[roosta]

hi there.

my emu 0202 i bought broke in 3 days, so after getting a refund on that im now looking at getting something else.
i currently own a pair of ultrasone HFI 780 and need an external DAC for my laptop. a headphone amp would also be nice to drive them a bit better.
i also have a decent sony stereo which i need to output to from my laptop.

can people give me some advise on DACs to look at and headphone amps to power the 780's please? total cost should be under £180, but im willing to stretch to £200 if really needed.
a portable amp would be nice, but if a full sized desktop would give much better quality il just stick to using my cx300s with my ipod.

combined dac and headphone amps are welcome, so long as they can output to the stereo as well.

on a side note, if i bought something like the meier 3move, could i use the headphone out to send the signal to my stereo? i know it would then be amplified twice, but how much of an impact does the headphone amp make on the quality of the signal being sent to a stereo? can someone please do a quick test if they can?

cheers guys.

 

[swayne]

Have you considered the iBasso D3? It has a line-out function.

Steven

 

[imademymark]

i think it depends on the quality of the amp in the dac+amp device, i chain a pico amp w/ dac out to a gilmore lite and i'm loving it

 

[dazzer1975]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imademymark /img/forum/go_quote.gif i think it depends on the quality of the amp in the dac+amp device, i chain a pico amp w/ dac out to a gilmore lite and i'm loving it

what he said.

If you could hang fire and save up a touch more to get the pico you'd be rockin'.

 

[qusp]

totally, if you can stretch to a pico w/dac you wont be disappointed. fantastic little units. quality enough to be used as a pre-amp without giving the signal chain another thought. its IMO the only portable dac that really gives the home gear a nudge.(bar the gamma1 ; which is dac only unfortunately or I would recommend it) the ibasso D10 is also starting to get rave reviews around here and allows op-amp rolling to tailor the sound sig to your taste. the ibasso also has optical input if your lappie supports that. sounds better than USB IMO. its this kind-of pricerange where IMO the portable units still have the advantage, spend a touch more and you can get all sorts of wonderful stuff. but yeah for a cheaper option check the D10

 

[Currawong]

The Compass would be perfect for you, if you don't mind waiting for the next batch to be built as it can be had with a pre-amp out, allowing you to connect it to your stereo as well as act as a DAC/amp for your headphones. It's within your budget as well.

 

[Walie]

Gamma-1 + Mini3

 

[roosta]

thanks for all the quick responses. great help.

the ibasso d3 was the first one i thought of, however the batteries put me off. sounds stupid, but in the age of Li-ion batteries in everything, why did they chose to use 5 AAA's? however this is looking the most likely currently.

unfortunately the pico amp is well out of budget, and wont be in budget for some time! i kinda need something soon as my laptops internal sound is driving me nuts.

the D10 is another one i looked at, however it seems i would be paying more for options i cant/dont use, such as the coaxial and optical inputs.

i would also prefer not to do a DIY job, so that puts the mini3 out.

the compass i did consider, however the price including shipping is £220, and thats if it doesnt get stopped and taxed by customs. unfortunately im going to have to declaire that out of budget.

does anyone know anywhere in the UK i can buy an iBasso D3? seems the uk is a little lacking in retailers for these types of thing.

any other ideas welcome. thanks again

 

[Walie]

there are numerous builders that you can purchase a prebulit mini3 from. rockhopper audio and fellow head-fier MisterX come to mind

 

[swayne]

Quote:

does anyone know anywhere in the UK i can buy an iBasso D3? seems the uk is a little lacking in retailers for these types of thing.

The only place I know to sell iBasso in the UK is HiFi Headphones but they only do the D2 and T4.

I bought my D3 from iBasso directly.

Steven.