thekyle
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2011
- Posts
- 15
- Likes
- 0
First off, I'm incredibly new to amps. It's almost overwhelming trying to digest everything, so try to take it easy on me.
Anyway, I was originally going to grab an Asus Xonar STX to power my Beyerdynamic DT880 - 600 ohm headphones and Swan M200MkIII speakers. The speakers are probably a non-issue with whatever I choose as they have their own built in amping, but I'm hearing that the built in amp on the Xonar STX, while decent enough, will not power my headphones to their full potential, and that bothers me.
Now, I will only be using this setup for music as I have a 7.1 gaming headset, so that is not a factor. I simply want the best quality for music. Money IS an issue, so I really don't think I can jump into the realm of tube amps. The E7/E9 combo seemed like the best alternative with superior amping, but I'm speculating here as I can't seem to find any comparison reviews or even posts for that matter. I hear the E9 can really benefit from a better dac, so would the Xonar STX/E9 combo be better than the E7/E9 combo?
Tube amps seem to offer superior sound quality, but again, I really don't think they are in my price range. They also don't seem to be very plug and play friendly with some even DIY only. From what I understand, you can't just to connect them to your system with the default tubes and expect to hear angels singing. I imagine much patience and willingness to learn is required along with a fat enough wallet for experimenting with tubes. I confess that I really just want it to work.
I'm getting the feeling that I may have been much happier living in blissful ignorance...or at least slightly less poor if I never opened this pandora's box.
What do you think? What would be the best solution? Xonar STX alone, Xonar STX/E9, E7/E9, or a different alternative that I may be missing? Xonar STX/E9 would be about $330.00 and I can't really spend much more than that. I know a lot of you purists like to entice others to spend 2-3x their budget, but that just can't happen here, so try to be reasonable please .
Anyway, I was originally going to grab an Asus Xonar STX to power my Beyerdynamic DT880 - 600 ohm headphones and Swan M200MkIII speakers. The speakers are probably a non-issue with whatever I choose as they have their own built in amping, but I'm hearing that the built in amp on the Xonar STX, while decent enough, will not power my headphones to their full potential, and that bothers me.
Now, I will only be using this setup for music as I have a 7.1 gaming headset, so that is not a factor. I simply want the best quality for music. Money IS an issue, so I really don't think I can jump into the realm of tube amps. The E7/E9 combo seemed like the best alternative with superior amping, but I'm speculating here as I can't seem to find any comparison reviews or even posts for that matter. I hear the E9 can really benefit from a better dac, so would the Xonar STX/E9 combo be better than the E7/E9 combo?
Tube amps seem to offer superior sound quality, but again, I really don't think they are in my price range. They also don't seem to be very plug and play friendly with some even DIY only. From what I understand, you can't just to connect them to your system with the default tubes and expect to hear angels singing. I imagine much patience and willingness to learn is required along with a fat enough wallet for experimenting with tubes. I confess that I really just want it to work.
I'm getting the feeling that I may have been much happier living in blissful ignorance...or at least slightly less poor if I never opened this pandora's box.
What do you think? What would be the best solution? Xonar STX alone, Xonar STX/E9, E7/E9, or a different alternative that I may be missing? Xonar STX/E9 would be about $330.00 and I can't really spend much more than that. I know a lot of you purists like to entice others to spend 2-3x their budget, but that just can't happen here, so try to be reasonable please .