suggestions?

Also with this sort of budget in mind what would be a good match for the LCD-2?

How would you spend the money?

 

Thanks for any suggestions. I will research (and hopefully demo) as many recommendations as I can.

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post #2 of 8
11/2/11 at 3:08pm

For the LCD-2, either of these amps would be a perfect fit

 

Red Wine Audeze Edition or Violectric V200

 

I have heard the the LCD-2 rev2 through the V200 and it is very good indeed,

it provides a tonne of current at 50ohms (over 2 watts if needed) and the

background is completely silent (no noise what so ever when not playing)

 

DAC wise, you have many options ~ it depends on two general requirements

 

Do you want a DAC that offers detail over sound-stage and general musicality?

 

Or something that is reasonably detailed but it's strength lies in trying to

convey an analog type sound?

 

My recommendations would be :-

 

PS Audio LDIII DAC, Rega DAC and the Benchmark DAC1

 

The last one is the detail king while the PS Audio and Rega

are quite musical.

 

If you consider the V200 (since you're in Europe you can get a great

price from Germany) then the V800 DAC is also a fantastic DAC.

 

You should have enough money left over to run balanced XLR

cables between them to boot which is nice.

 

violectric combo (1280x960).jpg


Edited by Gwarmi - 11/2/11 at 3:11pm
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post #3 of 8
11/3/11 at 12:10pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for your reply Gwarmi - much appreciated.

Sounds like you'd favour the LCD-2s then? I have been leaning towards those based on the reviews intimating that it has a better mid-range than the T1s which would be great for the music I love.

Thanks for the recommendations too - I will research these in more depth

Does anyone else have any other suggestions or agree/disagree with Gwarmi?

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post #4 of 8
11/3/11 at 1:22pm

Best of luck Dangalf,

 

One more thing to note which I discovered myself regarding my own Rega DAC.

 

This thing performs well enough out of USB to USB but once connected via

Coax to USB (Audiophilleo 2) ~ a few people in the store were floored.

 

The Rega is definitely a 'Coax' biased DAC, like many I suspect, make

sure you audition any DAC you hear through both inputs.

 

In my case it made a massive difference when auditioning with the

LCD rev2's yesterday ~ sound stage and effortless pace improved

dramatically. One sign is to see if the USB input is limited to

16/48 ~ a good sign that it will perform far better on Coax.

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post #5 of 8
11/3/11 at 2:16pm

I would probably opt for the Beyerdynamic over the Audeze.  The LCD-2s are overrated in terms of sound quality, will limit your choice of amps because of their low impedance, and are uncomfortable to boot.  

 

I would opt for an OTL tube amp like the Woo 2 or the Decware CSP-2+.  I have owned a wide range of headphone amps, and I think you get the most bang for the buck -- great sound at a reasonable price -- with OTL tube amps. 

 

If you are going to use your computer as your only source, I would go for a asynch USB DAC.  Possibly the Wyred 4 Sound DAC2 or a used Ayre QB-9 or Wavelength.  But I would probably post a seperate question asking for USB DAC recommendations in the computer audio or the dedicated source components sub-forum here. 

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post #6 of 8
11/3/11 at 3:05pm

The Audez'e suggestions are good IMO, but I'd consider Stax as well if you have that kind of budget, would really suit the singer/songwriter stuff you like.

 

You could afford pretty much any of the Lambda bundles, or mix headphones and amp to your choice, and have plenty left over to get a world-class DAC like the Benchmark DAC-1 HDR. 

 

You'd be able to get to SR-007 territory by buying used probably.

 

Really if you're thinking of spending the kind of change you are you should try and find somewhere you can get to and audition stuff. Not a set of purchases to be made lightly.

 


Edited by EddieE - 11/3/11 at 3:15pm
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post #7 of 8
11/4/11 at 11:31am
Thread Starter 

minimus - thanks for your comments. My computer will be my only source and I actually read a few reviews about the Wyred for Sound DAC2 and liked the sound of it.

 

EddieE - thanks for your comments too. I hadn't really considered Stax but will read up. Definately agree with you that I should audition before buying, this is a serious amount of money for me. The idea behind the post was to help me shortlist some components and arrange some listening time.

 

As it's unlikely that one retailer will have all the components I want to audition under one roof I need to decide which item I should buy first. I'm guessing that of the three ('phones, DAC and amp) that the headphones make the biggest difference to sound so I expect I will decide on headphones first, purchase them and then audition different set ups to get the best out of those headphones - does this sound like a good idea? 

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post #8 of 8
11/4/11 at 3:32pm

You might get a more comprehensive feedback if you post about this in the high-end equipment forum.

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