Computer Audio Rig Dilemma!!! Need Advice!!!
May 22, 2009 at 12:11 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 13
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Hi, I'm new to this whole audiophile thing and I want to buy my first rig for home listening, but don't want to spend too much. My price range is around $300-$350. My source for music will be my Macbook, listening to apple lossless/flac files and some 256-320kbps mp3's. I listen to a variety of genres but mostly Rock, Alternative and Hip Hop.

I already own a pair of Shure SE310's, that I got like a month ago, for listening with my Ipod Touch 2g on the go and I have a Fiio E5 amp to go along with the Shures. They sound great on my Macbook but can't really tell the difference when I'm using my 310s with the E5 on my iPod touch though.

After doing A LOT of research on quality and price, on here, and ebay, and amazon, and whatever other links I've come across, I've narrowed my choices down to two rigs that I want to get but I'm not sure which is the better decision.

Rig #1 would be Senn HD555 with a FubarIII, which will cost me about $320 together.

Rig #2 would be Senn HD595 with a "DAC Destroyer" from hotaudio.com and an "IceHead Headphone Amp", also from hotaudio.com which will cost me about $330 together.

If you guys know of any other dac/amp combo that goes along better with either of the headphones and in my price range I'm willing to check em out.

Oh, and one more question, would the 595s or 555s sound significantly better than the my 310s. From what I've read, the 595s and 555s have really good sound stage that sets them apart.

Thanks!
 
May 22, 2009 at 4:35 AM Post #2 of 13
I going with the first rig (except I'm going to use Grado 225s) because I really liked my Fubar II and I can use this dac's volume pot for my speakers (NHT M-00s).

The Beresford 7520 is really nice as well, you should look into that.
 
May 23, 2009 at 7:54 AM Post #6 of 13
By the nature of full-sized headphones, they'll have a better soundstage (actually "headstage") than IEMs. The difference between headphones is more radical than between components. That also includes how well they respond to good amping and how important the quality of the source is (the DAC).
 
May 23, 2009 at 8:46 AM Post #7 of 13
out more money into the headphones is my recommendation. as currawong said the difference in quality between headphones and dac/amps is much more noticeable
 
May 23, 2009 at 9:02 AM Post #8 of 13
I agree with qusp and currawong, first priority is your headphones as the perceived difference in sound will be the greatest. Then focus on your dac and lastly amp.

I didn't know this earlier and got my amp first. So now I'm working on the DAC part at the moment..
 
May 23, 2009 at 10:35 PM Post #9 of 13
I disagree. while the sound differences are definitely more noticable when replacing headphones, this doesn't necessarily that the final result will be more enjoyable.
take this speaker-based rig as an example:
You take a Wilson Sofia speaker, a nice Krell or Mark Levinson Pre + Power combo, and connect them to a lousy Apex DVD.
Yeah, if you replace the Sofia with a low-end, $300 speaker, you'll feel the difference definitely.
but this doesn't mean that the Sofia will give you a satisfactory result, if the signal its fed by the dvd player is mediocre at best.

my point being - consider the DAC to be just as important as your headphones, if this is a final setup. If you're thinking about upgradibillity, then by all means, put most of your money in a single piece of equipement (e.g. headphones or dac) and then upgrade the others as funds become available. (I would go for the DAC first, btw, but that's just me)
 
May 24, 2009 at 4:41 AM Post #11 of 13
Quote:

Originally Posted by matanoosh /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I disagree. while the sound differences are definitely more noticable when replacing headphones, this doesn't necessarily that the final result will be more enjoyable.
take this speaker-based rig as an example:
You take a Wilson Sofia speaker, a nice Krell or Mark Levinson Pre + Power combo, and connect them to a lousy Apex DVD.
Yeah, if you replace the Sofia with a low-end, $300 speaker, you'll feel the difference definitely.
but this doesn't mean that the Sofia will give you a satisfactory result, if the signal its fed by the dvd player is mediocre at best.

my point being - consider the DAC to be just as important as your headphones, if this is a final setup. If you're thinking about upgradibillity, then by all means, put most of your money in a single piece of equipement (e.g. headphones or dac) and then upgrade the others as funds become available. (I would go for the DAC first, btw, but that's just me)


well in a lot of cases I would agree that source first is the way to go, but I agree with that only if there is a base level of quality in the HP first. I know that sounds daft, but that's the way I see it. with SE310; a better dac/amp will not bring much, if anything in the way of improvements, because they are driven just fine out of the HP out of the touch and while decent IEMs, they are far from the last word in resolution or dynamics; so there is not a lot to be gained.

I also disagree with buying HP to match your source; I feel that the HP are the center of this and in most cases I would say you should be buying a source/amp/cables combination that shows off the abilities/beauty of your music/headphone/s, not the other way around. one of the daftest questions I think i've ever seen on here was someone asking what music they should be buying and listening to, to get the best out of his headphones
confused.gif
now THATS a bad case of having the wrong priorities. I have seen that question posed more than once as well.
 
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