Alright, how about getting a Little Dot Mk III and a decent soundcard (perhaps an asus xonar of some sort). I could probably manage to get that together for about £200, which seems pretty good. Not sure about the soundcard though.

The other method worked pretty well as a quick fix, I'll try this when it's quiet.

Thanks for all the advice (even though it's confused matters somewhat). I'm still leaning towards buying the Zero, but those are good points. I suppose it doesn't matter too much, because I'll have both after a while, but still, it's nice to try and have "the best" I can for the moment.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gollie Buy the source first. Another issue you may run into is the terrible quality of the MB sound drivers. I would recommend a dedicated sound card also. I recommend Creative or Auzentech. As mentioned before...Garbage in = Garbage out Would...

Quote: Originally Posted by Ashirgo I do not know that particular DAC, but if many people say it is good or just good enough and none claim it is terrible, you will like it anyway Or maybe you had an occasion to audition it? Ash I haven't had a chance to audition it, but...

So buying the Zero first would probably be my best bet? Thanks for the replies.

I'm not sure if this is exactly the right board, but I'm going to get HD580s/600s soon, and I'm wondering what would give me the bigger improvement over on-board sound. A) Buying a DAC/Amp, probably the Zero, and getting a dedicated amp later. or B) Buying an amp, probably the Little Dot Mk...

Bought super.fi 3s first, and after the right channel crapped out after a month, I bought triple.fis. Now looking to buy HD 600s or 580s, a zero dac, probably a little dot mk III.

Quote: Originally Posted by wonderwall It's ok, I've got iron crosses, garlic, holy water and several weapons of silver at hand. Melt the silver down and use it for cabling

On the contrary, I tried them and they sounded pretty awful. They were tinny and pretty much bassless. Might have been due to the fit though, they were really loose on my head.

Thanks dario.

Quick question, more general than limited to the Zero. I live in the UK (230V AC), If I order one, should I go for the 220V one? Will that work properly without any sort of transformer?

Hopefully they'll leave UE alone in terms of the products themselves, but somehow I'm not too optimistic in that respect. Sounds like bad news to me.

The 80 ohm of the dt770s version shouldn't need an amp.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kuba Nevermind .

So are the K701s still being continued and are they going to be any cheaper now that the K702s are almost out?

Hand Held Audio is good, I've bought some stuff with them before. Amazon used to sell Triple.fis for £190, and they have a good returns policy. Other than that, your best bet is probably buying second hand.

Thanks for all your help. I'll probably get a nice headphone for now and then work around that, buying an amp and other gear later depending on if I feel that I need it or not. So now, I'm basically wondering what headphone to get. My budget is still about £200 just for the headphone, and my...

I'm looking to get into headphones properly, and would like some advice on where to begin. Firstly, some information. 1) I live in the UK, so some headphones/gear is not really an option to me (e.g. Grados). 2) My current phones for both home and portable use are my triple.fis. I enjoy...

Is this thing good enough to drive some mid-range cans such as the HD595 and the DT770 (80 ohms) to enjoyable levels? I'm wondering if I would be able to do that for a while until I can afford a better amp.

I'm really enjoying the bi-flanges at the moment. They isolate much better than the olives, and SQ is improved too. On a crowded train at about half volume on my ZV:M I couldn't hear anything around me. Isolation has gone from being merely good to being outstanding. My only real complaint...

EP630/CX300s or similar are perfect for this. Not the best SQ, but good enough for audiobooks and very small and comfortable to sleep with them on.

I'm trying the stock bi-flanges for a few days instead of the olives as I felt that the olives were muffling the highs a little too much. The bi-flanges aren't as uncomfortable as I remember them, and they certainly return the sparkle to the top end. Hopefully I can get used to the fit within...

Even if you insert IEMs fairly deeply, they shouldn't go deep enough to actually reach your eardrum and cause damage to it. As long as you aren't listening to them too loudly (which you obviously aren't) you should be fine.

Quote: Originally Posted by fdhfdy Also hate the strong PVC smell of TF10s. Hope UE didn't make them with such smelly material. I actually like that smell. Anyway, nice write-up, very informative.