As an owner of the Sennheiser HD650s, I have always been on the lookout for relatively affordable (<$1000) balanced headphones amps. CEC, a reputable Japanese audio brand, is going to be coming out with a new balanced headphone amp sometime this spring: the HD53N...

sorry that im asking a probably redundant question, but i am still confused even after an extensive search through head-fi about external dacs and soundcards. does the soundcard affect the sound quality when an external dac is connected to it? for example, emu 0404 => benchmark dac1 and...

my parents noticed that i'm getting into audio and they wanted me to choose a good, complete speaker system to buy: speakers, cdp, receiver/preamp/poweramp, cables, and every other equipment needed. the budget is, as stated in title of this post, $2000. i really don't know how much to spend...

what would be a good amp (tube or ss) that will be future-proof to headphone upgrades (aka upgraditis, or whatever you guys call it ) around 1500-2000$? i currently have an hd650, and am considering a recable it with zu balanced cables in the future (i have heard that there's a great...

until i build my computer around december (with e-mu 0404), i have to use my crappy laptop as my source. i have an HD650 and a Gilmore Lite, and i want an external dac that would enhance the sound quality out of my laptop. but because this is a temporary setup, i do not want to spend a lot of...

i can hear people groaning: "aw, not a thread on this topic again!" sry, but please bear with me anyway, hi, i have been looking through the threads on head-fi for awhile, but this is my first post! ...*checks wallet* after a fair amount of research and inspiration from my...