[Happyprozak]

Well I have a pair of Monster Beats (I know, I know, over-priced) hooked up to a Macbook Pro. The sound is very disappointing though, but if I hook these up to my iPod, it all sounds very good. Part of the problem with the Macbook Pro is that there is a strong hiss in the background, but overall the sound is just not up to snuff to the iPod.

So what do I need to buy in order to get sound that is at least as good as an iPod? The Macbook Pro does have an spdif digital out, so I'm guessing that and USB are my connection options. If they are both equivalent, I would prefer to use the spdif output so I don't take up a USB port.

The Beats are very easy to drive and they are low impedance, so does that mean I just need a DAC and not an AMP? Or do I need a combination?

Also, I'm looking to spend about $200 dollars, so I hope that is enough to get something decent that isn't going to add white noise to the sound. Thanks a bunch for your help.

 

[spacemanspliff]

You need a small portable dac or a larger desktop model? Anyway, you need something like a Compass dac/amp. Or buy a receiver and get the ability to use speakers too.

 

[Happyprozak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacemanspliff /img/forum/go_quote.gif You need a small portable dac or a larger desktop model? Anyway, you need something like a Compass dac/amp. Or buy a receiver and get the ability to use speakers too.

This will be used on a desktop, so I don't need portability. I do have an older home theatre receiver made by Onkyo. I hooked this up via the toslink, and plugged in my headphones and the hiss was even worse. The headphones go absolutely nuts if I plug them into a cheap Toshiba laptop too. I think the headphones are very very sensitive to electrical noise, but the iPod touch, shuffle, and 5G do just fine driving them.

Since these headphones are so sensitive, does it matter if the dac/amp runs on batteries or plugs into the wall?

 

[spacemanspliff]

My advice?

Buy these and see if you still like the beats. Throwing bad money at bad =

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