[secondary]

Hi,

My first post here so take it easy please.

I have owned a pair of hd595 which was absolutely mesmerising when i used on laptop or my ipod. Due to a recent cashflow problem i sold that one on ebay but my money situation has improved a lot and i am ready to splash out for better. Only problem, i've got a budget of £300 ($500 i think).

After hd595, i see hd650 as my only upgrade choice which will leave me with about £100 to spare for an amp.

Here is the problem, i don't know what to look for. I read somewhere here how good rega ear is (which kind of fits my bill) but when i saw a picture of the back of the amp there were about 4 sockets which i dont know what it is for.

From the laptop i need a mini-mini cable to connect to amp, then a headphone that connects directly to the amp. so why 4 sockets ? is it something to do with DAC ? and what is DAC ?

Sorry I rambled on... you can see i'm a novice.

Help !

 

[Lil' Knight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by secondary /img/forum/go_quote.gif From the laptop i need a mini-mini cable to connect to amp, then a headphone that connects directly to the amp. so why 4 sockets ? is it something to do with DAC ? and what is DAC ?

That's definitely not a good idea.
You use have a DAC when using your headamp with laptop. Connecting them together by a mini-mini only degrades the sound quality because it'll double-amplify the signal from your laptop.
Using the DAC will bypass your crappy laptop's sound-on-board and bring a cleaner signal to your amp.

 

[Gollie]

While out of your budget, the RSA amps (Predator) are very good at powering the HD 650's.

 

[Sparky14]

I'd go get an entry level Little Dot.

Viewing a thread - Little Dot I+ Hybrid Headphone Amplifier

 

[BigTony]

If you want portable, then you aim for the ibasso d3. I use it occasionaly with the hd 650, which it enjoys driving! And it act as a DAC/Amp combo from your lappy.

 

[dadozen]

DAC - Digital to Audio Converter. It gets your music in your laptop library and converts into an analog signal to be amplified. This way it by-passes your crappy on-board sound card, as Lil'Knight has already said.

I understand that you live in England, so the Corda 2Move, although being a bit higher than your budget, will arrive quickly and does a great job driving the HD650. I'm saying this by my own experience. And it's a DAC/AMP combo, so it does a great job on sound quality. It comes from Germany, manufactured by Jan Meier, a great amp designer.

Cheers

 

[Godkin]

If you like tubes, why not try the DARKVOICE FIGARO. Great little amp with the HD650s.

 

[swayne]

I've just ordered an iBasso D3 which I'm going to use on my laptop and ipod with UE Triple.fi and HD595's.

It's been six days now. When they turn up I'll post something.

Steven.