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New Amp for Sennheiser HD598's for <250$

post #1 of 8
10/15/12 at 6:06pm
Thread Starter 

I just recently got myself a pair of HD598's and after burning them in I'm very satisfied with the sound. Right now i usually just hook them up to my Fiio e11 amp and my ipod. I was looking at getting a full sized desktop amp as it's a pain always charging the e11 and i never really use it portably, I mainly got it for its price as I needed a starter amp for the HD598's. I have been looking at a Schiit Asgard amp or a Matrix M-stage amp as these seem to be the best options in my price range. I'm looking for any opinions on amps in this price range on these factors:

1. How much of an improvement is it from the e11? Is the difference day and night?

2. Any deals or great price/performance amps would be great as im 17 years old working on minimum wage while in high school, so my budget is pretty slim.

3. I plan on getting a Asus stx or one of the new z series Creative cards for my computer to use as a DAC. Not sure if the external DAC's are better or not I haven't researched this aspect very much yet, but i would also need to be able to plug my Klipsch pro media 2.1 speakers into them and have it connect to my computer (games and movies are also a factor for the DAC).

 

Any opinions or suggestions would be great! If you need any additional information to make your assumptions feel free to ask.


Edited by CoolcatTC - 10/15/12 at 6:37pm
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post #2 of 8
10/15/12 at 7:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolcatTC View Post

I just recently got myself a pair of HD598's and after burning them in I'm very satisfied with the sound. Right now i usually just hook them up to my Fiio e11 amp and my iPod. I was looking at getting a full sized desktop amp as it's a pain always charging the e11 and i never really use it portably, I mainly got it for its price as I needed a starter amp for the HD598's. I have been looking at a Schiit Asgard amp or a Matrix M-stage amp as these seem to be the best options in my price range. I'm looking for any opinions on amps in this price range on these factors:

1. How much of an improvement is it from the e11? Is the difference day and night?

2. Any deals or great price/performance amps would be great as im 17 years old working on minimum wage while in high school, so my budget is pretty slim.

3. I plan on getting a Asus stx or one of the new z series Creative cards for my computer to use as a DAC. Not sure if the external DAC's are better or not I haven't researched this aspect very much yet, but i would also need to be able to plug my Klipsch pro media 2.1 speakers into them and have it connect to my computer (games and movies are also a factor for the DAC).

For $15, off eBay, you can get 2 spare batteries (BL-5B) and a simple AC powered battery wall charger.

I think the Fiio E11 portable headphone amplifier is a sweet sounding amplifier and the HD598 are fairly easy to drive.

 

Asus Xonar DX (PCI-E) sound card, comes with the same audio processor (CMI8788) as the Essence STX or ST.

DX comes with most of the surround sound features as the STX & ST, the Xonar DX's comes with the CS4398 DAC chip.

Buy-dot-com is selling it for $44.14, plus $8.35 shipping

http://www.buy.com/prod/asus-xonar-dx-7-1-channels-pci-express-sound-card/207955060.html?listingId=246194361

 

So, for around $68, you can game, watch movies and listen to nice audio music.

 

What make and model is your motherboard?

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post #3 of 8
10/16/12 at 1:10pm
Thread Starter 

I have a Asus Formula IV mobo, it says it comes with creative x-fi on board, but its not that great. It has tons of expansion slots however so either a pci or pci-e is fine. I built my computer myself so installing it would'nt be a big deal.

Are their really any notary advantages to a more expensive DAC or amp then the ones you mentioned?

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post #4 of 8
10/16/12 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolcatTC View Post

I have a Asus Formula IV mobo, it says it comes with creative x-fi on board, but its not that great. It has tons of expansion slots however so either a pci or pci-e is fine. I built my computer myself so installing it would'nt be a big deal.

Are their really any notary advantages to a more expensive DAC or amp then the ones you mentioned?

Which exact model Asus Formula IV motherboard do you have (there at at least 8 models)?

 

As you were talking about being having a "slim budget", I tried to come up with something fairly decent for the price.

You really should be spending more for headphones then you do for a DAC/amp.

So while the Schiit & Matrix-M might be great stuff, you should be able to spend a lot less for quality you could be happy with.

The HD598 (50-Ohm) headphones are fairly easy to drive, so they can work well with little amplification.

The Xonar DX & D1 sound cards have about the best DAC chip you can get, for a sound card, for the price range.

 

Another option is the SMSL SD-793II external DAC/Amp, comes with S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) digital input,

a PCM1973 DAC chip and a headphone amplifier and RCA line-out and only costs $60.

So you can have headphones and speakers hooked up to it at the same time.

And you should be able to your motherboard's built in sound features, thru the S/PDIF output.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110939972633?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

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post #5 of 8
10/16/12 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 

Alright thank you I like the look of the SMSL SD-793II. one last question however, is their anywhere i could get a cable that changes the R out and L out into a Front speaker out as I am having trouble tracking one down. Also the Asus formula IV is a Crosshair model

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post #6 of 8
10/16/12 at 4:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolcatTC View Post

Alright thank you I like the look of the SMSL SD-793II. one last question however, is their anywhere i could get a cable that changes the R out and L out into a Front speaker out as I am having trouble tracking one down. Also the Asus formula IV is a Crosshair model

I believe this is the cable your talking about, 3.5mm female to RCA.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021815&p_id=5612&seq=1&format=2

 

I like buying stuff from China because of the low cost and good value,

If it breaks, I would never want to pay for shipping all the way to China and have several weeks downtime for any warranty stuff.

I would toss the broken one and just buy new.

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post #7 of 8
10/16/12 at 6:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by PurpleAngel View Post

I believe this is the cable your talking about, 3.5mm female to RCA.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021815&p_id=5612&seq=1&format=2

 

I like buying stuff from China because of the low cost and good value,

If it breaks, I would never want to pay for shipping all the way to China and have several weeks downtime for any warranty stuff.

I would toss the broken one and just buy new.

That's exactly what I needed! Thanks man you've been a great help.

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post #8 of 8
10/16/12 at 6:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolcatTC View Post

I just recently got myself a pair of HD598's and after burning them in I'm very satisfied with the sound. Right now i usually just hook them up to my Fiio e11 amp and my ipod. I was looking at getting a full sized desktop amp as it's a pain always charging the e11 and i never really use it portably, I mainly got it for its price as I needed a starter amp for the HD598's. I have been looking at a Schiit Asgard amp or a Matrix M-stage amp as these seem to be the best options in my price range. I'm looking for any opinions on amps in this price range on these factors:

1. How much of an improvement is it from the e11? Is the difference day and night?

2. Any deals or great price/performance amps would be great as im 17 years old working on minimum wage while in high school, so my budget is pretty slim.

3. I plan on getting a Asus stx or one of the new z series Creative cards for my computer to use as a DAC. Not sure if the external DAC's are better or not I haven't researched this aspect very much yet, but i would also need to be able to plug my Klipsch pro media 2.1 speakers into them and have it connect to my computer (games and movies are also a factor for the DAC).

 

Any opinions or suggestions would be great! If you need any additional information to make your assumptions feel free to ask.

If you can afford a DAC, get it. As for the amp, no don't expect a "day and night" improvement. Improvements of such scales are all expectation bias, no matter how good an amp is. E11 is a nice amp but I got an E17 mainly because it's more flexible and comes with a DAC. But I digress... if you're getting minimum wage then you should be using that money more wisely. 

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