[Hayder]

Hi, I have a Beyerdynamic T1, Im powering it with a little dot 1+ connected to a laptop (it dosent have any independent soundboard, and I play just flac files on foobar). Im thinking on buying a little dot mkIII or a DAC, im not looking to spend more than 250€. what will improve sound quality the most? Thank you

 

[tvrboy]

You really need both. You are not doing the T1 justice by having a poor source and amp. I dunno about your financials in particular, but it seems a little silly to buy a $1300 headphone if you have no money left over for associated equipment that is required to get the best sound. If 250 euros is all you can afford, I would buy the amp first. The dynalo works great with the T1 (yeah, I know the Apex pinnacle probably works better, but we are talking within the OP's budget here) and you can get the Sheer Audio HA-006 build of the dynalo circuit within your budget. 

 

[MR.X]

tcryboy is right, you need both but maybe instead of getting another amp you should increase you budget a little and look for a decent dac/amp combo. Using those headphones wihout a dac is just wrong.Those headphones deserve so much more!!!!

 

[Hayder]

I agree with you, but I was thinking on upgrading the rest over the next few months. And with 500€ what should be best for the beyerdynamic? I prefer the sound of a tube amp, I listen mainly to classical music, jazz, classic rock and progressive rock/metal. Oh, I dont know if it helps but I have an ipod classic, dont know what to use to listen to music at home, the ipod or the laptop.
Quote:

You really need both. You are not doing the T1 justice by having a poor source and amp. I dunno about your financials in particular, but it seems a little silly to buy a $1300 headphone if you have no money left over for associated equipment that is required to get the best sound. If 250 euros is all you can afford, I would buy the amp first. The dynalo works great with the T1 (yeah, I know the Apex pinnacle probably works better, but we are talking within the OP's budget here) and you can get the Sheer Audio HA-006 build of the dynalo circuit within your budget. 

 

[tvrboy]

Quote:

I agree with you, but I was thinking on upgrading the rest over the next few months. And with 500€ what should be best for the beyerdynamic? I prefer the sound of a tube amp, I listen mainly to classical music, jazz, classic rock and progressive rock/metal. Oh, I dont know if it helps but I have an ipod classic, dont know what to use to listen to music at home, the ipod or the laptop.
Quote:

You really need both. You are not doing the T1 justice by having a poor source and amp. I dunno about your financials in particular, but it seems a little silly to buy a $1300 headphone if you have no money left over for associated equipment that is required to get the best sound. If 250 euros is all you can afford, I would buy the amp first. The dynalo works great with the T1 (yeah, I know the Apex pinnacle probably works better, but we are talking within the OP's budget here) and you can get the Sheer Audio HA-006 build of the dynalo circuit within your budget. 

I would use the laptop, as it probably has a better DAC than the ipod, although that's not saying much. Actually I used to listen to FLAC files straight out of my laptop and it was not bad at all. An outboard DAC will make a huge difference, though. There are a whole bunch of tube amps in your price range, including the Little Dots, Darkvoice 3322, Woo Audio 3, Elekit TU-882, etc. Personally I like solid state amps because it's cheaper to build a quality solid state than a quality tube, and because solid state has better bass control. That's why I recommended the Dynalo. If you are a tube guy, then you can do a search for T1 amplification threads, where there are a lot of suggestions gathered together. I have not heard many tube amps myself.

 

[olor1n]

Dedicated Source Components sub-forum

 

[Hayder]

So what would improve sound quality the most, a tube amp, for ex. little dot mkIII, or a DAC?
 
Quote:

Quote:

I agree with you, but I was thinking on upgrading the rest over the next few months. And with 500€ what should be best for the beyerdynamic? I prefer the sound of a tube amp, I listen mainly to classical music, jazz, classic rock and progressive rock/metal. Oh, I dont know if it helps but I have an ipod classic, dont know what to use to listen to music at home, the ipod or the laptop.
Quote:

You really need both. You are not doing the T1 justice by having a poor source and amp. I dunno about your financials in particular, but it seems a little silly to buy a $1300 headphone if you have no money left over for associated equipment that is required to get the best sound. If 250 euros is all you can afford, I would buy the amp first. The dynalo works great with the T1 (yeah, I know the Apex pinnacle probably works better, but we are talking within the OP's budget here) and you can get the Sheer Audio HA-006 build of the dynalo circuit within your budget. 

I would use the laptop, as it probably has a better DAC than the ipod, although that's not saying much. Actually I used to listen to FLAC files straight out of my laptop and it was not bad at all. An outboard DAC will make a huge difference, though. There are a whole bunch of tube amps in your price range, including the Little Dots, Darkvoice 3322, Woo Audio 3, Elekit TU-882, etc. Personally I like solid state amps because it's cheaper to build a quality solid state than a quality tube, and because solid state has better bass control. That's why I recommended the Dynalo. If you are a tube guy, then you can do a search for T1 amplification threads, where there are a lot of suggestions gathered together. I have not heard many tube amps myself.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Adding a DAC to your current amp would probably be the best for now...upgrade the amp when you can if you need to. I don't know how well the Little Dot runs the T1 so I can't say for sure that you need to upgrade the amp...but I would get a DAC.

 

[Hayder]

well, the amp is runing the T1 better than I would of tought, but I will upgrade it anyway. So what DAC would you sugest?
 
Quote:

Adding a DAC to your current amp would probably be the best for now...upgrade the amp when you can if you need to. I don't know how well the Little Dot runs the T1 so I can't say for sure that you need to upgrade the amp...but I would get a DAC.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Not sure on the DAC...you can probably find some great info in the Dedicated Source section or the Computer Audio section from people that are using the T1 and what DAC's they are using. That is where most of the talk about DAC's takes place. I really only have experience with two DAC's...my current KECES DA-151 which is a solid semi-budget USB DAC, and the Citypulse 2.03e II which is better than my KECES but is also more than twice the price. I am hoping to demo the DECWARE DAC this month as well.

 

[Xymordos]

What about the E7 + E9 combo. They go for quite cheap and should be able to power T1

 

[olor1n]

What about carrying on the discussion in the relevant sub-forums?

 

[wind016]

You should be a mod already.
 
Quote:

Dedicated Source Components sub-forum

 

[MrSpenkelink]

The mods can move this thread if need be.
 
To the OP, welcome to Head-Fi if you haven't been welcomed already. I don't think that it was silly of you to buy an expensive headphone with the equipment that you currently have. If the T1 sounds okay to your ears at the moment then there's no need to rush into upgrading your ancillary equipment. You can take your time to explore the myriad of options available to improve the performance of your T1 while you save up to buy them. 

 

[tvrboy]

Really, the upgrade path is not so clear. There are lots and lots of DAC and amp choices out there. Of course if you buy some $3000 CD player, it will be a bigger upgrade than a new amp. How the components synergize just adds another dimension to it. Don't worry about it. Discovering new gear is fun and part of the process. If you buy and sell in the for sale forums, you won't lose much money trying out different things. If I were in your position, I would buy a cheapo multi-disc changer at a thrift store, send the digital out to a used Benchmark DAC1 (about $700) and build a Bottlehead Crack tube amp which you can order as a kit. I haven't personally heard those components, but that's where I would put my money if I wanted bang for the buck. It's really difficult to audition some of the more esoteric amplifiers and DACs, but if you buy used, you won't lose much, if any, money.