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Looking for amp/dac combo suggestions

post #1 of 5
Thread Starter 

So, here's my situation. I've long been an audiophile, but I've always been one for open room audio setups with studio monitors.

I recently come into a work position where I'm at a desk most of the day and I'm allowed to listen to music (totally an omen).

I listen primarily to electronica: various types of house and trance, but I also listen to classical and metal on occasion. In other words, I have pretty broad musical interest.

I'm going to be investing in a nice pair of cans and I'm going to want a headphone amp to go with them.

Now, I realize this complicates my intents of this thread, because can/amp pairing is very dependent on which set of cans you're talking about. There really isn't a "one size fits all" type principle here.

 

That being said, I'm interested in a dac/amp combo for <200$

It's going to live on my desk at grad school, and I doubt it's going to move from there very often. So, it doesn't need to be portable, but if a portable one is my best option (I've looked at some FiiO ones), I certainly wouldn't be against it.


So far for cans, I'm really interested in the Shure SRH 940s but I'm not committing to them yet because I'll admit that I've never gotten my head into a set of open cans, only closed. I'm a big Sennheiser fan, so I've contemplated the HD 600s and the HD 650s as well. I'm going to make a trip out to the nearest guitar center and try on some open cans soon to see if I enjoy the difference in sound, because I realistically don't know what to expect.

 

As far as the amp goes, I've heard some pretty impressive things about the ZERO headphone amp, but I question if there's a more legitimate place to purchase one than Ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/09-NEW-EDITION-ZERO-24-192KHz-DAC-HEAD-AMP-OPA627-NEW-/120644872211?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c16fea813). I've also debated some of the FiiO amps. I've read reviews about the E7 and E11, and I've heard praise of very high expectations for the E17 which should be coming out very soon.

I'm not at all in a rush, so if waiting for the E17 to release and see what it's made of is a good option, I'm okay with waiting.

 

I'm open to other brands, but most of the other great amps I've ever seen listed are way outside of what I want to spend. As I said, I'm giving myself up to 200 to spend, but if I could spend less than that, it'd be great (more money to spend on the cans!).

 

I'm just looking for suggestions. I know that I'm probably going to get way more than I'm asking for.

 

Thanks guys

post #2 of 5

Try the FiiO E10 or the Total Bithead.  Pair that up with a set of ATH-M50 headphones and you should be set.

post #3 of 5
Thread Starter 

From what I can see, the FiiO E10 has pretty awful reviews, any particular reason for suggesting that?

The Total Bithead has been said to have poor EMF shielding, and it'll be next to a few different EMF emitting devices, so I question the validity of the statements that some people have made, I'll have to dig a little deeper on that one.

As far as the ATH-M50s go, I pay a lot of attention to details in my mid range sounds, and I'm not a huge fan of big "in your face" bass. I'm waiting to judge them until I try them on, but I feel like the Shure headphones are going to cater to my sound desires in a more contour fashion.

post #4 of 5

Hi fi man ef2a is a tube amp and USB dac.  It's just over 150 on amazon and gets great reviews.  The reviews say that the amp is great but the dac is a little week.  But for the price the amp is good and you could easily upgrade your dac later

post #5 of 5
Thread Starter 

If I'm going to spend 150, I'll probably go for a ZERO, since they're supposedly one of the better DACs you can get and the amp isn't half bad.

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