[jsilbert95]

 
Hey, so I'm a brand new member here and a TOTAL noob to headphones and such, and I need some help.
 
So right now I mainly listen to music out of my 2009 Macbook Pro 13 inch, my iPhone 4, and my iPod classic 80g.  I'm looking for a setup for basically music only.  Sure I'll watch a TV show or movie once in a while on my comp, but this setup is mostly for music.  I am a music LOVER.  I listen to: mostly Jazz (all kinds from Acoustic to Fusion), Rock, Alt. Rock, World, a little bit of Electronic, R & B, Ska, etc.  I don't really know if I like the music to be bass heavy, but I am a bass player and always like to be able to hear the bass clearly.  
 
Ok, so I have a 450 dollar budget, and I would love a great over-hear pair of headphones.  I care much more about sound quality more than anything else, so I don't care for noise-canceling too much.  I have heard that I need an amp to make a good pair of headphones sound as good as they should.  So, what does this mean I need to get?  I want this headphone setup to be portable, but I also listen a lot just sitting at home, so should I get a portable amp, desktop amp, or both?  I don't really know anything about the amps tho... So I need a lot of help here.  I also need to know what cables I need to make everything work with each of my music-listening devices...  If anyone is still reading at this point (lol)  I would really appreciate some help on a full plan to get the best portable/at home setup possible.
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[DVDRey]

 
Quote:

 I listen to: mostly Jazz (all kinds from Acoustic to Fusion), Rock, Alt. Rock, World, a little bit of Electronic, R & B, Ska, etc.

 
Maybe D2000 or D5000 (from reviews) or Pro 2900, all are greats all rounder headphone.
 
Concerning the amps, it ll depend of your budget for these. A portable amp is not expensive but their desktop counterpart can be very expensive.

 

[NinjaSquirt]

Quote:

 
 
Maybe D2000 or D5000 (from reviews) or Pro 2900, all are greats all rounder headphone.
 
Concerning the amps, it ll depend of your budget for these. A portable amp is not expensive but their desktop counterpart can be very expensive.

D2K second vote. Skip the amp, maybe a E7 for the DAC section?
 
 

 

[jsilbert95]

Quote:

 
 
Maybe D2000 or D5000 (from reviews) or Pro 2900, all are greats all rounder headphone.
 
Concerning the amps, it ll depend of your budget for these. A portable amp is not expensive but their desktop counterpart can be very expensive.

Are those headphones good for musicality (hearing every instrument in a band)?  And my budget for everything is $450.  And would the portable amp be good enough for at-home use?


Quote:

D2K second vote. Skip the amp, maybe a E7 for the DAC section?
 
 

Hey, I'm a total noob, so what is a "DAC section"?  And i thought an E7 was a portable amp?
 

 

[hodgjy]

If you can save a little and stretch your budget to $500, I don't think you can do much better than this.  Seriously.  This is a high tradeoff, but it makes sure you get all three components in your chain.  You can neglect the DAC, but computer audio will not sound as good as it could if you neglect the DAC.  It makes no sense to feed high quality headphones a bad signal. 
 
DAC: http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HRTMSII
Amp: http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=1
Headphones: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/358337-REG/Sony_MDRV6_MDR_V6_Closed_Back.html
 
This is a compromise system for your budget, but it will sound very good.

 

[mosshorn]

I would probably say either a DT880/990, either the 250 or 600 ohm variant depending on what amp you choose (you can look these two up to see the differences, and go from there), and get a nice amp/dac like an Audinst MX-1, Audioengine D1, the Fiio E17 is coming out soon, or the Hifiman EF2A. 

 

[NinjaSquirt]

Quote:

Are those headphones good for musicality (hearing every instrument in a band)?  And my budget for everything is $450.  And would the portable amp be good enough for at-home use?

Hey, I'm a total noob, so what is a "DAC section"?  And i thought an E7 was a portable amp?
 

Digital to Analogue Converter, E7 is an amp as well as a DAC, digits have to be converter to analogue waves that we can hear before it's amplified by the amp (very rough translation of some very complicated stuff I do not understand). Very important step, laptop or even Mac DACs are not known for their quality. E7 is a pretty good for $70? I think. The Denons are not very hard to drive, so yes you'd get use the amp section but the DAC is what you need be concerned with.
 
Technically speaking you can get away with just plugging the headphones into your laptop and it'll sound good. So you need a DAC more than an amp. Musicality = sounds good, hearing every instrument is more... technicality. In that case, you maybe want to go with a Beyer DT880 with a decent amp, maybe a Little Dot MKIII.
 
 

 

[jsilbert95]

Quote:

If you can save a little and stretch your budget to $500, I don't think you can do much better than this.  Seriously.  This is a high tradeoff, but it makes sure you get all three components in your chain.  You can neglect the DAC, but computer audio will not sound as good as it could if you neglect the DAC.  It makes no sense to feed high quality headphones a bad signal. 
 
DAC: http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HRTMSII
Amp: http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=1
Headphones: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/358337-REG/Sony_MDRV6_MDR_V6_Closed_Back.html
 
This is a compromise system for your budget, but it will sound very good.

 
 
Ok, so you're spend the majority of the money on the amp and DAC (which can sometimes be both in one thing right?) rather than on the headphones?  I would have thought the headphones would take up the majority of the budget?
 

Quote:

I would probably say either a DT880/990, either the 250 or 600 ohm variant depending on what amp you choose (you can look these two up to see the differences, and go from there), and get a nice amp/dac like an Audinst MX-1, Audioengine D1, the Fiio E17 is coming out soon, or the Hifiman EF2A. 

 
So these are both amps and DAC's in one?


Quote:

Digital to Analogue Converter, E7 is an amp as well as a DAC, digits have to be converter to analogue waves that we can hear before it's amplified by the amp (very rough translation of some very complicated stuff I do not understand). Very important step, laptop or even Mac DACs are not known for their quality. E7 is a pretty good for $70? I think. The Denons are not very hard to drive, so yes you'd get use the amp section but the DAC is what you need be concerned with.
 
Technically speaking you can get away with just plugging the headphones into your laptop and it'll sound good. So you need a DAC more than an amp. Musicality = sounds good, hearing every instrument is more... technicality. In that case, you maybe want to go with a Beyer DT880 with a decent amp, maybe a Little Dot MKIII.
 
 

so the Little Dot MKIII is an amp, DAC, or both?  And why not the E7?
 

 

[hodgjy]

It's all about synergy and the weakest link in the chain.  Great headphones will show every flaw down stream.  Poor reproduction of computer audio will make for distracting listening experiences, especially on very high end headphones.  Great headphones will underwhelm if not amped properly.  But, a good amp can improve medium level and high level headphones alike.  Also, don't gauge the quality of the headphone based on the price.  The MDR-V6 is thought of very highly in many circles.
 
Also, I put more value on choosing the amp over a single headphone.  The reason being is we are more likely to purchase more headphones to be used on a single amp than we are to purchase several amps to use with a single headphone.  Get the best amp you can afford now, and then you have room to expand and diversify your headphones as you go along.
 
Just my opinion.  Other people will have different opinions, certainly.
Quote:

 
 
Ok, so you're spend the majority of the money on the amp and DAC (which can sometimes be both in one thing right?) rather than on the headphones?  I would have thought the headphones would take up the majority of the budget?

 

 

[DVDRey]

 
Quote:

Are those headphones good for musicality (hearing every instrument in a band)?  And my budget for everything is $450.  And would the portable amp be good enough for at-home use?

 
Yes, both have a very good musicality, but the Pro2900 is more technical where the D2000 is more musical.
 
 
Quote:

Ok, so you're spend the majority of the money on the amp and DAC (which can sometimes be both in one thing right?) rather than on the headphones?  I would have thought the headphones would take up the majority of the budget?

 
There is more differences between headphones than between amps imo. The first thing to do, imo, its to have a good headphone with a small amp, after you can buy a better amp with a good dac.

 

[jsilbert95]

Quote:

It's all about synergy and the weakest link in the chain.  Great headphones will show every flaw down stream.  Poor reproduction of computer audio will make for distracting listening experiences, especially on very high end headphones.  Great headphones will underwhelm if not amped properly.  But, a good amp can improve medium level and high level headphones alike.  Also, don't gauge the quality of the headphone based on the price.  The MDR-V6 is thought of very highly in many circles.
 
Also, I put more value on choosing the amp over a single headphone.  The reason being is we are more likely to purchase more headphones to be used on a single amp than we are to purchase several amps to use with a single headphone.  Get the best amp you can afford now, and then you have room to expand and diversify your headphones as you go along.
 
Just my opinion.  Other people will have different opinions, certainly.


 

Ok, thanks a lot, makes perfect sense.  Would you substitute any of the things you suggested in your original list with any of the other stuff suggested?  Or are you still staying strong with your original recommendation?

 

[pyrokid]

Hodgjy's recommendation would sound awesome for now, but the thing I like about it is that it would really easy to improve upon if you wanted to. The DAC and amp are both capable of driving whatever you throw at them. The V6's could be a temporary solution for now if you wanted to upgrade later, and you would only have to buy new phones.
 
If it were me, though... I'd say HRTMSII for the DAC, O2 for the amp, and SR60is. IMO, best bang for buck in all three components and people have said that the HRTMSII and Grados sound great together. The phones can easily be modded to sound significantly better than they already are as well, and while Grados aren't known for their bass when powered from a portable player they can really rumble with a nice amp.

 

[jsilbert95]

Quote:

 
 
Yes, both have a very good musicality, but the Pro2900 is more technical where the D2000 is more musical.
 
 
 
There is more differences between headphones than between amps imo. The first thing to do, imo, its to have a good headphone with a small amp, after you can buy a better amp with a good dac.

OK, good to get that different opinion.  So I have your suggestion for headphones, what about amp/dac?
 
 

 

[jsilbert95]

BTW just checking... Are all of these amp suggestions compatible with my comp, phone, and iPod?  And are you all suggesting just get a portable amp for now?

 

[hodgjy]

I have the Asgard and really like it.  It will drive many headphones very well.  I don't use a DAC because I listen to music off my CD player, which I think has a very good built-in DAC.  As far as headphones go, there are many great options.
 
I was just trying to figure out a total setup in your price range that would provide good synergy.  You could neglect the DAC for now, but unless they changed Macbooks since I bought mine, there is no unamped line-out.  So, you'll have to use the headphone out, which is basically rubbish.  So, I'd say DAC is probably essential.
 
Since the headphone jack on the Macbook is rubbish, you'll need an amp.  Those are critical.
 
I guess you could combine your amp and DAC into one.  Here's one example that is actually fairly decent for its price and what it is. 
 
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMEF2A
 
With that, you can spend about $300 on headphones, which opens you up to the world of the HD600s and the DT770/880/990s.  All great phones.  But, they will show flaws in the amplification down stream.
 
So, you can see that everything is a tradeoff.  There are several ways to split up your $450 budget.  I thought my first option was the most even distribution offering good synergy.  Other pairings may be better or worse.  Let's get some more opinions from others.
 
Quote:

Ok, thanks a lot, makes perfect sense.  Would you substitute any of the things you suggested in your original list with any of the other stuff suggested?  Or are you still staying strong with your original recommendation?