Getting back into it maybe (?) - need suggestions for gear improvements or replacements

[spookz]

Long story short, I have been out of the headphone game for a long time and I need some recommendations to get my gear to snuff..

I don't want to break the bank so let's keep it at 300 all in for now and humor me for equivalent replacements with all the new stuff out.

Current setup:

Burson audio ha-160 - yea it's ancient, I need to replace this for sure - the stepped pot is such a pain

Cambridge audio dac magic - also ancient - this is starting to go - also needs to be replaced, ideally with something that can have multisource go through it and with source selector.


Headphones:

HD650

HD580 with HD600 mod if that counts for anything nowadays lol..

 

[gimmeheadroom]

For 300 dollars there is nothing that is going to improve on your gear mostly likely. You have great headphones. A good dacamp with enough power to drive them well is going to be a lot of money, a separate dac and amp might be better but will cost even more.

 

[DuncanDirkDick]

I'd tend to agree. Most likely it's going to be a downgrade

 

[PurpleAngel]

Long story short, I have been out of the headphone game for a long time and I need some recommendations to get my gear to snuff..
I don't want to break the bank so let's keep it at 300 all in for now and humor me for equivalent replacements with all the new stuff out.
Current setup: Burson audio ha-160 - yea it's ancient, I need to replace this for sure - the stepped pot is such a pain
Cambridge audio DAC magic - also ancient - this is starting to go - also needs to be replaced, ideally with something that can have multisource go through it and with source selector. Headphones: HD650 & HD580 with HD600 mod if that counts for anything nowadays lol..

Schiit Magnius amp and whatever is leftover of your budget for a DAC.
Later on you can try a balanced headphone cable.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Long story short, I have been out of the headphone game for a long time and I need some recommendations to get my gear to snuff..

I don't want to break the bank so let's keep it at 300 all in for now and humor me for equivalent replacements with all the new stuff out.

Current setup:

Burson audio ha-160 - yea it's ancient, I need to replace this for sure - the stepped pot is such a pain

Cambridge audio dac magic - also ancient - this is starting to go - also needs to be replaced, ideally with something that can have multisource go through it and with source selector.


Headphones:

HD650

HD580 with HD600 mod if that counts for anything nowadays lol..

I'm more inclined to stick with your current system if that's all the money you can spend for now. I mean the HA160 is a good amp; the Soloist isn't that much better. At best maybe focus on changing the Cambridge if you need more inputs and outputs, and maybe what you get also replaces that Burson. Bottomline: most significant need right now is for you to get more gear integrated into the system, so even if you can't hear significant differences it still makes for more convenience using the system and probably make you listen more.

If getting more inputs is less intense of a need to you than just getting a different sound I'd normally say just get a new headphone however given all the power on that plus increasing sensitivity (that is not offset by impedance) on newer headphones you're even more likely to encounter a scenario where the stepped attenuator will be a total PITA to use ie the setting you want is somewhere between two steps but not the two steps might be like #3 and #4 steps and the gap between them is even wider so #4 is loud but #3 is still too soft.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I also tend to agree that it’s going to be hard to top your combo. Much of the writing here on Head-Fi (with all the new 2021 bells and whistles) could make you feel like times have changed, but I just hooked up my Cambridge Audio DACMagic to my laptop and to my almost 10 year old Schiit Asgard One, and it was great.

I mean if your like me you mainly listen to 16/44.1 and 24bit so you don’t need DSD capabilities. What is going on with the DACMagic? Does it not start up right away? Lights burnt out?

The thing is, I’m not sure what you could do to get much improvement? Keep in mind I never heard your amp. Though I would look at getting new sources to the DACMagic Plus. I just started using Colibri FLAC off my MacBook Air to the DACMagic Plus and it seemed to improve it. Also I’m showing you the Pi2AES which I have never tried, but it’s a way to get away from computer USB noise by going wireless. I know going optical has helped me at times? If you go optical it has a bit-rate ceiling but with me using only 24bit files as a max it works as an improvement over USB?

This may sound crazy but I always liked the DACMagic Plus running off a CD transport with RCA digital cables over USB too. You may not be wanting to play CDs in a transport in 2021, but people do. There is still a way to get more maybe out of the DACMagic Plus? I’ll never sell mine. If someone had a desktop computer and was running regular USB, I would think just getting some card with optical out to the DACMagic Plus to offer a bunch of improvement?


https://colibri-lossless.com

Pi2AES

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/pi2aes-pro-audio-shield.948380/

But if you were to look at Head-Fi from a giant step back from 2010, the biggest change has been the popularity of IEMs. Meaning that right now there are some crazy good $50 IEMs out there that for $300 you could buy a bunch and if the noise floor on your main amp was good you could use them. Another way would be getting an IEM like the $195 Theiaudio Legacy 4, which would actually sound great just out of the DACMagic Plus headphone output.

But low cost Chinese IEMs have been some of the exciting changes since 2010.

Just some thoughts.

Cheers!