[silverfox]

Firstly, hello to everyone - I'm new to everything here, so let me explain my dilemma.
Around May time, I ordered a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music, as they were only £40 at the time, which was a steal. I enjoyed the improved sound that it offered over on-board solutions, but I was made aware of the Hotrod modification. Lucky for me who has no soldering skills, a good friend of mine performed the mod for me. Needless to say, the difference was considerably decent. So even with my PC speakers (Yamaha Advanced YST 2.1 - 9 years old and absolutely superb for £130 back then), I can hear a mass of detail.

Herein lies my issue. I want to get some reasonable cans for a beginner and the HD595's seem most suitable for me, as I don't want to spend a huge amount if I don't enjoy the sound, but I can obviously upgrade in future if I so wish.

Now, would I be better off plugging directly into my X-Fi with the 3.5mm jack, or would an amp (3.5mm battery or a full headphone amp) be better? If an amp is a more sensible idea, can anyone suggest something not too over the top? I have a friend who wants to make a powered headphone amp too, so something not too low-grade, but not ridiculously expensive would be great. Something mains powered would be more preferable for me, as I am not going to be travelling with the amp - it's for home use at night when the other 5 people in the house are asleep.

I also appreciate that decent cabling would be a good idea for any instance of an amp, be it 3.5mm to RCA, or straight 3.5mm to 3.5mm. Sensible recommendations would be much obliged.

I know a budget usually comes into the equation, so I will consider amps around the £100 mark and cabling around £20 at the most. I understand 10% of rough budgets should be allocated to cables (I think!), so this is quite apt for me.

Any comments, suggestions or ideas are VERY welcome, as I am quite new to this whole concept and I would like to make sure that I am informed as well as I can be given the circumstances.

Thanks in advance!

 

[soloz2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverfox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Firstly, hello to everyone - I'm new to everything here, so let me explain my dilemma. Around May time, I ordered a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music, as they were only £40 at the time, which was a steal. I enjoyed the improved sound that it offered over on-board solutions, but I was made aware of the Hotrod modification. Lucky for me who has no soldering skills, a good friend of mine performed the mod for me. Needless to say, the difference was considerably decent. So even with my PC speakers (Yamaha Advanced YST 2.1 - 9 years old and absolutely superb for £130 back then), I can hear a mass of detail. Herein lies my issue. I want to get some reasonable cans for a beginner and the HD595's seem most suitable for me, as I don't want to spend a huge amount if I don't enjoy the sound, but I can obviously upgrade in future if I so wish. Now, would I be better off plugging directly into my X-Fi with the 3.5mm jack, or would an amp (3.5mm battery or a full headphone amp) be better? If an amp is a more sensible idea, can anyone suggest something not too over the top? I have a friend who wants to make a powered headphone amp too, so something not too low-grade, but not ridiculously expensive would be great. Something mains powered would be more preferable for me, as I am not going to be travelling with the amp - it's for home use at night when the other 5 people in the house are asleep. I also appreciate that decent cabling would be a good idea for any instance of an amp, be it 3.5mm to RCA, or straight 3.5mm to 3.5mm. Sensible recommendations would be much obliged. I know a budget usually comes into the equation, so I will consider amps around the £100 mark and cabling around £20 at the most. I understand 10% of rough budgets should be allocated to cables (I think!), so this is quite apt for me. Any comments, suggestions or ideas are VERY welcome, as I am quite new to this whole concept and I would like to make sure that I am informed as well as I can be given the circumstances. Thanks in advance!

A good used little dot would be a good amp to look for

 

[silverfox]

Any idea where I might get one in the UK/EU? They are quite hard to locate here you see!

 

[vcoheda]

you can find new little dot amps on ebay and used ones here in the for sale forum.

 

[silverfox]

After having a good look, I decided to pick up the Little Dot MK III, as it was only a few dollars more and had the adjustable impedance facility, which I thought was quite a good feature. I think they look quite nice, but the block piece looks quite odd! I suppose that is the price to pay for having integrated power, right? I also ordered the HD 595 cans for £99 delivered.

Anyhow - now I need a decent 3.5mm to RCA interconnect. I'm totally clueless here, so any ideas?

 

[Mr00000]

Don't know how much you're looking to spend, but good and still reasonably cheap cables can be bought from:

BlueJeansCable.com
SignalCable.com

I just ordered a custom set of cables from Blue Jeans Cable so I'm sure I'll be able to say how good they are in about a week.

Thanks much,

Mr00000

 

[Toby M]

Get your soldering-skills buddy to make one

I made some IC's out of Canare cable + Neutrik plugs, neither are particularly expensive but excellent quality. Canare cable shouldn't cost more than a few dollars a metre and Neutrik plugs are a few dollars each (in Australia at least).

I think the difference between cables isn't nearly as big as between amps/headphones/etc so anything decently made should be fine.

 

[silverfox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr00000 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't know how much you're looking to spend, but good and still reasonably cheap cables can be bought from: BlueJeansCable.com SignalCable.com I just ordered a custom set of cables from Blue Jeans Cable so I'm sure I'll be able to say how good they are in about a week. Thanks much, Mr00000

I looked at Blue Jeans and the UK site appeared to only have banana plugs or spades. Now, I'm not completely familiar with banana plugs (or spades, though I know of the interfaces), but am I right in thinking the Little Dot MKIII will support these? I only initially thought about RCA, as they are the most common to me personally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toby M /img/forum/go_quote.gif Get your soldering-skills buddy to make one I made some IC's out of Canare cable + Neutrik plugs, neither are particularly expensive but excellent quality. Canare cable shouldn't cost more than a few dollars a metre and Neutrik plugs are a few dollars each (in Australia at least). I think the difference between cables isn't nearly as big as between amps/headphones/etc so anything decently made should be fine.

Funny you should mention that - the friend of mine did the interconnect worklog/how to guide over at www.overclockersclub.com

I'd prefer to not have to keep pestering him though!

 

[hardnrg]

lol... I'll make you an interconnect if you want... I've made 3 so far, and I believe I even have the Switchcraft and Neutrick connectors... oh and the cable, and even the nylon braid...

how long do you want it?

(don't be a comedian and say "forever" lol)

 

[silverfox]

Hmm...2.0m sounds good, but if you think it ought to be longer/shorter, advise as to the limitations. If there are none, then I'll happily go longer for future plugging into HDTV etc

Oh and don't forget to let me know a price, bub!

 

[PascalT]

I'm going to have a very similar setup soon. Using a Little Dot MKIII with a Chaintech Av710 and Senn595s.

What cabling do I need to purchase to make all of that work out the best way? I assume the amp won't come with a cable to connect the amp with the soundcard?

 

[soloz2]

you'll need a mini-RCA IC