[Slaphead]

First post here - looked for an introductions section, as seems to be the norm for most forums, but couldn't find one. So I guess I'll just do the introduction here and follow up with the questions I have.

Many years ago I was seriously into HiFi, but with a change of circumstance and a move of country, I ended up abandoning the hobby and selling pretty much everything including all CD's and vinyl. For the last 3 year my only sound system has been an old iPhone and a pair of senny PX200s, both of which recently died with one channel failing in the headphones, and the headphone jack on the iPhone becoming unreliable. To get some audio back I ended up buying an iPod nano, with a pair of AKG K430s, which were on offer.

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this pairing, but from the first listen I thought "Oooh, this is nice, there's finally a bit of bass", and then gradually I realised that I was also hearing things that I'd never heard before. For instance on one of the tracks from the Counting Crows - August and Everything after album there was a backing singer that I'd never noticed before, yet now she was there as clear as day, and separate from the main vocals. Suddenly there were individual instruments, and not just a mishmash of sound. This made me remember the years that I was enjoying HiFi.

To that end, I've decided that I'm going to buy a decent home setup. Basically I want it to be a spend once situation rather than going in low, then spending more and more money incrementally upgrading this and that, and finally getting the perfect rig having spent 3 or 4 times the money than I would have if I'd just bought the good gear straight out.

So having done some research my shortlist so far is as follows:-

Headphones: Sennheiser HD800, and/or AKG K701 (or Q701)

Source: Very probably a dedicated Mac Mini running iTunes where I'll re import all my CD's as lossless - I know what people are going to say about iTunes, but it isn't the trainwreck on mac as it is on windows.

DAC and Headphone Amp: Now this is really where I'm stuck. I really don't have a clue about the options available. I done some research but everything out there seems to contradict everything else, and it seems that once past a particular price point it really is splitting hairs So basically any suggestions on these 2 pieces of kit would be very welcome, and of course the headphone amp will need to be able to drive top end headphones.

Cheers, and thanks in advance.

 

[grokit]

For the AKG the Schiit Lyr is an ideal amp, and their Bifrost DAC would complete the picture quite nicely.
 
For the HD800 you would need to spend a whole lot more to optimize it. I like my Woo WA22 with the right tubes as an amp. Then you would need a balanced DAC and a balanced headphone cable, plus XLR interconnects; it's a whole can of worms for that one and opinions will vary.

 

[PanamaRed]

Quote:

For the HD800 you would need to spend a whole lot more to optimize it. I like my Woo WA22 with the right tubes as an amp. Then you would need a balanced DAC and a balanced headphone cable, plus XLR interconnects; it's a whole can of worms for that one and opinions will vary.

X2
 
Can't go wrong with Wyred4Sound DAC2 >> WA22 >> HD800

 

[Gwarmi]

 
 
In a nutshell, the K701 can be complemented with something like a $350USD Audio GD NFB-5 which
is a 'one box' DAC and amplifier in one, quite a competent one at that. Otherwise, you can opt for a separate
DAC and amplifier ~ something like a Violectric V100 and V800 for example, beautiful setup but already
you're talking $1800USD just for those two. 
 
Then there's the HD800 ~ forget this one unless you're willing to spend minimum $3000 between the DAC
and amp ~ very marginal even then. Preferably, $5000 or more and you're getting the thumbs up from the
guys in white coats from Sennheiser basically.

 

[Slaphead]

Then there's the HD800 ~ forget this one unless you're willing to spend minimum $3000 between the DAC
and amp ~ very marginal even then. Preferably, $5000 or more and you're getting the thumbs up from the
guys in white coats from Sennheiser basically.

The price is certainly doable, especially when you consider that photography is a hobby of mine where I don't think twice about dumping $3000 or so just on a camera body, or a single lens. So cost really isn't an issue unless we're talking a lot more than $5k or $6k - after that point I'd have difficulty justifying that to myself.

 

[Shubar]

Best advice is go out and listen before you start blowing all that money - either at shops or meets. 

 

[Slaphead]

Oh believe me, that should go without saying. All I'm really trying to say is that the budget is there for top end if, when I demo the stuff, I can really hear it.

I'm currently researching dealerships in my neck of the woods (Zürich, Switzerland) to try to arrange some demos of kit, but I fear that I may need to hop over to Germany to have a chance at listening to the real high end stuff.

 

[Hughkk]

u should listen before u buy those expensive rigs. even if u are rich, don't waste your money.
everyone prefer different sound signatire

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Oh believe me, that should go without saying. All I'm really trying to say is that the budget is there for top end if, when I demo the stuff, I can really hear it.
I'm currently researching dealerships in my neck of the woods (Zürich, Switzerland) to try to arrange some demos of kit, but I fear that I may need to hop over to Germany to have a chance at listening to the real high end stuff.

That would be ideal for sure ~ a quick trip to Germany for the day, buy the gear on the spot, perhaps grab the HD800 with you and have the amp and DAC
posted back to your address.
 
You certainly live in the country for stellar DAC technology ~ see 'Weiss' and their range, but that's really top draw gear considered to be the domain
of audio engineering.
 
4 x models that you may wish to look into that are very much quality units but fit the budget
 
PS Audio DLIII (American)
Rega DAC (British)
Violectric V800 (German)
AudioLab MDAC (British)
 
The MDAC in particular is an anticipated model down here in Australia ~ it's racking up the awards. All of those sit around the $1000 mark.
 
Minus the $1500 or so for the HD800 ~ leaves you with $2000 to $2500 to play with for an amplifier 'par excellence'.  
 

 

[jc9394]

On HD800, here is what I'm using and very happy with the combo.
 
PS Audio Perfectwave with Bridge >  WA22 or beta22 > HD800.  (Slightly prefer the tube amp)
 
Right around your budget, maybe a little more.

 

[grokit]

FWIW, if you're still considering the 701, I've heard it out of a variety of amps including balanced and SE out of my WA22 and it's as picky as the HD800. I didn't think it was that great out of the WA22, and it sounded best by far out of the Lyr.

 

[Slaphead]

Thanks guys. You've certainly given me a very good idea of where to start, and the level of equipment I'm going to need.

Now I'm going to try and trace down a WA22, with appropriate DAC, to listen to.

Cheers, and thanks again.

 

[Slaphead]

An update.

Well in the end nothing really came of this. Trying to get demos of the kit proved incredibly difficult, things got busy for me and this little project got filed into the I'll get around to it eventually drawer

As it happens the eventually kind of came about at the weekend in an unexpected way. Through a series of events I ended up in a DJ shop for something completely unrelated and just happened to spot a pair of AKG Q701s going for stupidly low money and one of those little Fiio DAC/AMP things. So I bought them completely unheard. My thinking was that I could always use the amp on my portable setup and I could always get a better DAC/AMP at some later date if the Q701s don't respond to the Fiio particularly well.

Anyway I found that the Q701s and that little Fiio thing work surprisingly well together.

It's certainly not the rig I was originally talking about, but at the moment I'm very happy. I really like the Q701's sound signature, and the amount of detail they deliver to my ears is, for me, pretty astounding, even from the Fiio.

I know the Q701s deserve a much better DAC/AMP combo, but when I'm enjoying what I've already got so much, it makes little sense to upgrade.

 

[Currawong]

What kind of music do you listen to? How loud do you listen?  That is 90% of it really. It's very easy for all of us to post what has worked for us but whatever you get has to work with the music you like the most. 

 

[uncola]

q701 plus fiio dac/amp is pretty much already a great setup.  But yeah I think the dac/amp is the weak point in the system and could be upgraded.  Maybe a tube amp would be nice for you to try out