[Glasha]

Hello, I'm Fabio, as I wrote in the title I need everything to enter in this beautiful world. I tried a few years ago to ask for help in an italian forum (I'm Italian), but apparently the noobs are not very welcome in that forum, so I was discouraged and I stopped my research. But now I'm here, because I really want to hear music (maybe for the first time in my life if you know what I mean) and become an audiophile. My experience as audiohpile is pretty poor so far: a good Sony DAP (I don't remember the name because I sold it and bought an other Sony DAP that is terrible, the NWZ-A15, just uproar for me) and some Bose headphones, the QuietComfort 3. Now my headphones are almost destroyed, I own them from about 8 years and they vibrate when I listen to some deep bass. I owned the Bose IEM too, but their cable is something terrible, it seems that a mouse ate it, although I triet all my stuff very well.
Now I want to go over and after some research I need advices.
I was waiting for the iBasso DX200 for about 2 years and after so many good reviews in this forum, it represents my start point. I want a DAP because I need a good source for home and for outside, I will use headphones for home and IEM for outside. My money is enough to buy a good setup for home, the IEM must to wait. For the headphones I think that the Elear are a pretty good choice, I like listening to every kind of music, my favourite genres are soundtracks, gothic metal (Nightwish) and rap.
2000€/$ so far, now I need some good advices for a desktop amp and cables. My budget is about 2600€ for everything. Please, be gentle and tell me if my choices are good or simply stupid.
I think I said everything, thank you very much for your time and your help.

 

[buke9]

Hello, I'm Fabio, as I wrote in the title I need everything to enter in this beautiful world. I tried a few years ago to ask for help in an italian forum (I'm Italian), but apparently the noobs are not very welcome in that forum, so I was discouraged and I stopped my research. But now I'm here, because I really want to hear music (maybe for the first time in my life if you know what I mean) and become an audiophile. My experience as audiohpile is pretty poor so far: a good Sony DAP (I don't remember the name because I sold it and bought an other Sony DAP that is terrible, the NWZ-A15, just uproar for me) and some Bose headphones, the QuietComfort 3. Now my headphones are almost destroyed, I own them from about 8 years and they vibrate when I listen to some deep bass. I owned the Bose IEM too, but their cable is something terrible, it seems that a mouse ate it, although I triet all my stuff very well.
Now I want to go over and after some research I need advices.
I was waiting for the iBasso DX200 for about 2 years and after so many good reviews in this forum, it represents my start point. I want a DAP because I need a good source for home and for outside, I will use headphones for home and IEM for outside. My money is enough to buy a good setup for home, the IEM must to wait. For the headphones I think that the Elear are a pretty good choice, I like listening to every kind of music, my favourite genres are soundtracks, gothic metal (Nightwish) and rap.
2000€/$ so far, now I need some good advices for a desktop amp and cables. My budget is about 2600€ for everything. Please, be gentle and tell me if my choices are good or simply stupid.
I think I said everything, thank you very much for your time and your help.

I really like the Questyle QP1R as a DAP. Good power to drive most phones and can be used as a USB dac as well and great sound quality to boot. I have yet to hear the Elear as it was at two meets I was at but every time that I had a break it was being used so can't say anything on it but the Utopia is fantastic. Your budget can buy quite a good setup for sure. The Elear's are highly regarded so that could be a strong choice. Not sure if you want a desktop setup or mobile one to use at home also?

 

[mag3472]

Hello, I'm Fabio, as I wrote in the title I need everything to enter in this beautiful world. I tried a few years ago to ask for help in an italian forum (I'm Italian), but apparently the noobs are not very welcome in that forum, so I was discouraged and I stopped my research. But now I'm here, because I really want to hear music (maybe for the first time in my life if you know what I mean) and become an audiophile. My experience as audiohpile is pretty poor so far: a good Sony DAP (I don't remember the name because I sold it and bought an other Sony DAP that is terrible, the NWZ-A15, just uproar for me) and some Bose headphones, the QuietComfort 3. Now my headphones are almost destroyed, I own them from about 8 years and they vibrate when I listen to some deep bass. I owned the Bose IEM too, but their cable is something terrible, it seems that a mouse ate it, although I triet all my stuff very well.
Now I want to go over and after some research I need advices.
I was waiting for the iBasso DX200 for about 2 years and after so many good reviews in this forum, it represents my start point. I want a DAP because I need a good source for home and for outside, I will use headphones for home and IEM for outside. My money is enough to buy a good setup for home, the IEM must to wait. For the headphones I think that the Elear are a pretty good choice, I like listening to every kind of music, my favourite genres are soundtracks, gothic metal (Nightwish) and rap.
2000€/$ so far, now I need some good advices for a desktop amp and cables. My budget is about 2600€ for everything. Please, be gentle and tell me if my choices are good or simply stupid.
I think I said everything, thank you very much for your time and your help.

OK so at this point you have nothing correct. You also have 2,600€ to spend correct. Are you looking for a home system only? Or for both? Just asking because I want to give you the best advice I can.

 

[Glasha]

Hey guys! Probably I was not so clear about what I'm going to buy, I'm sorry about that.
I need a home system for now, but I'm going to buy a DAP so I will spend some money in the future for the IEM for outside, basically I want to spend about 2600€ for the home system, in the future (I don't know when) I will spend other money for the IEM.

 

[dudlew]

Hello,

I have no idea what the elear sounds like, though I would love to find out, but I do know that you are putting up a lot of money there. Possibly enough to get everything you want with some cash left over. My recommendation is to try and listen to as many headphones as you can before you purchase.

What you have to first come to grips is that everyone has a different taste as to how music should sound. I think that is what you need to discover first. Are there any audio shops near you where you can go and try? Maybe research that first, and even if it cost you 100 euro to this, it might be the best money you ever spent. You may not like the Elear... you might prefer a Sony Z7 or AKG K712, or the new Beyer 1770 or 1990 or something else that is much cheaper, but you wont know until you find out what you like first in terms of sound signature. For me I hate piercing treble, so I kinda gravitate to the more treble relaxed cans, even though, if its very clean the treble extension is not that bad. But there are people who are serious bass heads or treble heads or who like warm and lush, or analytical, or what some people call neutral, or sterile.... the list can go on.

So if you can listen first do that... go on a journey of discovery first. You might discover a few things about yourself that you did not know in terms of musical enjoyment.

D

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  I was waiting for the iBasso DX200 for about 2 years and after so many good reviews in this forum, it represents my start point. I want a DAP because I need a good source for home and for outside, I will use headphones for home and IEM for outside. My money is enough to buy a good setup for home, the IEM must to wait. For the headphones I think that the Elear are a pretty good choice, I like listening to every kind of music, my favourite genres are soundtracks, gothic metal (Nightwish) and rap.
2000€/$ so far, now I need some good advices for a desktop amp and cables. My budget is about 2600€ for everything. Please, be gentle and tell me if my choices are good or simply stupid.
I think I said everything, thank you very much for your time and your help.

 
 
DAP : Fiio X5III (wait for the international release with the more polished firmware), 450€+; and  DK1 dock/stand (to keep it upright on your desk), 25€ 
 
Cable: 3.5mm to RCA, roughly 15€ to 50€ (just get the cheapest one from Audioquest)
 
Amplifier : Meier Corda Jazz FF, 425€ (includes shipping)
 
Headphone: Sennheiser HD800, 1000€
 
IEM : Earsonics EM3-Pro

 

[Glasha]

Hello,

I have no idea what the elear sounds like, though I would love to find out, but I do know that you are putting up a lot of money there. Possibly enough to get everything you want with some cash left over. My recommendation is to try and listen to as many headphones as you can before you purchase.

What you have to first come to grips is that everyone has a different taste as to how music should sound. I think that is what you need to discover first. Are there any audio shops near you where you can go and try? Maybe research that first, and even if it cost you 100 euro to this, it might be the best money you ever spent. You may not like the Elear... you might prefer a Sony Z7 or AKG K712, or the new Beyer 1770 or 1990 or something else that is much cheaper, but you wont know until you find out what you like first in terms of sound signature. For me I hate piercing treble, so I kinda gravitate to the more treble relaxed cans, even though, if its very clean the treble extension is not that bad. But there are people who are serious bass heads or treble heads or who like warm and lush, or analytical, or what some people call neutral, or sterile.... the list can go on.

So if you can listen first do that... go on a journey of discovery first. You might discover a few things about yourself that you did not know in terms of musical enjoyment.

D

I think this is the best advice that someone can give me, but I'm very unlucky because I can't do it: I live in Sardinia (an island), there are not that kind of shops here, I have to fly in Milan or Rome to find good shops, but there are only a few shops that allow you to try the headphones, but they have only a few brands, like Audeze and Sennheiser. I don't think the cost will be worth honestly.
From my poor experience I can say that I like deep and powerful bass, provided the bass will not cover other instruments. I really like a very good separation of the instruments, maybe from that point of view I like something analytical, but I want to have fun listening to music anyway. As you can see my ideas are a little discordant 

Thank you very much @ProtegeManiac I am looking for information about those products 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  From my poor experience I can say that I like deep and powerful bass, provided the bass will not cover other instruments. I really like a very good separation of the instruments, maybe from that point of view I like something analytical, but I want to have fun listening to music anyway. As you can see my ideas are a little discordant 

 

Not really discordant if you really think about it. Deep and powerful bass is just a headphone with bass response that reaches low enough and the amp driving it shouldn't be distorting. The HE400i would be the best choice actually as it's flat from 1000hz down to 10hz, whereas the HD800 has a bass plateau that rolls off earlier. If you can go with even bass response rather than boosting a part of it, then you can save half the cost of the HD800 by getting the HE400i instead.

 

On the other hand, if you get the Fiio X5III, it supposedly can run Neutron Music Player (and others), which gives you access to its parametric EQ. You can boost the low end of the HD800 a little (just to get the 20hz to 45hz range level with 1000hz, and then trim the treble peak, and you get to keep the slightly wider and much deeper soundstage of the HD800, which is great for Nightwish.

 

[mag3472]

​It sounds to me that you would  like the Shure SRH 1540,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL99sguzQTs    and      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_qBb0eOWC4    check them out. As for the Player, I would wait for the FIIO X5 3rd gen if not, the FIIO x7. For the amp, you could get the Chord Mojo, for home and portable use, or the schiit Mjolnir Balanced crossfet. The Schiit is not portable , I do not know how the Elear  is like but here's  some thing you can at least think about.

 

[buke9]

I think this is the best advice that someone can give me, but I'm very unlucky because I can't do it: I live in Sardinia (an island), there are not that kind of shops here, I have to fly in Milan or Rome to find good shops, but there are only a few shops that allow you to try the headphones, but they have only a few brands, like Audeze and Sennheiser. I don't think the cost will be worth honestly.
From my poor experience I can say that I like deep and powerful bass, provided the bass will not cover other instruments. I really like a very good separation of the instruments, maybe from that point of view I like something analytical, but I want to have fun listening to music anyway. As you can see my ideas are a little discordant :tongue_smile:
Thank you very much @ProtegeManiac
 I am looking for information about those products :wink_face:

Deep and powerful bass ,analytical and fun. Those don't usually go together for the most part. The Audeze LCD-3 ticks most of those boxes but doesn't leave much for anything else. I've heard the Elears are HD-650's on steroids so that would be close to what you want. For a amp a Cavalli Liquid Carbon is great and maybe a Schiit Bifrost multibit for a Dac.

 

[Glasha]

I take this hobby very seriously. So I decided to spend some money to visit Milan and to try out some headphones (in particular Focal Elear, HD800 and HD800s since I think they are what my ears are looking for). It will cost a lot so I will bring my family to do an official holiday and we will see Hans Zimmer in concert too (in Italy we say: two pigeons with a bean). I will have the possibility to try some amplifiers too, even the Mojo! But this will happen in June, so I decided to buy a DAP with the IEM for now.
I think my choice will be the iBasso DX200 + iBasso CB-12 cable + iBasso it03. (About 1300€)
I know that the DX200 has some Achilles heel (for example the battery or the single sd card slot) but in this forum people are talking very well about this DAP and I'm reading a lot of comments saying DX200 > Fiio X5iii.
Do you have anything to say about my choices? Am I spending my money in the right way or there are better options?

 

[danniao]

  I take this hobby very seriously. So I decided to spend some money to visit Milan and to try out some headphones (in particular Focal Elear, HD800 and HD800s since I think they are what my ears are looking for). It will cost a lot so I will bring my family to do an official holiday and we will see Hans Zimmer in concert too (in Italy we say: two pigeons with a bean). I will have the possibility to try some amplifiers too, even the Mojo! But this will happen in June, so I decided to buy a DAP with the IEM for now.
I think my choice will be the iBasso DX200 + iBasso CB-12 cable + iBasso it03. (About 1300€)
I know that the DX200 has some Achilles heel (for example the battery or the single sd card slot) but in this forum people are talking very well about this DAP and I'm reading a lot of comments saying DX200 > Fiio X5iii.
Do you have anything to say about my choices? Am I spending my money in the right way or there are better options?

I'm a noobs myself but I think you've got a very solid choice in mind. The feedbacks from the DX200 users seem to be extremely positive. I have a Lotoo paw gold and love it but read people saying the DX200 is on par of the LPG and some even say it's better.

 

[Glasha]

Are there better IEM for about 300€?

 

[serman005]

At that pricepoint, I like the Campfire Orion an awful lot. Beautiful sound. Remarkably detailed. There is also the Senn IE8, which is pretty darn good, too.

 

[Glasha]

Ok guys, thank you very much for your help, I finally bought my first audiophile treasures: Focal Elear; iBasso DX200; iBasso AMP2.
Now I have a little problem with the Focal Elear, they just arrived, but I forgot that they have the 6,35mm jack.
Where can I find a quality adaptor from 6,35mm to 3,5mm? Any good brand? I wish to not lose the audio quality because of the adaptor.