[rexss345]

Hey guys, i am new here as a member but have been reading a lot. You folks know your stuff. Anyway, on to my question. I have all my music collection catalogued on my computer (192 vbr with high band crossover, EAC, Lame, etc.) and i need some great headphones for my mainly rock and techno collection. My output will either be my soundblaster's audigy drive or the headphone out of my 5.1 Klipsches. Which is better? What amp (if any) am i going to need for entry level audio love? Amp and headphones under $500 would be great. Headphones need to be circumaural, very comfortable, and sealed (roommate has "interesting" audio taste). Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Gluegun]

Hmmm... that Audigy isn't gonna do a big nice headphone + amp combo *REALLY* great... how about doing it this way...

Have Headphones + Amp + M-audio sound card equal under $500?

And you can simply ADD a music sound card to your computer... you are using Coolplayer to play the mp3's, right?

So... M-Audio Audiophile 24/96...

to some solid state amp (Creek? OBH11SE?)...

to some nice very sealed bassy headphones...

Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro would do nicely!

check meier-audio.com

Or, you could lowball it and get some HD280 Pro's and be done with it. That might be best. Save your money, and get some $85 headphones...

 

[Guyferd]

Gluegun pretty much state them all..

Yes, for soundcard, the sound will be better if you use M-audiophiile 2496 soundcard. ard $200
For rock and techno, beyer dt770 is a must

$140
Amp, I suggest that you go for Creek OBH-11 ( SE is only if you need to drive 2 headphone simultaneously.. otherwise obh-11 will do fine). $180

A little above budget.. but that will probably be your best under $500. My suggestion is to improve on the source first, then headphone+amp(together).

 

[Duncan]

...I still like the way I do it with my Live!... via my DAC, sounds pretty damned great to me (if truth be known, I think TONALLY that the live may nudge ahead of my Marantz!

)

 

[Neruda]

I would imagine that if you want good sound from your computer, you'd have to bypass the audio card altogether and use a DAC, since anything inside a computer will suffer problems with interference and noise and crap. Not that there aren't good-sounding audio cards out there or anything.

 

[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gluegun you are using Coolplayer to play the mp3's, right?

Just so people know, you can achieve the same sound as Coolplayer while keeping winamp's (in my opinion) far superior interface and customizability.

Use this: http://www.mars.org/home/rob/proj/mpeg/mad-plugin/

It also allows you to use 24-bit output, unlike Coolplayer.

- Chris

 

[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by Neruda I would imagine that if you want good sound from your computer, you'd have to bypass the audio card altogether and use a DAC, since anything inside a computer will suffer problems with interference and noise and crap. Not that there aren't good-sounding audio cards out there or anything.

You can't "bypass the soundcard" unless you're playing a CD.

Perhaps you mean "bypass the analog out"?

- Chris

 

[kerelybonto]

You can use something like a USB DAC to entirely skip the soundcard. But, yeah, the biggest problem is the soundcard's analog out, which usually isn't so hot. Unless you have a well-trained audiophile ear and do in fact pay a lot of attention to the subtle details while listening, the output on a soundcard like the M-Audio one mentioned should be sufficient.

But, yes, there are other options if you want to go crazy.

kerleybonto

 

[kelly]

rex
Welcome to Head-Fi. I'm not a Wizard but I have written a post to give my opinion on what to do with a "desk rig." Although you state up front that your sound files are in mp3 format, feel free to ignore wholely the mp3 vs uncompressed debate of the thread and see my main post here:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...threadid=17377

Most of the advice I would think applies to your situation with one exception: If you don't need closed headphones (headphones that help block out noise and keep sound from leaking from them and disturbing others) then ignore that part of my post and consider the Beyerdynamic DT931 which is $175 from www.meier-audio.com.

The system I have assembled crosses your $500 barrier but can be assembled in stages--ie, amp and headphones now, DAC when you can afford it, upgrades here and there if and when you want those.