Ok folks, I'm a college student with a budget, and after hours of online research, these are the best DACs I found. Now, I really need your help eliminating, and comparing and contrasting these, since I can't compare all four of them anywhere close to where I live. Also, I don't care about...

hi everyone, A have a pair of grado sr80i headphones. I have been using it with my pc internal sound card..a while ago it occurred to me that I have a perfectly fine functioning mini stereo system (ten years old compact all in one cd, tuner cassette tape made by Sony- nothing fancy probably...

I'll soon be picking up a beyer 990 pro and an amp/dac, so I can improve my music listening experience. I'm looking for a good amp that will work with the 990 pro, music preference and as well as my cash on hand. My music preference consists of Hip Hop (50 cent & co.) Rock (Skillet, Red, Three...

Saturday 19.10.2012 i bought a pair of bowers and wilkins IEM's, today i found this forum and have realised that for me to satisfy myself i need to upgrade from these IEM's to a more stationary setup with full-size earphones, amp and DAC.   i'm a student for the time beeing so i dont have a...

hello,   the title says it all what would do you guys think would be better for hd800s, a asus xonar essence one or a woo audio wa2 and a dac ~$300 or a wa6 and a dac thats ~$400-$500 in price?                                                                                     Thanks...

Ive been looking around a bit for this as i am new to all of it and am trying to learn. I just am looking for some advice as to what DAC would match up well with the crack for my headphones and why...I havent been able to find too much on this so far so any help would be much appreciated!! i...

What I have is the following: * Moshi Clarus headphones * A computer with a Intel DH77DF motherboard that is running windows. * No soundcard of any sort. * No amp of any sort. I know I'm looking for a desktop amp right now, but I'm not sure what the different types are. I didn't see any sort of...

I'm starting to like my new HE-400 - bought last week after much discussion on Head-Fi.   Now I need a DAC and Amp - either integrated or separate - both are acceptable to me.   I'm quite aware that hundreds of options exist. Since the HE-400 is my ONLY audiophile headphone, and will be...

What is the sonic impact of violating the 1/8th rule with matching headphone impedance to amplfier output impedance?  Does the bass get mushy?  Distortion?  Is it linear where the worse the ratio is the worse the sound?  I have an amp that has an output impedance of 10 ohms and headphones that...

Hi there. I have owned my Headphones for 6 years now but always just had them plugged into my laptops. They were never used loud and I actually never used them because of that. Now I bought this old school Marantz PM710 and bought some new cable with the big jack for the headphones. Got my...

Here's the scoop.  Whatever I get is to be used with a NAD amp for home use.  I will buy an IEM for going out of the house.  I would love to buy a pair of 598's but they stretch my budget.  I have found them used as low as $180.  The 595's which seem nearly as good I have seen as low as $135 to...

I am thinking about getting the Beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm. I was going to get the Hifiman HE500 but since I would rather get a good pair of cans and a good Amp/DAC that will last awhile I am going to get a lower cost headphone and get a amp/DAC. So I am basically asking about which amp will pair...

Are there any made in USA USB DACs? My second option would be made in Europe.     Thank you!

Hi there,   I've had some trouble with the soundcard in my laptop (windows 7), and now the jack outpout won't deliver any sound. But the sound was pretty average anyway, and needed to be changed, so I did some research on possible solutions. This is what I've come up with:   Both Amp and...

How do they sound together? Is Valhalla a good match for my LCD-2?

There has been a lot of talk recently about the HRT Headstreamer II+ and Dacport LX as performing very well for portable USB DACs in their price range.    I was wondering if there has been a lot of progress that these have made from older dac's like the pico dac from a few years ago? I guess...

Which one would be better for audio quality, Im planning on getting this today and hoping it will best my zune hd ^^. By the way im using the music streamer with the akg q701 and fiio e9.

Hey so i currently have the hrt ms2 and am looking to upgrade. my price limit is $500. I've heard a lot of good things about the bifrost and the vdac so im looking to get opinons on people who have them already. I really am not in a position to order and return right now so i need your help...

So I was thinking about buying the O2 + ODAC combo for $250. But then I saw that if I was using a computer with this Is would need it to be USB. I this true? Also could I get a better amp and DAC for $250?

I have finally realized that it will take time before I can afford the system I have been researching and really dream of  - so I need to find a good compromise until I start making the big bucks ;-)    I have looked at:   HD598 Q701 HE-400 HE-4 K550 DT880 DT990   What...

So I am looking for a headphone for $600(I have a FiiO E11 for an amp but if I need them with a amp then add that into the $600 because I can't really go a tick over $600 and I dont have a DAC either.) So I have Grado SR80's right now and I went to the Sony Store a couple of hours ago and tried...

Hi guys, been a lurker here for a while, and finally made an account today :)   after reading about the fischer fa-011's on this site, I picked some up, very pleased, far more engaging than my ad700's they replaced.   im currently looking for a new dac/amp to replace the Fiio E10 im...

Hi,   I normally only listen using headphones at work where I am running a USB DAC (Music Streamer II) connected to a PPA. At home, I just use cheap 2.0 speakers with a line out from my motherboard. I noticed my motherboard also has optical out and possibly digital coax out as well. I have a...

I'm planning on buying the hd-600 soon and heard that they are extremely affected by what amp and DAC is used, so I want to pick the right one. My budget is 200-250 dollars for both amp and DAC, I don't know if my budget is enough to get a good amp that will make them shine so could anyone...

I just bought a Music Streamer II and hooked it up on a desktop computer running ubuntu. Dac plays fine but has popping and clicking noises while playing music that others have complained about. I was using a double usb cable (using 2 plugs into the computer)  to run the dac. Reading through...