A bit late but I believe on ASR the audioengine d3 was tested with the sennheiser 650 and Hifiman HE-400i which are basically two of the headphones you listed and performed quite well. I think there is slight improvements to the d3 since the review. In the past you could buy it refurbished for...

I really like my sennheiser hd58x as well, great set of headphones. I would highly recommend them.

If I remember correctly back when I first joined here a lot of people went the Mac Mini route as it was small and quiet and either upgraded the HDD or used an external. It seemed there was a few guys from what I recall wanting to build quiet PCs but most thought it meant having to go on a...

Better isolation from electrical noise from inside the computer would make the external dac/amp better in my opinion. Audio quality wise outside of that well it depends on what your comparing and what you think sounds better.

To vaguely reply, I intentionally left what I consider cheap out as people can argue that all day. So I left that out to let you decide on your own. Basic point was that once you hit a certain point which can be relatively quick for DAC's you can be paying for performance you most likely can't...

Dragonfly Red will work, I personally ended up with an Audioengine d3 that was refurbished for $45 I love using with my sennheiser hd58x. For Mac mini and laptop use a usb dac/amp stick is pretty much just one big dongle for all practical purposes and should make your audio setup quite easy and...

You hit the good enough wall quick with DACs, it’s relatively cheap now days to build a good one. The main limitation is actually our hearing. So once you have something your happy with I would argue headphones are where the money should be spent hardware wise as long as the amp is properly...

Set amount per month, my bank doesn't allow me to do percentages. I have Ally which allows multiple savings/checking/money market accounts. So our checks get deposited into one savings account than at end of the month I have a large portion sent to checking automatically. A few days later so...

I know you don't want comments on this but most people don't know about it. Look into Surefire Hocks Noise Breakers particularly the foam ones, it won't allow sound through the device over 80 or 85 decibels and it will dampen them. And it will allow other softer sounds through though a little...

Separate fun money accounts we get a set amount of money per month to spend on whatever we want. If I wanted to drop 5k on a single pair of headphones or Pogs (yes that 90s game we use to play as kids) today I can if I have the money and she may look at me like I’m crazy but that’s it. I...

I own the hd58x and bought the Audioengine D3 for it, refurbished it was $45. No idea what it will cost you. But I'm quite happy with it and have no intent on upgrading the dac/amp. Dragonfly Red would work good too I imagine for the smaller amp/dac sticks. Tell us what is easily available to...

Guestimate $500 or so, I've broken a lot of wires to iems and headphones. Which required replacement since I don't know how to rewire headphones. So I now buy stuff with replaceable wires. My end game was Sennheiser hd650 or so I told myself years ago. I ended up buying the hd58x instead and...

Their probably the main buyer. I don't know about you but I would drop 2k in a heartbeat if I was making money from that purchase or if I owned a business that relied on it. 2k for a personal expense I would very much hesitate on if it was just for pleasure. And why do I say 2k and not $500...

I have 2 of those, wife has 1 other. They all sound good but I wouldn’t call them neutral after having the hd58x, beforehand I probably call my wife’s hd681 Evo neutral. The Portopros always fell off easily on me, and even with my short hair (guy who prefers a buzz cut and let’s it grow a...

Headphones aren’t the easiest to select for movement as well once you step outside of things like running. I think IEMs are the easiest route and safest for what will stay on. Anything I’ve done exercise wise in the past from pilates, yoga, law/fire conditioning classes (college), martial arts...