[The Dude Abides]

Greetings everyone,

My first post to the forum and I will explain my initial goal after a brief description of my system.
Intel nuc - win 10 Pro - Audiophile Optimizer - Fidelizer - usb out - Matrix spdif ii - XLR to Cambridge Audio 851d (DAC/pre) - XLR to - Schiit Vidar twin mono KEF R3 standpoint

My goal is to slowly build a desktop headphone system and independent quality Dap for portable listening.

Where the hiss comes in is the background noise noticeable from the built in headphone DAC of the CA 851d. I have Meze 99 Classic and perhaps have been fooling myself that the headphone amp is of a quality good enough to give good resolution to them.

Revelations occurred when I tried out the Meze with my lowly Dodocool DA106 Dap. Usually this has Sound magic E10 iem in use but I was amazed how much I had been missing from the Meze via the 851d.

My favourite music is melodic rock/blues and there are some terrific CDs produced by many Swedish plus Italian bands, Brother Firetribe, Gathering of Kings, Annette Olzon, Arcado, Find Me, Lionville, Per Gessle, Heart, Def Leppard, Beth Hart, Dan Patlansky, Walter Trout. Karnataka from prog
So tonally I enjoy bass and welcome audiophile production for instrumental separation and vocal clarity. Not a soft and warm guy as befits the digital system.

I welcome suggestions of potential equipment for both Dap upgrade and of course the headphone amp or DAC/amp. Sub £200 for Dap at this time and £250 -500 for the headphone amp.

So please fire away with your experiences. I'm new to this side of things and have really enjoyed looking through the forums.

Thank you

The Dude

 

[buke9]

A Dap you might look at is the HiBy R3Pro. I have a R3 and the Meze 99 Classics as well and no complaints.

 

[The Dude Abides]

Thanks Buke9 that is good to know. I have been following it's pre release reviews from over here in the UK, not out here just yet. There certainly seems to be a trend towards wireless connection and streaming filtering down to the £$180 plus players. Plus the Bluetooth of course. Not facilities I need right now but with future proofing in mind it could become a necessity, who knows?

 

[CTR640]

Wireless connection, like wireless headphones?

 

[The Dude Abides]

CTR640 Good point. In interpreting your wording, my connections currently are all wired and I don't have plans to go wireless yet advancements in tech may make this appropriate. Where I mention wireless above, that would be streaming, Tidal, Qobuz. If I get to use them I would favour my main system rather than headphone/mobile.

 

[CTR640]

I was curious about future proofing. Wireless headphones/earphones can never be future proofing as the battery will degrade over months or years, depending on the quality. Tuely wireless stereos are disposable items.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Where the hiss comes in is the background noise noticeable from the built in headphone DAC of the CA 851d. I have Meze 99 Classic and perhaps have been fooling myself that the headphone amp is of a quality good enough to give good resolution to them.

Revelations occurred when I tried out the Meze with my lowly Dodocool DA106 Dap. Usually this has Sound magic E10 iem in use but I was amazed how much I had been missing from the Meze via the 851d.
-----
I welcome suggestions of potential equipment for both Dap upgrade and of course the headphone amp or DAC/amp. Sub £200 for Dap at this time and £250 -500 for the headphone amp.

So please fire away with your experiences. I'm new to this side of things and have really enjoyed looking through the forums.

Add a bit more and you can get a Meier Corda Jazz FF from Meier in Germany and whatever ODAC you can get from Head N HiFi in Switzerland.

 

[The Dude Abides]

I was curious about future proofing. Wireless headphones/earphones can never be future proofing as the battery will degrade over months or years, depending on the quality. Tuely wireless stereos are disposable items.

Agreed. One of the angles could be how the music industry will move forward with the medium through which they deliver music. If they market with exclusive digital download and stop making cd, as we can see with blu ray, then the ability to acquire music wirelessly on some gadget or other plus the use of streaming would become more relevant. Early days.

 

[The Dude Abides]

Add a bit more and you can get a Meier Corda Jazz FF from Meier in Germany and whatever ODAC you can get from Head N HiFi in Switzerland.

That's great, thank you! Really enjoying making these new discoveries!

 

[CTR640]

Agreed. One of the angles could be how the music industry will move forward with the medium through which they deliver music. If they market with exclusive digital download and stop making cd, as we can see with blu ray, then the ability to acquire music wirelessly on some gadget or other plus the use of streaming would become more relevant. Early days.

Yeah, the problem with the bluray being less popular might be because of the prices. I remember they were too expensive in the beginning and you would watch a movie like one time or twice and it will collect dust. I have many mkv's here and watched them only once. Music on the other hand, you listen them many times. CD's being less popular might be because of the hassle of portability. I remember the old days when cassette-players and later portable cd-players. Not to mention the headphones you had to carry them with you too. Thanks God I never had them, didn't like to carry them all and not to mention the disposable batteries Digital and eventually DAP are the new black. Much easier. But the quality? I have no idea as my most of the music I listen to are not there on the streamings.

I am a simple man, I hear gud music, I enjoy