maladjustdeath
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2007
- Posts
- 31
- Likes
- 0
Hi All.
I'm trying to improve a bit my home listening experience.
First, I'm not sure I need an amp but we'll see about that in the following paragraph:
Currently My favorite setup is cowon iaudio 7 various files at various bitrates -> akg k242hd.
Flac sounds really nice but I have some low quality files as well that would play from time to time.
Genres: versatile from death metal to world music.
At first I was reading about various fiio amps but my current understandign is that I will get not much benefit from that.
I already have a decent dac (wolfson in iaudio), and power-wise I'm not feeling lacking neither (listening on level 30 out of 40 on my cowon is aready too loud).
So here starts my small search for better detail, maybe better soundstage, a bit punchier bass (though I have dt770 and now m50 specifically for that), or what else should I know.
Tube amps are interesting, a bit more expensive but after reading
http://www.head-fi.org/t/643817/amp-for-akg-k240s-55-ohm
I'm not so sure.
The description in some places of these 55ohm headphones as easy to drive yet sensitive is confusing me about choosing the right equipment.
Currently, my SB3 is laying around just playing internet radio on cheap speaker. Would I benefit more from connecting it to PC and using it's burr-brown DAC instead of iaudio? I think it's headphone output is weaker that my iaudio.
So overall - while I want to achieve nicer listening experience, I don't mind going either route (portable player->amp-> headphones, pc->usb dac+amp->headphones, pc->sb3->amp->headphones) as long as using budget more wisely.
I imagine I could get better amp by avoiding buying DAC or amp+dac combinations, unless the sum is really worth it.
Hope I don't sound too confused, would appreciate inputs. I think a 150$ budget solution is something I would like to try starting with, and add/improve later.
I'm trying to improve a bit my home listening experience.
First, I'm not sure I need an amp but we'll see about that in the following paragraph:
Currently My favorite setup is cowon iaudio 7 various files at various bitrates -> akg k242hd.
Flac sounds really nice but I have some low quality files as well that would play from time to time.
Genres: versatile from death metal to world music.
At first I was reading about various fiio amps but my current understandign is that I will get not much benefit from that.
I already have a decent dac (wolfson in iaudio), and power-wise I'm not feeling lacking neither (listening on level 30 out of 40 on my cowon is aready too loud).
So here starts my small search for better detail, maybe better soundstage, a bit punchier bass (though I have dt770 and now m50 specifically for that), or what else should I know.
Tube amps are interesting, a bit more expensive but after reading
http://www.head-fi.org/t/643817/amp-for-akg-k240s-55-ohm
I'm not so sure.
The description in some places of these 55ohm headphones as easy to drive yet sensitive is confusing me about choosing the right equipment.
Currently, my SB3 is laying around just playing internet radio on cheap speaker. Would I benefit more from connecting it to PC and using it's burr-brown DAC instead of iaudio? I think it's headphone output is weaker that my iaudio.
So overall - while I want to achieve nicer listening experience, I don't mind going either route (portable player->amp-> headphones, pc->usb dac+amp->headphones, pc->sb3->amp->headphones) as long as using budget more wisely.
I imagine I could get better amp by avoiding buying DAC or amp+dac combinations, unless the sum is really worth it.
Hope I don't sound too confused, would appreciate inputs. I think a 150$ budget solution is something I would like to try starting with, and add/improve later.