[richpjr]

I have a headphone amp for my Sennheiser HD-600's hooked up to a CD player. I also have a set of Blue Sky Exo monitor speakers hooked up to my Mac Pro that I listen to as well. I am about done ripping my CD collection to a lossless format and want to use my Mac as the source for both. I will be picking up a DAC for the Mac and am curious as to what people are doing in a similar situation. Do you use different DACs for each device? Swap cables all the time? Some kind of RCA switch?

Just curious...

 

[GreatDane]

My HP rig and speaker system are totally separate. I'm currently using the XM5 portable DAC/amp for my HP rig and I use an Airport Express to send iTunes to my Denon AVR where its DAC is used.

 

[bergman2]

i use my dac for hp's and internal mb chip for speakers -- much less complication

 

[ldj325]

If I understand you correctly, you want one source to feed hp and speakers. I get around this by having a hp amp that also has pre amp outs (to power amp or powered speakers). This has been invaluable for me, so I specifically look for this feature on my hp amps.

 

[FallenAngel]

Output splitters (in my case, I have 2 unbalanced amps and 1 balanced) - cheap and effective.

 

[rjoseph]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldj325 /img/forum/go_quote.gif If I understand you correctly, you want one source to feed hp and speakers. I get around this by having a hp amp that also has pre amp outs (to power amp or powered speakers). This has been invaluable for me, so I specifically look for this feature on my hp amps.

I have a question on this. My HP amp is the CIAudio VHP-2, which has two RCAs with 'Loop' written next to them. Will I be able to use this as output into my powered Mackie MR5s? If so I should then be able to control the speaker volume with the hp amp rather than the Vista volume control.

 

[Zorander]

My DAC has 2 sets of output so I have both my rigs on one source.

 

[krmathis]

Different DACs.
For my headphone rig I use the RWA Isabellina, while for the speaker rig I use the DAC built into the AirPort Express'.

 

[paaj]

At the moment I use a CI Audio VDA2, which has two outputs. Ideal for a situation where there is one source going to both speakers and headphones. Of course, since I now have two headphone amps I'm still forced to use the loop-out on one but it is actually pretty good.

 

[ryant]

I use an Audio-gd Compass (DAC, preamp, headphone amp combo) connected to my PC through USB and my Xbox 360 through optical. It works as both a DAC/headphone amp for my sennheiser 580's/ety er-p4's or as a DAC/preamp for my GR-research Neo-2x speakers. the external amp for my speakers has a line out which goes to my subwoofer. It's fantastic having two sources able to run through speakers or headphones without having to constantly move cables

.


Ryan

 

[xodeuce]

I'm using a CA DacMagic (single ended) feeding the Aux input on my Bryston 1B preamp. I'm then using the tape output of the 1B to feed my Millett Max Hybrid headphone amp to my DT-880's. One thing unique about the 1B is that it's totally passive on switching inputs through the tape out. As long as the physical switches have the correct source selected to record, that source is hardwired through to the tape out. The preamp doesn't even need to be switched on. I have A/B compared vs straight out of the dac, and to me it sounds exactly the same. This also allows me to use my Jolida CDP that's also connected to the preamp. I can use both on headphones or on my dedicated 2ch rig in my office. Works like a champ!

 

[LeftyGorilla]

Alien DAC > Audioengine A2 line out > Little Dot I+

Mid-fi, but simple.