[Xels]

Hi,

I'm new here and i need a bit of help

I've just ordered my first headphone amp ever, the Lehmann Rhinelander. I bought Sennheiser HD650 recently and my friend told me that i absolutely have to buy an headphone amp for them and he recommended the Rhinelander.

My question is that what other equipment do i need? Do i connect the amp directly to PC (Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Champion - Fatal1ty Professional Series), probably not? Should i get a proper A/V receiver with a better DAC than the Creative X-Fi has, and connect the a/v receiver to the soundcard using toslink cable and connect the headamp with rca cables to the a/v receiver.

I was thinking about maybe buying Denon AVR-1910 7.1 AV or Pioneer VSX-918-K, would it be a good idea? What do you recommend?

I mainly watch movies, play games and listen to music (mostly rock). I also would like to use hd650's with my Xbox360 and Popcorn Hour A-110 so a/v receiver would be wise.

My budget is about 1000€

 

[kchui999]

wow...that's a top-line sound card you got there in your PC, and although the X-fi series from Creative is more geared toward gaming, I would imagine it outputs an extremely clean analog signal you can plug directly into your amp.

I doubt you'll find many av receivers on the market with a better DAC than what's in a high-end sound card, as a DAC is just a small part of that piece of equipment. If you really want to upgrade your source further, I'd go for a high-end dedicated DAC. But I think I speak for quite a few members of this forum when I say that it'd be reeeeeaally hard to tell the difference.

 

[QQQ]

Music

 

[Xels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kchui999 /img/forum/go_quote.gif wow...that's a top-line sound card you got there in your PC, and although the X-fi series from Creative is more geared toward gaming, I would imagine it outputs an extremely clean analog signal you can plug directly into your amp. I doubt you'll find many av receivers on the market with a better DAC than what's in a high-end sound card, as a DAC is just a small part of that piece of equipment. If you really want to upgrade your source further, I'd go for a high-end dedicated DAC. But I think I speak for quite a few members of this forum when I say that it'd be reeeeeaally hard to tell the difference.

Well i ordered Yamaha RX-V765 anyway so i can hookup Xbox360 and popcorn hour.

How should i hookup my pc? Should i use a digital toslink from Sb X-Fi to Yamaha that has 24bit Burr-Brown DACs?

And what is a high end dedicated DAC you mentioned, how does it differ?

 

[scootermafia]

A DAC is dedicated to digital to analog conversion, it doesn't have a lot of extra crap inside it like an AV receiver mucking up the signal. My audiogd DAC is lovely. My home theater receiver sounds like ass. Lots of options, at $400 the Dacmagic is a popular buy. It's balanced so you wouldn't have to upgrade later.

 

[Xels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootermafia /img/forum/go_quote.gif A DAC is dedicated to digital to analog conversion, it doesn't have a lot of extra crap inside it like an AV receiver mucking up the signal. My audiogd DAC is lovely. My home theater receiver sounds like ass. Lots of options, at $400 the Dacmagic is a popular buy. It's balanced so you wouldn't have to upgrade later.

Alright this is on my buying list:
Cambridge Audio Dacmagic

 

[kchui999]

As a good friend of mine likes to say: "Aiyaaaa I need more moneys!!!"

 

[OutdoorXplorer]

My great Paradisea 3 Limited Edition.

 

[Emtezetwo]

Bigger question is, how do you like Rhinelander with your HD650 so far? I have the Rhinelander with 650 too, source being Auzentech X-fi forte(using card's DAC) Xbox 360, Playstation(Yeah, first) and Wii.

I wasnt all that impressed, when changing from Fortes integrated amp to Rhinelander. Didnt hear any difference at all first to be honest, but after about month of using, sound have "warmed" (i mean more soft, smoother bass, no harshness) quite a bit, more details have come up and the sound being pretty comfortable. Still, iam not all that impressed, but have to do. Was it worth the investment of ~350€? I really dont know.

The build quality of the Rhinelander is very good, sturdy(Its not really heavy though, very light actually) Two inputs is nice thing too, but why there isnt power switch on the unit? Not cost effective to add? Not a problem for me though, i allways take the cord of the wall, when not using anyway.

Sorry, this would been better in the Rhinelander thread, but i just wanted hear opinions of new owner of the amp.

 

[Xels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emtezetwo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bigger question is, how do you like Rhinelander with your HD650 so far? I have the Rhinelander with 650 too, source being Auzentech X-fi forte(using card's DAC) Xbox 360, Playstation(Yeah, first) and Wii. I wasnt all that impressed, when changing from Fortes integrated amp to Rhinelander. Didnt hear any difference at all first to be honest, but after about month of using, sound have "warmed" (i mean more soft, smoother bass, no harshness) quite a bit, more details have come up and the sound being pretty comfortable. Still, iam not all that impressed, but have to do. Was it worth the investment of ~350€? I really dont know. The build quality of the Rhinelander is very good, sturdy(Its not really heavy though, very light actually) Two inputs is nice thing too, but why there isnt power switch on the unit? Not cost effective to add? Not a problem for me though, i allways take the cord of the wall, when not using anyway. Sorry, this would been better in the Rhinelander thread, but i just wanted hear opinions of new owner of the amp.

Hey,

I've just got my system together(shipping took quite a while), and I've used it for about 10 hours or so. The sound is kind of distant but clear, but maybe that will change after 100+ hours for HD650 and Rhinelander. All of my equipment is new so it will take some time. My previous setup was HD555 and Roland UA-100 so it is a noticeable upgrade. I've also tried to connect the headphones directly to Yamaha RX-V765 and used the "Pure Direct" mode and it sounded awesome.

Pure Direct mode directs the signal only trough the necessary circuits so there's minimal signal interference compared to the usual AV receivers. Sounds stupid but the difference was really noticeable when i listened music with and without it.

 

[oqvist]

The Fatality is not Creatives flag ship that is the Elite Pro by far. HD 650 is not the most headphone in the world afterall you would need other headphones to really hear bigger differences between sources

. Even on the K701 and Pro 900 the yamaha is really quite okay so you can sleep well with what you got. If you dig the HD 650 of course

I got the RXV-663 and certainly I have no problem with it´s dac part though they are lower speced then on my Elite Pro and Essence. That doesn´t mean much in reality though certainly not on such a smooth headphone like the HD 650 anyway.

pure direct is nice. I don´t know if your fatality also have the pure mode the Elite Pro has. It really does make a difference when you shorten the signal path and Yamaha have one of the better solutions. One thing which is not possible on the Xbox 360 but to make sure you run bit perfect when using CDs. It make quite a difference.

 

[Xels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oqvist /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Fatality is not Creatives flag ship that is the Elite Pro by far. HD 650 is not the most headphone in the world afterall you would need other headphones to really hear bigger differences between sources . Even on the K701 and Pro 900 the yamaha is really quite okay so you can sleep well with what you got. If you dig the HD 650 of course I got the RXV-663 and certainly I have no problem with it´s dac part though they are lower speced then on my Elite Pro and Essence. That doesn´t mean much in reality though certainly not on such a smooth headphone like the HD 650 anyway. pure direct is nice. I don´t know if your fatality also have the pure mode the Elite Pro has. It really does make a difference when you shorten the signal path and Yamaha have one of the better solutions. One thing which is not possible on the Xbox 360 but to make sure you run bit perfect when using CDs. It make quite a difference.

Couldn't find that feature in fatality, there's no mention of it in the manual either