coolshot
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2006
- Posts
- 600
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- 10
This is kinda in response to Boomana's thread about portables not being able to power the 701/650 properly. I was thinking about criteria about recommendation on amps. Usually its someone maximizing their budget on their headphone like a 701 because everyone raves how good it is. As a stopgap, they try to get away with something cheap but it does an ill service such as pairing it with a pa2v2.
So what kind of criteria do most people ask. Something transportable, USB, cheap etc. I got to thinking about some of the Amp/dac combos out there. If we look at them, a lot of them have desirable features such as small footprint (usually half rack), Source included in enclosure, Usb input sometimes,AC power driven to deliever capable power to the cans. Best of all, they are very reasonable at the $500-$1000 mark for used/new, but thats amp AND source. There are lots of makers out there, apogee,headroom,PS audio,lavry,benchark,meier etc. Throw in your favorite $300 can and you have a very competent system that is fully utilized, wether at your living room, dorm, or cubicle. It can run from a laptop,cd player, or anthing the provides a digital out.
These systems are very flexible but very powerful. I think the only ones left out are tube heads who cant live without that amber glow. And lets be honest Hi-fi is a triple sided equation (more if you want to get into cables and accessories). Its about the source,amp AND headphone. Concentrating on one side will leave your rig severely crippled and lopsided and in some cases, useless(think OII or K1000 and no amp lol)
So what kind of criteria do most people ask. Something transportable, USB, cheap etc. I got to thinking about some of the Amp/dac combos out there. If we look at them, a lot of them have desirable features such as small footprint (usually half rack), Source included in enclosure, Usb input sometimes,AC power driven to deliever capable power to the cans. Best of all, they are very reasonable at the $500-$1000 mark for used/new, but thats amp AND source. There are lots of makers out there, apogee,headroom,PS audio,lavry,benchark,meier etc. Throw in your favorite $300 can and you have a very competent system that is fully utilized, wether at your living room, dorm, or cubicle. It can run from a laptop,cd player, or anthing the provides a digital out.
These systems are very flexible but very powerful. I think the only ones left out are tube heads who cant live without that amber glow. And lets be honest Hi-fi is a triple sided equation (more if you want to get into cables and accessories). Its about the source,amp AND headphone. Concentrating on one side will leave your rig severely crippled and lopsided and in some cases, useless(think OII or K1000 and no amp lol)
