Does absence of an amp and/or dac really bottleneck the HD 598? - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by walden 

Hi, I received the HD-598 this weekend and it's like I'm seeing my entire music collection come to life again through a new lens. Needless to say I'm enjoying them. I bought the 598s as an upgrade from the M50 and at first I was a little disappointed but after short burn-in time I already feel it was worth the ~$80 higher price tag. 

By M50 do you mean the Audio-Technica ATH-M50S? Or something else? I've been trying to decide between these two myself. Up here in Canada the HD-598 is $300 vs $180 for the M50's. In the US the HD-598 can be had for $180 which is just a disgusting price differential. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Odd IO 
By M50 do you mean the Audio-Technica ATH-M50S? Or something else? I've been trying to decide between these two myself. Up here in Canada the HD-598 is $300 vs $180 for the M50's. In the US the HD-598 can be had for $180 which is just a disgusting price differential. 

Try buying some used HD-598s in the USA, might not have to play any import taxes.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism 

So either we're seeing the longer people spend on head-fi the more delusional they become, this I think is attractive to believe. On the other hand we're seeing people gather experience and decide for themselves what sounds good and what doesn't. Perhaps we will never know, the fact remains, those that haven't experienced anything better chalk it down to delusional Behavior.

What a load of patronising tosh. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRUB 

 

What a load of patronising tosh. 

+1.  

When you're superior, you KNOW you're superior.  "Facts" sure are hard to argue with, aren't they?
 

Rather than throwing stones formulate a reply.

This thread seems to be going well .......... 

If I have a concern with the HD598, its the extent to which it shares its sound with its forbear, the 595 - really wouldn't be happy paying 300 *anything* for that turkey. Happy to hear that its a whole new headphone, and we can safely put the 595 back in the Hurt Locker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWuss 


I, for one, am not convinced that the slew of $100 dacs and amps out there offer much in the way of improvement over decent onboard sound.
That doesnt mean, however, that a nice stand alone dac and desktop amp wont be a revelation to you.
 

The last time I heard 'decent onboard sound' was my 2008 Macbook Pro, and that was hardly stellar in terms of bass punch. I have 2011 Toshiba Core-i3 with Intel's integrated audio 'solution', and the kindest thing I could say about that is that I can hear noises when I play music. Even the X-Fi Go!, a cheap little POS attempt at a DAC from (cough, splutter) Creative, is an improvement on most onboard sound in my experience. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism 

Rather than throwing stones formulate a reply.

To whom are you addressing your post?  No quote.

Soo... To answer the thread's question... No.  The lack of an amp/dac don't really bottleneck the 598.  I found that upgrading your source material is the best thing you can do.  Everything else will make it better, but I don't think it'll be THAT much better. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by walden 
Hi, I received the HD-598 this weekend and it's like I'm seeing my entire music collection come to life again through a new lens. Needless to say I'm enjoying them. I bought the 598s as an upgrade from the M50 and at first I was a little disappointed but after short burn-in time I already feel it was worth the ~$80 higher price tag. 

Anyway... Before buying these cans I read many conflicting views pertaining to the importance of an amp or dac. After a day of listening strait from my computer's sound card I don't feel these cans are lacking anywhere. After reading this thread I began to question the benefit of an amp or dac at all. This leads me to my questions.

How much of a difference will an amp/dac make with these headphones? Which one is more important? Will upgrading to something like an Audinst, uDac2, or e7 really improve the sq that much? If so, would the difference be equal to or greater than an upgrade in just headphones? Otherwise it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spend $150 or so and not gain at least the same satisfaction of upgrading to a new set of cans. If it make any difference, I have very strong digital music files, almost entirely FLAC rips from well mastered recordings.

On eBay, they sell single tube headphone amplifiers, prices run from $50 to $120, includes shipping.

Get a newer design that come with a delay, so when turned on you do not get a pop from the headphones.

They ship from China and arrive in 10-12 days

Tubes can add "warm" and "soul" to sound.

I can hear a differences between on-board and my $70 Muse 6922, when using $35 Panasonic RP-HTF600-S 56-Ohm.