[cmmadrazo]

I just entered the headphone world with my recent purchase of a set of Sennheiser HD-600. I am not quite a season citizen but getting close. Anyway, I have my headphones plug into a Sansui AU-719(1979) and while listening to CDs through my nothing special Pioneer CD player (192kHz, 24 bit D/C). The sound is awesome, at least to my untrained ears(I can only turn the amp volume up three clicks or my ears bleed, normal?). I have been reading up on headphone amps, DACs and lossless computer files. Is it really worth all the work converting my CDs to digital files and purchasing a DAC for increased listening pleasure or is my set up good enough as I am more into classic rock and not classical or jazz? Any comments are appreciated.

 

[HamilcarBarca]

Quote:

I just entered the headphone world with my recent purchase of a set of Sennheiser HD-600. I am not quite a season citizen but getting close. Anyway, I have my headphones plug into a Sansui AU-719(1979) and while listening to CDs through my nothing special Pioneer CD player (192kHz, 24 bit D/C). The sound is awesome, at least to my untrained ears(I can only turn the amp volume up three clicks or my ears bleed, normal?). I have been reading up on headphone amps, DACs and lossless computer files. Is it really worth all the work converting my CDs to digital files and purchasing a DAC for increased listening pleasure or is my set up good enough as I am more into classic rock and not classical or jazz? Any comments are appreciated.

 
It's possible, but not guaranteed, that you might like the sound better with different equipment at additional expense and additional time and effort to rip the CD's; it's also possible it might sound the same or worse. 
 
If "the sound is awesome," there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Audiophiles listen to the money they've spent on equipment. Music lovers listen to the music.

 

[OPR8R]

Quote:

I just entered the headphone world with my recent purchase of a set of Sennheiser HD-600. I am not quite a season citizen but getting close. Anyway, I have my headphones plug into a Sansui AU-719(1979) and while listening to CDs through my nothing special Pioneer CD player (192kHz, 24 bit D/C). The sound is awesome, at least to my untrained ears(I can only turn the amp volume up three clicks or my ears bleed, normal?). I have been reading up on headphone amps, DACs and lossless computer files. Is it really worth all the work converting my CDs to digital files and purchasing a DAC for increased listening pleasure or is my set up good enough as I am more into classic rock and not classical or jazz? Any comments are appreciated.

I imagine your setup sounds quite nice.  You could do worse for lots more money.
 
I take it your Pioneer doesn't have a digital output (optical or coaxial)?  If it does, I believe you could bypass your CD player's internal DAC and use it like a transport by connecting it to an external DAC.  I don't know how much benefit over your Pioneer's DAC you'll be able perceive though: it might be worth a test.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

I have been reading up on headphone amps, DACs and lossless computer files. Is it really worth all the work converting my CDs to digital files and purchasing a DAC for increased listening pleasure or is my set up good enough as I am more into classic rock and not classical or jazz?

 
 
Quote:

I take it your Pioneer doesn't have a digital output (optical or coaxial)?  If it does, I believe you could bypass your CD player's internal DAC and use it like a transport by connecting it to an external DAC.  I don't know how much benefit over your Pioneer's DAC you'll be able perceive though: it might be worth a test.

 
Yup, the reason for converting to lossless and using a computer or some more dedicated audio server device* is a matter of convenience, not sound quality. If you're one who doesn't mind swapping out discs, then do get the DAC. However, make sure you get one of the newer DACs with one of the latest USB inputs as well.** I was on the same boat a few years back, only to end up with my CDPs busting their transports and what I had was a DAC with no USB input, or one that only worked with a computer in which it installs drivers. Reliabability is part of that convenience concern when shifting to audio servers. I've never broken a hard drive sooner than when I replaced the entire laptop or desktop, much less solid state memory on tablets and smartphones, but off the bat I think I've had ten transports in various types of CDPs*** give up the ghost on me ever since I went into digital audio (which was about 1995 or 1994 year of production of the Discman).
 
 
 
 
*or even a genera-purpose device such as a tablet or smartphone that can work like a computer but works faster as an audio server, with quicker start-up and less power/battery use, etc)
 
**the ones with at least 24bit/96khz aren't that much more expensive, that should future-proof you in case your kind of music is available in 24/96 and you decide to buy them again in that resolution. As for there being any benefit, suffice to say that usually it's the recording quality more than the resolution alone, so if you have for example a recording by a reputable audiophile company, no need to go high-res unless someone can confirm they did a better job on the high-res version. For me though, given around 50% of my music is metal along with about 30% jazz and 20% classical, that means the half of my music that I listen to a lot more isn't available in 24/96 anyway, so I'm not too concerned with this yet
 
***Various Discmans, my MD-CD deck, a Sony CD Changer and another Alpine receiver in the car, a bunch of Japanese CDPs and DVDPs

 

[Focker]

Like Protege said, the main advantage is convenience. I didn't have much interest in ripping my discs to my laptop, but I started playing around with it back in 2007. I bought a Squeezebox Duet and all of a sudden I found I was listening to music much more often. There was just something very cool about turning off the lights, holding the Duet controller in my hand, and having my entire music collection available at my fingertips. I've never looked back...
 
I currently have about 9000 songs on my laptop and I keep it all organized with iTunes. (Lots of people crap on iTunes, but I have found that it has worked absolutely PERFECTLY since day one...) I have the iTunes remote app on my iPhone, and I have a couple of AppleTVs, one hooked up to my speaker rig and one hooked into my headphone rig. I haven't had a single dropout, freeze up, or any other issue at all. I love having "concert night" in the living room with my Magnepans...what a GREAT way to relax after a long week on a Friday night.