[sweetwilly]

Due to a recent--and rather funny--mishap with my old car, I'm getting approx. $920 from an insurance claim. Nearly what I paid for the thing! I'm pretty secure financially, and being the guy I am, I've decided to blow all of this free money on some combination of headphones/amps. My set up right now is just a vanilla iPod with a pair of Grado 325is. No amp, but they're my first real pair of audiophile headphones, and I'm thoroughly satisfied. But, due to the nature of my new found hobby, I have to spend more. So I want to spend $900 or so on a new setup, but I'm not sure what I should get (I'm pretty new to this). I've been looking at a few options: Darth Beyers, Sennheiser 650s, UE 10 Pros, Shure SE530s, AKG 701s... I'm lost. And I wouldn't even know where to start with amp selection. Portability is great, but not everything. I lug the 325i around with me, as inconvenient as that is. I listen to just about every genre of music, so I need something well-balanced. But anyways, any kind of suggestion or help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[Zeeky]

Someone's gonna ask what type of music you listen to, so you might as well put that down.

But I'm mostly posting to hear the story of your mishap. Please?

 

[gz76]

Well, I'm sure you'll have to try something with valves in it at some stage, so why not now! Maybe a Woo Audio / HD650 combo? That may be do-able with your budget. Also, I'm sure this goes without saying, but second hand will allow you to experience more if you're so inclined.

I'd also recommend getting a decent CD source. Although, doing so may make your iPod hard to listen to.

 

[sweetwilly]

My favorite and most frequently-listened-to genres of music are death metal, jazz, rap, and classical.

So the story went like this: I manage my own restaurant, and reluctantly let one of my assistant managers take my car to return some product that I'd borrowed to another store in the chain. So I get a call about a half hour later from her, saying some guy had hit my car. So naturally I freaked out, as she's not insured on my policy, and it's my only source of transportation at the time. Come to find out, it was parked in the lot behind the restaurant when the guy hit it. The door was open and they were unloading boxes from the back seat when the other driver backed out, and pulled my rear passenger-side door out with him. So they got hold of the police, got the insurance stuff out of the way, and I was somewhat alright with it. The door still worked, and I knew I was going to benefit greatly from it. About two weeks later I got a letter from my insurance company saying this dolt was trying to file a claim against me for having my door open--or something. And this is after all the parties involved had decided he was at fault. He was denied any sort of claim. Anyways, so I slept on it for about 6 months until I decided to get it taken care of and get my free money. So not all that exciting, but letting someone else drive my car turned out really really well for me.

 

[Azure]

To get the most out of your $900 you should get a home rig as you can then upgrade your source to something in the $400-$500 range.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

iMod ($250) + Hornet ($300) + RS2/HD650/UM2/E500 ($400)

 

[sweetwilly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gz76 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I'm sure you'll have to try something with valves in it at some stage, so why not now! Maybe a Woo Audio / HD650 combo? That may be do-able with your budget. Also, I'm sure this goes without saying, but second hand will allow you to experience more if you're so inclined. I'd also recommend getting a decent CD source. Although, doing so may make your iPod hard to listen to.

Would that make all that much of a difference? My iPod is going to be extinct here soon, as I've dropped it several times and the screen is half blacked-out. So maybe a source upgrade would be wise. And I'd love to buy secondhand, the only problem is I have no feedback here, and I'm not sure how well that would go over.

 

[gz76]

Feedback isn't so important when you're the buying, as you pay for the item before it gets sent.

CD as source is a fantastic upgrade if you're used to listening to compressed music on your iPod. In my opinion, this is the most important part of the chain. If you own all you music on CD's, but only ever listen to it on your iPod, then you're in for a treat when you get a good CD player!

 

[sweetwilly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gz76 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Feedback isn't so important when you're the buying, as you pay for the item before it gets sent. CD as source is a fantastic upgrade if you're used to listening to compressed music on your iPod. In my opinion, this is the most important part of the chain. If you own all you music on CD's, but only ever listen to it on your iPod, then you're in for a treat when you get a good CD player!

Is there any specific brand or model that you'd recommend, or that is regarded well? Would I need an amp, or would a unit such as that power most headphones sufficiently?

 

[EsthetiX]

You might want to get a couple nice (but very different sounding) sets of cans rather than just 1 SUPER nice one, for obvious reasons. Just a suggestion. I think it would be more beneficial overall.

 

[sweetwilly]

The problem is: my source sucks, and I have no amp. Seems like I'll have the money for only one good pair if I'm going to get an amp or new source.

 

[gz76]

NAD and Cambridge Audio make good budget CD players. You can also pick up some good second-hand entry-level players from well knows brands such as Marantz. You might also like to consider getting the highly regarded Oppo universal player, which you can always upgrade via an external DAC when you're well and truly hooked and your wallet is begging for mercy!

You'll also still need an amp.

 

[gz76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetwilly /img/forum/go_quote.gif The problem is: my source sucks, and I have no amp. Seems like I'll have the money for only one good pair if I'm going to get an amp or new source.

You're source doesn't suck - it just could be better. Given your limited funds, maybe you should stick with the iPod for now and re-rip all your music at a high bit rate if it isn't already. Then you can focus on a well matched headphone/amp combo. You can always get a CD player later or when your iPod dies.

 

[sweetwilly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gz76 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You're source doesn't suck - it just could be better. Given your limited funds, maybe you should stick with the iPod for now and re-rip all your music at a high bit rate if it isn't already. Then you can focus on a well matched headphone/amp combo. You can always get a CD player later or when your iPod dies.

Yeah I've already put most of my music on there at a minimum 192 kbps bitrate. The Woo Audio/Senn 650 combo sounds very intriguing, anything else you--or anyone else--might want to recommend?

 

[Snacks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetwilly /img/forum/go_quote.gif Due to a recent--and rather funny--mishap with my old car, I'm getting approx. $920 from an insurance claim. Nearly what I paid for the thing! I'm pretty secure financially, and being the guy I am, I've decided to blow all of this free money on some combination of headphones/amps. My set up right now is just a vanilla iPod with a pair of Grado 325is. No amp, but they're my first real pair of audiophile headphones, and I'm thoroughly satisfied. But, due to the nature of my new found hobby, I have to spend more. So I want to spend $900 or so on a new setup, but I'm not sure what I should get (I'm pretty new to this). I've been looking at a few options: Darth Beyers, Sennheiser 650s, UE 10 Pros, Shure SE530s, AKG 701s... I'm lost. And I wouldn't even know where to start with amp selection. Portability is great, but not everything. I lug the 325i around with me, as inconvenient as that is. I listen to just about every genre of music, so I need something well-balanced. But anyways, any kind of suggestion or help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

My suggestion is going to cost you $840.00 with the $60.00 remaining amount you could buy a pair of PX 100s (vanilla) to go with your "vanilla" iPod.

No... okay, well how about this; get the HD 650s and save up for a decent amp and source. The IEMs wouldn't be a bad idea for portability, but for the real-time dynamics you'd probably be better suited by sticking with cans.

If you want good cheap (in terms of less equipment for decent sound) you could always give the Bose OEs a try, well at least that's what this chick at the Apple store told me the other day...so it must be good; right?

You could always buy another beater...

GL, bro