[TsukiNick]

I'm  a little curious as to what head-fiers find more important.
 
Alright let's put it like this:
 
More on headphones = Your most expensive pair of headphones
 
More on source = Your most expensive DAC combo
 
So if you own 10 pairs of 100 dollar headphones, but have a 300 dollar DAC + AMP then your spent more on your source.
Your computer does not count as part of the source only things you added on for sound.  Therefore my $1600 gaming rig + my Modi + Magni doesn't mean I have a $1800 source.

 

[TMRaven]

Well my source is definitely more expensive than my headphone setup.  It's a 2000 dollar iMac.

 

[kramer5150]

Collectively I am about the same across the board.
>Several cans
>Several amps
>Macbook pro - ext hard drive / Insignia DVD bit-stream the 1s and 0s to a modded Entech DAC.
 
My most expensive individual setup would be:
Macbook pro => Entech DAC => Darkvoice 337/Output transformers => RS1
 
If you factor in the skyrocketing prices for NOS tung-sol tubes then that would (graphically) tip the $$ scale from most to least:
Source---Amp---------------------Cans
 
Actually when you consider the steady price increases for tung-sol tubes and the depreciation of my macbook pro and the 500G external hard drive, my amp $$ will eventually overtake my source $$.

 

[hodgjy]

I spent more on source than headphones, and by a good margin.
 
iPod Classic ($250)
Pure i20 dock ($100)
Bifrost Uber w/ USB ($520)
 
Headphones (HD600) $315 back in 2012.
 
Amp (Trafomatic Head One) used for $800 (new $1700).
 
I consider this endgame.  If I need a change of pace to really rock out, I use my DT990/600.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

As a general rule: a dedicated source will cost less. Even a really good dash unit for a car isn't gonna run much past $500, meanwhile the cost of the speakers and amps can be a couple grand.
 
In my case, I listen through an iPhone and a Macbook Pro, so I consider myself as having spent zero on my sources (they came with things I bought). 

 

[Claritas]

It depends how you calculate.
 
My most expensive pair costs less than the cheapest source I'm considering, but the sum of the costs of all my pairs is several times the cost of that source.
 
(I used the former to answer the poll.) 

 

[marone]

I suppose I feel it necessary to qualify my 'headphones > source' budget.

I am going through the lofi section and moving on up, though I am getting impatient and have thought more and more of ordering the Holy Trinity of MidFi or the HD800 and getting it over with.

Right now I have spent 920USD total, 618 on hps, 302 on sources.

Years back I had a 1500USD Denon 3520 and the DT880's at 189USD, so I spent far more on the source then.

My current strategy is to not 'waste' a good pair of cans on bad source. When/if my hps apparent presentation doesn't improve with my current sources, then I upgrade. I don't know what gear sounds like now, and just getting the 800 with my current sources would be foolish.

I have been out of the hobby for 20-25 years and wish to find out what is out there - most current brands did not exist back then.

My ultimate budget tops at the TH900. I would rather purchase 8 cans at $600 than one at $5k, but (of course) my total expenditures will mean that I can sell off many to buy the top of the line. Who knows.

 

[MattTCG]

I have a used bifrost with a $70 uber board. So about $320. 

 

[Andolink]

Source: USD$ 1,200-- Audiolab 8200CD
 
Headphone:  USD$ 573-- HiFiman HE-500

 

[Hapster]

Source: Fiio e07k >_>
Headphones: Denon ah-d600

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Source: Fiio e07k >_>
Headphones: Denon ah-d600

 
FYI: the e07k isn't a source. A source is where your music actually comes from (laptop, DAP, phone).

 

[Hapster]

FYI: the e07k isn't a source. A source is where your music actually comes from (laptop, DAP, phone).

Read op again, he meant dac, amps, etc

 

[TMRaven]

Yes, but if your computer is where the music is coming from, then your computer is the source.  dac and amp are upstream components.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Read op again, he meant dac, amps, etc

 
Ah, yeah. I think that's a little confusing though, because by that merit I spent zero dollars on my source, since I'm not using an amp.

 

[Claritas]

Read op again, he meant dac, amps, etc

I understood source to mean the player / soundcard / DAC but no amps. I think that counting or not counting the whole cost of a computer as the cost of one's source are both problematic for the purpose of this calculation.