Advice on Building a Rig

[ZephyrSapphire]

I'm planning to build a home rig for next year so yeah, I need advice. I'm planning to hook it up to a computer since I have tons of music. Trying to find the most neutral (no colouration) rig possible with a budget. I got this setup and wish to ask if someone could recommend a better one again within a budget.

USB DAC: Stello DA100
Pre Amp: Bel Canto Pre3
Amp: RSA Raptor
RCA IC: Revelation Audio Paradise Cryo-Silver™ Reference RCA Cable
USB Cable: Kimber Kable USB A-B
Headphones: Senn HD650 with Equinox Cable

Anyone got any better recommendations?
Here's my budget.
USB DAC: Max. $1,500
Pre Amp: Max. 1,500
Amp: $1,500 (Tube Amp)
RCA IC: $1000 for a pair
USB Cable: $250
Headphones: $1000

I see Nordost cables are good alternatives for silver RCAs. Anyone has any experience with Nordost cables?
Hoping to find tube products. Not interested in Wavelength's Brick USB DAC as it can't be turned off manually as my computer is running 24/7.

Thanks in advance.

 

[IPC_Skeeder]

I'm not sure if USB Cable @ 250$ is really necessary, with good USB DAC, you should not be able to see a difference between 25$ cable and 250$, IMO.

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPC_Skeeder /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not sure if USB Cable @ 250$ is really necessary, with good USB DAC, you should not be able to see a difference between 25$ cable and 250$, IMO.

Lol. It's just a maximum budget. Not a minimum

 

[IPC_Skeeder]

Ok, I thought that you plan to buy 250$ USB Cable, sorry ^^

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZephyrSapphire /img/forum/go_quote.gif I see Nordost cables are good alternatives for silver RCAs. Anyone has any experience with Nordost cables?

Our Patrick82 is very knowledgeable about Nordost Cables. Drop him a line and read some of his threads about them.

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Our Patrick82 is very knowledgeable about Nordost Cables. Drop him a line and read some of his threads about them.

Thanks for the info. Read some of his reviews but mostly about the extremely expensive Nordost cables and they seem to distort the sound rather than keeping it neutral. Oh well.

 

[wower]

I'm having trouble understanding why you need a preamp and an amp. Are you building a stereo rig? Most headamps are intergrated and amp only designs, while rare, are normally custom built. I know there are a few in existance. Do you need more inputs than the raptor's 2?

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wower /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm having trouble understanding why you need a preamp and an amp. Are you building a stereo rig? Most headamps are intergrated and amp only designs, while rare, are normally custom built. I know there are a few in existance. Do you need more inputs than the raptor's 2?

I know there are some intergrated headamps but I just want to keep my options wider so I can have a variety. And yes. This headphone rig will slowly become a stereo rig sooner or later. And yes again, I need more than 2 inputs as it would not only be connected to not one source but 3 sources and the Raptor was 1 short. My greatest option would be the RSA B-52 but that for now is currently out of my budget.

 

[kamal007]

its a big chunk of money on something that you may like or not? have you tried or heard any of those? theres quite a few headfiers in australia

 

[wower]

I really think - and remember this is my own personal opinion - that you are better off putting both your pre-amp and amp money into the a good headphone amp. Your into SP platinum extreme territory then. I'm kind of a purist in this hobby however. Remember to look closely at the Stello DA100 versus the Benchmark DAC1. That's a hard choice. Also if you split the pre-amp cost you can get upgrade your DAC to something like a DA220 mk2, which would really have you set into the far future.

 

[rockbottom]

if your amp doesn't have to be tube, you could try looking at the Opera as a DAC/Amp combo.

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

To kamal007,
That's why I'm keeping the budget to that limit for now. Just some entry level stuff for me

To wower,
Yeah. I've been reading about the Stello DA100 vs Benchmark and I'm slightly siding Stello due to its cost, availability, and its sole purpose of being a DAC and only a DAC. I've been reading about the DA220 mk2 as well but I read that the DA100 sounds like its big brother so yeah, I wanna see how good the DA100 is before thinking about the next step.

To rockbottom,
That was my initial choice to begin with but I want to try tubes. Again more variety as you can change tubes to experiment with the sound.


Thanks for the input people. I really appreciate it.
Anyone got any recommendations of a preamp/headphone amp combo with a budget of $3,000 max? Or should I save for a B-52 or Manley 300B?

 

[john_jcb]

If you are going to be using a computer as your source I would first invest my money there. I have listened to a computer setups at meets that were really well done and they all started with improvements in the computer. This is not an area I have investigated throughly but I recall sound cards and fan noise as two of the major contributors to sound problems.

I have also found it difficult to buy a number of well thought of components and assemble the best sounding system. Unfortunately we do not all live where meets are a regular occurrence but component synergy is key to a good sounding system. In my experience it is not as simple as buying the most expensive pieces available as how they sound together is more important. I have put systems together with less than the best cables for instance that sound better than the high end ones; system synergy.

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by john_jcb /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you are going to be using a computer as your source I would first invest my money there. I have listened to a computer setups at meets that were really well done and they all started with improvements in the computer. This is not an area I have investigated throughly but I recall sound cards and fan noise as two of the major contributors to sound problems. I have also found it difficult to buy a number of well thought of components and assemble the best sounding system. Unfortunately we do not all live where meets are a regular occurrence but component synergy is key to a good sounding system. In my experience it is not as simple as buying the most expensive pieces available as how they sound together is more important. I have put systems together with less than the best cables for instance that sound better than the high end ones; system synergy.

Good point about the systems. I'm building a gaming PC next year as well. Fanless and without a soundcard. That's why I'm using a USB DAC. So yeah. No worries about the PC. It's getting the music out of it which is my current concern.