[ilgello]

Hi lads!

I bought a pair of HD595 with the idea to finally start this "new" journey in the high fidelity....

I came then across you guys, what a wonderful forum, I've been reading loads of topics in the last 2 days and a new world made his appearance in front of me, a bit like when you reach the top of the mountain, you look down to admire the landscape and you say WOW!

To be honest my father is an addicted fan of classic and symphonic music, so since I've been a little baby my ears have been trained with proper equipment and I have to say wonderful music I still enjoy....

Now I think is the moment to jump and discover this new land by myself, I read a lot and I decided to write this post to listen some of your precious suggestions.

I listen various kind of music, love trip hop, female vocals, electronic and classic music obviously.

My source is a simple Audigy 2 zs (for the moment eheheh) and from what I've seen around the quality is far from good compared to a good dac.

After then lurking around I realized that an amp would not have been enough...

The emu 0404 would satisfy my "beginner" needs? Is there anything better or more valuable for that price range? My only resource by now for prices and products has been ebay, enlight me if you suggest me to look elsewhere (I'm Italian but living in Ireland at the moment).

As amp you forced me

to go for this guy: Little Dot MK III that could even be too much for my inexperience what do you think ? I went to David's website and you can get some spare tubes (I can't remember the model and the site is really slow now) for just 30$ so I thought it would have been nice to test the difference for a newbie like me what do you recon?

In case I'll have to buy dac and amp in 2 different moments I go first with the amp right?

Btw I have to say I'm happy already with the headphones but I think I need a deeper and warmer sound that's it

Thanks guys!

Ciaoooo

 

[PascalT]

I have the same phones and just got the Little Dot. aside from the noise issues I am having it seems like a fine amp. However, if you want to save a bit of money (for now

) you might want to look into getting a Beresford TC7510 (190.00 CDN on ebay) which would give you a much better source and it also has an amp.

Course it won't be better than getting the DAC AND the amp, but least you could knock 2 birds with one stone.

The Beresford would also help in the areas where the 595s are weak: bass and kick.

I got the amp first. Not sure if I did the best thing since 595s are easily driven.

 

[PascalT]

btw the Beresford is on sale right now for the weekend on ebay.

I just bought it.

 

[ilgello]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PascalT /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the same phones and just got the Little Dot. aside from the noise issues I am having it seems like a fine amp. However, if you want to save a bit of money (for now ) you might want to look into getting a Beresford TC7510 (190.00 CDN on ebay) which would give you a much better source and it also has an amp. Course it won't be better than getting the DAC AND the amp, but least you could knock 2 birds with one stone. The Beresford would also help in the areas where the 595s are weak: bass and kick. I got the amp first. Not sure if I did the best thing since 595s are easily driven.

Thanks for the quick answer and the tip

Let's see what the other members think in the meantime another component to add to my list

Edit: It seems not to have an USB connection how could I connect it to the pc ? Yes I'm a noob LOL

Cheers!

 

[PascalT]

To connect the LD to your PC you can use an RCA -> 3.5mm cable. I'd recommend getting a gold-plated one since the LD inputs are gold-plated as well. The LD comes with a set of RCA cables but no 3.5mm jacks.

 

[ilgello]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PascalT /img/forum/go_quote.gif To connect the LD to your PC you can use an RCA -> 3.5mm cable. I'd recommend getting a gold-plated one since the LD inputs are gold-plated as well. The LD comes with a set of RCA cables but no 3.5mm jacks.

So basically I still use my external sound card ?

I've seen they have a good opinion of this baby isn't it ?

 

[PascalT]

If you're just going to buy an amp like the LD MKIII then yes you'll be using your audigy -> LD -> headphones. If you were to buy a dedicated dac then you could plug it through the USB or sound card as a means to transport the signal to the dac and then to the amp.

You should look into the Darkvoice 336i as well, a lot of ppl rave about that amp as well, but it's a bit more expensive.

 

[ilgello]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PascalT /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you're just going to buy an amp like the LD MKIII then yes you'll be using your audigy -> LD -> headphones. If you were to buy a dedicated dac then you could plug it through the USB or sound card as a means to transport the signal to the dac and then to the amp. You should look into the Darkvoice 336i as well, a lot of ppl rave about that amp as well, but it's a bit more expensive.

Cheers I've seen I can you the coaxial or optical lines of my audigy 2 zs usb to connect to the DAC, also if someone was suggesting in some threads to change to a chaintech...

Anyway I bought the little guy from UK thanks for the advice, hope it will perform like the say, then probably for christmas a nice dot 3 why not!

 

[PascalT]

the chaintech is very cheap and a very good card. i think you can find it for 25.00 online.

enjoy the DAC

I am waiting on mine too now!

 

[ilgello]

Finally back after the long outage !

Missed you guys, I finally bought the Beresford and the chaintech is on the way....

At the beginning I wasn't really impressed then I switched to foobar and kernel mode and the music changed

Soon will be time for an amp Little dot III +

?

 

[wangerin]

I have the Audigy 2 ZS (internal,PCI) and had a very annoying hiss with the creative drivers.

I uninstalled and used Driver Cleaner and installed Kx drivers and the hiss is almost gone and sound has improved.

Give it a try, its a free upgrade if it works. It was enjoyable change as I noticed the difference right away.

This may be helpful,

Chaintech AV-710 Setup Thread, Including True 44.1kHz Wolfson DAC Output (Aug. '07)

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilgello /img/forum/go_quote.gif Finally back after the long outage ! Missed you guys, I finally bought the Beresford and the chaintech is on the way.... At the beginning I wasn't really impressed then I switched to foobar and kernel mode and the music changed Soon will be time for an amp Little dot III + ?

Yes, that would be a good choice for sure. Glad to see you are making progress! Let us know how it going.

 

[ilgello]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penchum /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, that would be a good choice for sure. Glad to see you are making progress! Let us know how it going.

Thanks

I will indeed!