[hoth17]

I have about $400 to spend, and I am looking at getting some Denon 2000 phones and a Little Dot II++.

Does this sound like a good purchase?

It will be for hip-hop, metal and games like cod4.

Should I look into anything else before I buy them?
Are there any portable amps that would be as good/better for the same price?

 

[miloxo]

A good source is also important, what do you have now?

Garbage in, garbage out =]

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Yes, whats your source?

 

[hoth17]

I currently have an x-fi Titanium Fatal1ty sound card, although I was thinking about getting a Xonar Essence STX.

I am also looking at the ibasso Boa (if I go portable), how does that compare to the little dot II++?

 

[somestranger26]

You might want to forgo getting the LD II++ and just get something that will function as both a DAC and Amp (the DAC in X-Fis is so-so), like the HiFiMan/Head-Direct EF-2 or the Essence STX, either should fit in your budget.

 

[hoth17]

If I get a DAC/Amp, and my motherboard has an onboard Coaxial port, will that work just as well as the digital out on my X-fi sound card?

Which has a better digital quality, a Coaxial or an Optical cable/port?

 

[somestranger26]

If the motherboard manufacturer didn't totally cheap out on the integrated audio, the onboard coaxial out should work just as well. There's really no definitive answer to which s/pdif interface is better, but I use optical since I wanted to avoid ground loop problems with my computer; "Best of the best" optical cables are also relatively cheap, since a nice glass one only costs about $25-30. If you were to get the EF-2 none of that would matter though, since it uses USB.

 

[hoth17]

Then that leads to another question.
How do these compare?

USB -> DAC/Amp -> Denon D2000
and
X-fi (Coaxial) -> DAC/Amp -> D2000

 

[hoth17]

this may be like comparing apples to oranges being portable and full size, but how does the hifiman ef2 compare to the ibasso d10?

 

[EugeneK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoth17 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then that leads to another question. How do these compare? USB -> DAC/Amp -> Denon D2000 and X-fi (Coaxial) -> DAC/Amp -> D2000

Do not use the X-fi coaxial out. The X-fi has a digital signal processor which operates at 48khz and cannot be bypassed - audio CDs are sampled at 44.1khz. Upsampling from 44.1 to 48 does some pretty nasty things to the signal. I swapped out my X-fi when I got my Lavry DA10 and I could not get my X-fi to output at 44.1khz.

If you do a search on "bitperfect soundcard", you'd get some idea of which soundcards have DSPs which can be bypassed to keep the sampling rate at 44.1khz all the way to your DAC.

 

[hoth17]

Do all bit perfect sound cards need special drivers? It is not a feature of nicer cards like the Xonar essence STX?

 

[EugeneK]

Personally, I'm using cmediadrivers - Project Hosting on Google Code with a SIIG, Inc. : SoundWave 7.1 PCI - (IC-710012), which costs all of $40, including shipping from newegg.

 

[hoth17]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EugeneK /img/forum/go_quote.gif Personally, I'm using cmediadrivers - Project Hosting on Google Code with a SIIG, Inc. : SoundWave 7.1 PCI - (IC-710012), which costs all of $40, including shipping from newegg.

Thanks, I bought that card. I ended up getting

SIIG > iBasso D10 Cobra > Denon AH-D2000

It was a bit more more than $400, but Im sure I will enjoy it.