[Sordel]

I have the HD 650s on order and will be listening to them and burning them in from the headphone jack of an Arcam amplifier ... less than ideal, but it'll have to do until I solve my amplification problem.

I've got about $800: actually about £600, so p&p, taxes etc. make a huge difference to what I can buy from where. All along I've been focused on the Headroom Micro stack for the following reasons:

1) A DAC, especially one with a USB interface, will free up my PC (& iTunes) as a decent audio source.
2) I want an amp with a crossfeed option.
3) Portability is a nice extra, though not essential. The fact that the DAC is boxed separately means that I can just disconnect the DAC and travel with the handy Micro Amp when using my iPod.
4) I like the looks of the Micro range. (Shameful, but true.)
5) Switchable gain will be good when I use low-impedence

On the other hand:

1) I don't like the fact that the DAC will have cable spaghetti on the front fascia.
2) I don't like using heavy headphone cables into the 3.5 mm jack.
3) I don't actually need the amp to be portable and don't want to compromise the performance of the 650s by making that a priority.

I could (just about) stretch my budget and switch to the Desktop Amp with the DAC option ... maybe in the Portable version. That solves many of my problems straight away (and provides much better i/o options), but would stretch my budget to breaking point.

In any case, since there are so many experts here I thought I'd pass the DAC + Amp question along. Bear in mind that no idea is too stupid, so I could even buy an inexpensive combination DAC/Amp for home use and then a second, portable amp for travelling. I'll be getting some IEMs at some point, so it's desirable but not essential that the amp drive them.

 

[silverrain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sordel /img/forum/go_quote.gif I could (just about) stretch my budget and switch to the Desktop Amp with the DAC option ... maybe in the Portable version. That solves many of my problems straight away (and provides much better i/o options), but would stretch my budget to breaking point.

Stretch the budget and get what you really want -- you'll be happier later, if you don't compromise now. I learned that many years ago.

 

[jdimitri]

Corda aria sounds about right for you..
Except for the gain switch, i'm not sure though, it might have one

 

[Naoko]

I have the Headroom Microstack (With Desktop Mod in the amp) and am pretty impressed with it.

However, I picked up the HEED canamp for about £250 which really makes my 650s shine, I love it! (I think it looks really nice too!) When you take VAT and P&P into account the MicroAmp will set you back over £200 and given the choice I'd definately go with the HEED.

I'm not a massive fan of the MicroAmp at the porttable thing. It just eats batteries! I get about 3 hours out of it with rechargables.

I really like the MicroStack, I think it suffers from being a jack of all, master of none. If you're looking for a amp for home use only, you can do better for the money I think and again, if you want one purely for portable use...

I deliberately haven't gone into much detail about either, because I think you should really listen to the 650s out of your current amp first.

You may well decide that you definately want an amp still, but you'll have a much clearer picture of what it is you want from an amp. Then pick up your interconnects and your 650s, take them to a shop that sells the amp you want, get them to hook up the CD player you own with your cables and headphones - Or even better, listen to the amp in your home, at your leisure and decide like that.

I have to confess, I do regret buying blind (as you might have been able to guess ) and will do what I can do avoid it - After the Darth Beyers, ofc!

 

[Dimitris]

What about the Rudistor 33 amp? I have listened to it on the last NY meet and it was amazing. You will have to go balanced though. But if you want to make the HD650 sing thats the way to go....

 

[all2ofme]

I'd stretch your budget and go for the Headroom Desktop with the DAC. Perhaps the Desktop Portable if you want to be able to travel with it.

TheSloth's thread on the Headroom modules is excellent if you haven't read it already:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...=136059&page=1

FWIW, I started off wanting a Micro stack for my 650s and ended up with a maxed out Desktop and DPS, so be careful. That said, it sounds fantastic. Let us know how things turn out.

 

[Sordel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naoko /img/forum/go_quote.gif However, I picked up the HEED canamp for about £250 which really makes my 650s shine, I love it! (I think it looks really nice too!) When you take VAT and P&P into account the MicroAmp will set you back over £200 and given the choice I'd definitely go with the HEED.)

Yes, I checked out the Heed site yesterday off the back of the thread here ... basically I try to look at all the amps that are standard around here. The Heed doesn't have a crossfeed, and that's something that I want to have as an option, even if it turns out that I don't use it. Basically, I'm not much of a minimalist: I'm the sort of listener who uses the tone defeat on his amp but secretly yearns for a big, 80s-style graphic EQ. Nevertheless, I'll keep it on the shopping list. If they made a matching DAC I'd probably be more enthusiastic.

You're right of course, I should try some options out, and also I should wait until I've given the HD 650s a good tryout. Unfortunately, the supplier has been very slow to get the HD 650s out to me (I've still got a week to wait) and I'm impatient to start reaping those sonic benefits!

So basically I'm making sure that I'm ready to move out of the window-shopping phase as quickly as possible.

 

[mrarroyo]

Some possibilities:

DAC's
-HeadRoom Micro Dac at $300
-Lite Dac-AH at $160
-Musical Fidelity at $600 (www.musicdirect.com)

Amp's
-Heed CanAmp at about $400
-Dr. Xin's Supermacro IV about $350
-Ray's SR-71 about $400
-Mapletree's Ear + Purist HD at about $600
-Used Musical Fidelity X-Can V2 or a V3 $175 to $325 respectively

 

[Sordel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif -Lite Dac-AH at $160

That's the first I've heard of that DAC, so thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't seem to have a USB connection, and there's no way that I'm running an optical cable from my (electronically suspect) Audigy soundcard. Coax/optical/USB is pretty much non-negotiable.

Similarly, I don't think that the Supermacro-IV has a crossfeed circuit, so while it's possible, I don't see it beating out the Heed Canamp.