I started down the audiophile path about 3 weeks ago. I did a few months ago and bought some SuperFi 5vis but never really went farther. A few weeks ago I bought a bunch of stuff for my budget beginners setup. I'd love to hear what you would change about it and why. And it doesn't have to be a universal thing, just your own personal opinion cause I'd like to learn about the different types of setups there are and how people do their things. I looked through the first 200 pages of "Pictures of your headphone station" and also the one with the "listening station" but all I really got out of it is that they're pretty looking. I don't know any of the brand names and wouldn't know a good setup if it hit me in the head. 
 
 
This is a sort of "all-in-one" type setup for my small room. Nothing else. I have 1 pretty large desk and a decent desktop computer. 
So I figured I should get the bare essentials first. Good headphones, IEMs, speakers, subwoofer, and a receiver. 
 
Here is my list:
Headphones - Shure SRH840 
IEM - Triple Fi 10
 
Denon AVR-2800 receiver 
Polk Audio Monitor 30 Series II bookshelf speakers
Polk Audio PSW10 subwoofer
 
Source - computer. Mostly FLAC (in the middle of a conversion for my entire library). Onboard soundcard > digital optical out > Denon receiver digital optical input > Denon onboard DAC/amplifier > Headphone out jack > Shure SRH840/TripleFi10. OR Stereo out to the speakers and subs. 
 
 
I tried to kill 3 birds with 1 stone by getting headphones, portable IEMs and loudspeakers and I'm wondering if I should sell one or another to get something that might be of more use for sound quality but from what I researched, the Denon DAC is pretty good and so is the amplifier. I do think the Denon sounds pretty good but then again, I haven't had any experience listening to setups that are really good so I don't know what the next step up should be. Should I sell the Triple Fi 10 or SRH840 headphones to get a better amp or DAC? Would it make that much of a difference from my already decent Denon receiver's onboard DAC/amp? 
Should I sell both headphone and IEM and invest in a more expensive headphone or IEM instead of having 1 of both? 
 
The name of the game for me is budget and my room is really small so I think I don't have to upgrade my speakers. If I sell the triple Fi 10s and the SRH840 that would give me a budget of $200-250 to look for a used pair of headphones in that range. Or is the jump from the Shure SRH840 to that range not worth it? Basically I'm asking if this is good enough or can I do better by mixing things around or getting rid of some stuff and getting something better?

 
 The 840's are a tough can to beat under $300 for a balanced sound, there are alternatives but it's a very good
 solid base at that price point.
 
 They do not really need much amplification either so the Denon Receiver headphone out should be quite
 suitable, although I am unsure of the output impedance of your particular model. The 840 in any case
 seems to sound fairly good out of most amps, I have not had one that has ruined it's signature - yet!
 
 Keep saving ~ eventually get a stand alone headphone amplifier to piggy back off the Denon Receiver
 and get yourself some open cans in the $250-$350 region.

Quote:

gwarmi said:

 
 The 840's are a tough can to beat under $300 for a balanced sound, there are alternatives but it's a very good
 solid base at that price point.
 
 They do not really need much amplification either so the Denon Receiver headphone out should be quite
 suitable, although I am unsure of the output impedance of your particular model. The 840 in any case
 seems to sound fairly good out of most amps, I have not had one that has ruined it's signature - yet!
 
 Keep saving ~ eventually get a stand alone headphone amplifier to piggy back off the Denon Receiver
 and get yourself some open cans in the $250-$350 region.

Click to expand...

Is there a big difference between open and closed headphones? If I'm correct, the open cans are usually more expensive and sound better right? I may be able to swing the $250-350 or even higher if I buy a used pair. I always see some good deals on all sorts of stuff. Would you have a nice good pair of open headphones (or closed) but in the $250-400 range ONLY or have both the Shure SRH840 and a triple fi 10 earphones? 
 
Does a stand alone headphone amp really make that big of a difference? I thought all an amp does is just make the sound "louder" or more amplified. I don't have any experience in this area and it seems every time i want to velve into it and go into the Headphone Amp forum, all the thread titles are discussions of model numbers and I really don't know what it means. How crucial is a stand alone headphone amp and would it be worlds better than my Denon receiver's amplification system? 
 
Thanks for the input btw. 
 
 

 
 
Depends on what open cans you decide to get really ~ what model is your Denon receiver by the way.
 
As a general rule ~ Receivers under $3000 in my experience tend to have the head amp section tacked on,
it's not all that powerful nor is it all that well designed for high end headphone use.
 
An example would be if you decide to get a good entry level open headphone ~ The Audio Technica AD900.
 
Use that with your Denon receiver, it won't need much more.
 
But let's say you come across some money and buy an Audeze LCD-2 or HD800 down the track.
 
Nope - the Denon receiver will not cut it and I'm not talking about loudness and volume, the Denon headphone
out circuit will not be able to control the drivers properly making them under-perform, effectively making
the purchase of such cans redundant. Detail, airiness and bass will be lost through an incompetent amp.
 
As for open cans ~ yes I prefer them in all cases for my taste to closed cans (I only own one pair) - they
sound more natural.
 
A good open pair for your Denon receiver would be the Sennheiser HD598, AT AD900 or even the AKG
242HD.

Quote:

gwarmi said:

 
 
Depends on what open cans you decide to get really ~ what model is your Denon receiver by the way.
 
As a general rule ~ Receivers under $3000 in my experience tend to have the head amp section tacked on,
it's not all that powerful nor is it all that well designed for high end headphone use.
 
An example would be if you decide to get a good entry level open headphone ~ The Audio Technica AD900.
 
Use that with your Denon receiver, it won't need much more.
 
But let's say you come across some money and buy an Audeze LCD-2 or HD800 down the track.
 
Nope - the Denon receiver will not cut it and I'm not talking about loudness and volume, the Denon headphone
out circuit will not be able to control the drivers properly making them under-perform, effectively making
the purchase of such cans redundant. Detail, airiness and bass will be lost through an incompetent amp.
 
As for open cans ~ yes I prefer them in all cases for my taste to closed cans (I only own one pair) - they
sound more natural.
 
A good open pair for your Denon receiver would be the Sennheiser HD598, AT AD900 or even the AKG
242HD.

Click to expand...

Sweet thanks, I'm going to look into those models listed and see how much they go for used. The receiver is the Denon AVR-2800. It's pretty good considering it's like 11 years old, much better than the newer Onkyo I had for a while that did "7.1" and had a bunch of features for home theater. Ah, amp driving the drivers, makes sense. 
 
Do you have any models of decent headphone amps in the range of $150-300 off the top of your head? it seems audio equipment prices go up to INFINITY and I'm not sure how a $5000 headphone amp compares to the $300 one. $300 still seems expensive to me and it seems like they would hit some kind of plateau technology-wise or diminishing returns after a few hundred $s. lol 

Quote:

pancakeplease said:

Sweet thanks, I'm going to look into those models listed and see how much they go for used. The receiver is the Denon AVR-2800. It's pretty good considering it's like 11 years old, much better than the newer Onkyo I had for a while that did "7.1" and had a bunch of features for home theater. Ah, amp driving the drivers, makes sense. 
 
Do you have any models of decent headphone amps in the range of $150-300 off the top of your head? it seems audio equipment prices go up to INFINITY and I'm not sure how a $5000 headphone amp compares to the $300 one. $300 still seems expensive to me and it seems like they would hit some kind of plateau technology-wise or diminishing returns after a few hundred $s. lol 

Click to expand...

 Two of the most popular amps within that price range would be the Fiio E9 (about $110USD) and the Matrix M-Stage ($250USD)
 
 Really depends though on whether you think you'll be curious about a high end headphone down the track ~ remember those two
 amps will give you all the volume you want but not necessarily the dynamics and capabilities of a really good high end can ($300+).
 
 

Quote:

gwarmi said:

 Two of the most popular amps within that price range would be the Fiio E9 (about $110USD) and the Matrix M-Stage ($250USD)
 
 Really depends though on whether you think you'll be curious about a high end headphone down the track ~ remember those two
 amps will give you all the volume you want but not necessarily the dynamics and capabilities of a really good high end can ($300+).
 
 

Click to expand...

Oh okay. I'm starting to get an idea now. It's hard to say whether or not I'd even consider going up high end like the HD800s or even the HD650s. I remember just a few weeks ago I found that spending $100 on headphones was completely asinine and ridiculous and somehow, after getting immersed in the audiophile world, $100 is starting to sound cheap. (Relatively speaking of course). 

In my opinion the next bump-up in sound quality means spending at least a grand on both a source, amplifier and headphone. If you're just looking for a different sound signature then any number of headphones will give you that.

Yeah looks like you're right. I mean I probably can squeeze out a tiny bit more by buying a $300 amp/dac but at this point with the Denon receiver (which is said to have a good DAC) I think any thoughts of upgrading should be pointed towards saving for a good setup around $1,000. I may be interested in trying different sound signatures on the headphones though, even though I think the SRH840s are freakin awesome. they're a bit heavy.