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ISO: A Great DAC With Built-In Headphone Amp to Power Audeze LCD-2's, And Down The Line Be Used...

post #1 of 2
1/19/12 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 

All of the music I will ever play will come from a hard drive. My DAC will never touch a CD player or DVD player or record player.  and I am trying to plan out my not too expensive not too cheap setup that I hope to have a Computer on one end and some very nice headphones and speakers on the other.

 

This Is something I will build upon as I get the funds but I want to avoid replacing parts, which means fucusing on the headphones until I get the funds for the speakers.  The Speakers I specifically want a the magnepan's.   But they will not come till later and will require a big amp.   What is a Very good DAC/ head amp that will be able to power some Audeze lcd's down the line aswell as be a good DAC for my stereo system eventually?

 

I was thinking of something like Bryston BDA-1, electrocompaniet ECD 1 or Red Wine Audio Isabellina HPA using optical as a starting point and then adding the speakres and mono block amp down the line aswell as possibly a lynx aes16e to use aes/ebu connection to the DAC.   

 

And a potentially very stupid question:  If as stated above I will never connnect this DAC to anything but my PC.  Would I be better off just using a sound card like the STX?

 

Thanks in advance! I have fallen in love with this forum.

-Maximilian

 

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post #2 of 2
1/19/12 at 4:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximilian View Post

All of the music I will ever play will come from a hard drive. My DAC will never touch a CD player or DVD player or record player.  and I am trying to plan out my not too expensive not too cheap setup that I hope to have a Computer on one end and some very nice headphones and speakers on the other.

 

This Is something I will build upon as I get the funds but I want to avoid replacing parts, which means fucusing on the headphones until I get the funds for the speakers.  The Speakers I specifically want a the magnepan's.   But they will not come till later and will require a big amp.   What is a Very good DAC/ head amp that will be able to power some Audeze lcd's down the line aswell as be a good DAC for my stereo system eventually?

 

I was thinking of something like Bryston BDA-1, electrocompaniet ECD 1 or Red Wine Audio Isabellina HPA using optical as a starting point and then adding the speakres and mono block amp down the line aswell as possibly a lynx aes16e to use aes/ebu connection to the DAC.   

 

And a potentially very stupid question:  If as stated above I will never connnect this DAC to anything but my PC.  Would I be better off just using a sound card like the STX?

 

Thanks in advance! I have fallen in love with this forum.

-Maximilian

 

Benchmark DAC-1, two headphone outs that sound great and one of the best DACs out there. Get it used or new for less than the Bryston BDA-1. Also, unless you have a USB/SPDIF converter (a random and unesscary source of jitter), an audio interface, your only option of connecting your DAC to your PC is through USB which is just as good unless you have a desperate need to listen to 24/192 files. Personally the Benchmark has been an endgame DAC for me.

 

A question from me, Maggies and LCD-2? The two are pretty far apart sound signature. If you're partial to one sound, you might not like the other. I'm pretty you'd know that just by knowing the two names but just thought I'd warn you.
 

 

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