kitaoji
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2006
- Posts
- 416
- Likes
- 10
Hi,
in a nutshell-
budget: $400 maximum (but feel free to suggest away so I can keep those in mind for several years down the road)
headphones: Grado SR325i, beyerdynamic DT990, AKG K701, Shure E500 (although this will be used mainly straight out of my iAudio, but it's nice to know if any amps have good synergy the IEM)
music: broadway musical recordings, chamber music recordings (<10 people), golden oldies era (50s~60s).
I'm currently running my two amps, a Gilmore Lite and a HeadFive, through a DAC in the Box through a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro connected to my laptop. Lately, I haven't been fond of the sound, for a variety of reasons - sometimes the music's too congested, or it lacks an authoritive bass (I mean quick timpani bass, or even double bass), and so I'm looking for a budget-easy all-rounder. Difficult, it seems.
My "benchmark" - that is, the best of all the gear I've heard - has been with DT880s through a PPX3 Slam. While I'd consider an MPX3, that is currently out of my budget (several times), nor do I plan on getting one for several years. (It's mainly due to the hassle of not settling down properly - I'm still a college student, and moving from location to location is a problem.)
I'm a sucker for sweet midranges. It happens that a lot of the vocal music I listen to are definitely in the female middle to soprano range. Also - it sounds like I'm shooting myself in the foot here amongst dedicated audiophiles - that I generally disagree with a lot of the popular music of my era. Metallic music annoys me to no end. Rock music with severely amplified guitars and overwhelming drum sets place me at least several hundred metres away from the performers (if I can't escape). Very crudely, I'm not fond of synthesized-sounding instruments.
As I said earlier, I'd like to go for a warm sound, but the muddiness of the Sennheiser house sound doesn't agree with me. This is what I'm generally feeling from the HeadFive: that the warm sound sounds too "blockish" and unclear. (It works great with Grados, though!) So I'd like to find a "middle ground" between the Sennheiser and the K701 sound. It'd be just as nice if the amp can also be forgiving, as some of my live recordings are absolutely horrible (by this, I don't mean scratchiness of the original recording; I mean recordings that the engineers seem to have completely removed any life and atmosphere and soundstage from.)
I've read that the Little Dot II+ sounded similar to the Gilmore Lite, which has a very nice soundstage, but is too neutral and too sterile. (It sounds contrary, but the "sterile" combination of K701 and the GLite is fab, only second to the Grado+HeadFive combo.)
I don't mind whether it's solid state or tube amps (although I'd like to try the latter some more, out of curiosity), so I'd like to hear a variety of opinions.
Somewhat off-topic, but I'd also like to know from those who have a DAC-AH, if the "warmish" sound of the non-oversampling DACs help in their systems. Maybe this could be an alternative path for me. Also, I'd also like to find amps that have really low gain - I don't go past the 9 o'clock mark for any of my phones, which makes me wonder if I'm using the amps to their best. (This is with audio output from the computer set at 80%, BTW.)
in a nutshell-
budget: $400 maximum (but feel free to suggest away so I can keep those in mind for several years down the road)
headphones: Grado SR325i, beyerdynamic DT990, AKG K701, Shure E500 (although this will be used mainly straight out of my iAudio, but it's nice to know if any amps have good synergy the IEM)
music: broadway musical recordings, chamber music recordings (<10 people), golden oldies era (50s~60s).
I'm currently running my two amps, a Gilmore Lite and a HeadFive, through a DAC in the Box through a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro connected to my laptop. Lately, I haven't been fond of the sound, for a variety of reasons - sometimes the music's too congested, or it lacks an authoritive bass (I mean quick timpani bass, or even double bass), and so I'm looking for a budget-easy all-rounder. Difficult, it seems.
My "benchmark" - that is, the best of all the gear I've heard - has been with DT880s through a PPX3 Slam. While I'd consider an MPX3, that is currently out of my budget (several times), nor do I plan on getting one for several years. (It's mainly due to the hassle of not settling down properly - I'm still a college student, and moving from location to location is a problem.)
I'm a sucker for sweet midranges. It happens that a lot of the vocal music I listen to are definitely in the female middle to soprano range. Also - it sounds like I'm shooting myself in the foot here amongst dedicated audiophiles - that I generally disagree with a lot of the popular music of my era. Metallic music annoys me to no end. Rock music with severely amplified guitars and overwhelming drum sets place me at least several hundred metres away from the performers (if I can't escape). Very crudely, I'm not fond of synthesized-sounding instruments.
As I said earlier, I'd like to go for a warm sound, but the muddiness of the Sennheiser house sound doesn't agree with me. This is what I'm generally feeling from the HeadFive: that the warm sound sounds too "blockish" and unclear. (It works great with Grados, though!) So I'd like to find a "middle ground" between the Sennheiser and the K701 sound. It'd be just as nice if the amp can also be forgiving, as some of my live recordings are absolutely horrible (by this, I don't mean scratchiness of the original recording; I mean recordings that the engineers seem to have completely removed any life and atmosphere and soundstage from.)
I've read that the Little Dot II+ sounded similar to the Gilmore Lite, which has a very nice soundstage, but is too neutral and too sterile. (It sounds contrary, but the "sterile" combination of K701 and the GLite is fab, only second to the Grado+HeadFive combo.)
I don't mind whether it's solid state or tube amps (although I'd like to try the latter some more, out of curiosity), so I'd like to hear a variety of opinions.
Somewhat off-topic, but I'd also like to know from those who have a DAC-AH, if the "warmish" sound of the non-oversampling DACs help in their systems. Maybe this could be an alternative path for me. Also, I'd also like to find amps that have really low gain - I don't go past the 9 o'clock mark for any of my phones, which makes me wonder if I'm using the amps to their best. (This is with audio output from the computer set at 80%, BTW.)
