Hybrid headphone/monitor audio setup

[STHead]

Hello.
My music source is PC hard drive. After setup upgrade my main end point is HD 800 S, secondary - pair of Adams A7X. The problem is in the middle.
Just recently I was interested in new UD-505 and SONY TA-ZH1ES. Then I have checked the manuals and find out that: " If headphones are connected, sound will stop being output from the rear panel connectors". Changing a headphones and active monitors is a routine action during the day. Do You expect me to "in/out"a precious HD 800 S headphones each time ? Why there is no "output switch" on the front panel for convenient managing? Can't find any with balanced output for headphones and balanced line output for monitors.
Help?

 

[Arjestin]

Hi and welcome!

Can't find any with balanced output for headphones and balanced line output for monitors

What do you mean? The Teac UD-505 is a fully-balanced headphone amp. Although, you may want to use a different cable (or at least an adapter) to connect your HD800S to the Teac.

Then I have checked the manuals and find out

Always read the manual before committing to buy expensive audio equipment. We all made this mistake once There are many DAC/Amps out there that output a line-level signal when headphones are plugged in. My favorite is the OPPO HA-1, which sadly has been discontinued.

Do You expect me to "in/out"a precious HD 800 S headphones

Yes. XLR and 6.3mm connectors are quite durable. They are designed to be used a lot without much wear (That remains to be seen about the new Sony 4.4mm connectors). We plug and unplug headphone cables all the time at the studio. This should not be a concern.

Hope this helps.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hello.
My music source is PC hard drive. After setup upgrade my main end point is HD 800 S, secondary - pair of Adams A7X. The problem is in the middle.
Just recently I was interested in new UD-505 and SONY TA-ZH1ES. Then I have checked the manuals and find out that: " If headphones are connected, sound will stop being output from the rear panel connectors". Changing a headphones and active monitors is a routine action during the day. Do You expect me to "in/out"a precious HD 800 S headphones each time ? Why there is no "output switch" on the front panel for convenient managing? Can't find any with balanced output for headphones and balanced line output for monitors.
Help?

You can try the AudioGD NFB-1AMP which has an output selector switch out front and the NFB-1.38 DAC to stack with it.

 

[STHead]

Thank You,
Arjestin!

I did not buy any expensive DAC/Amp yet
Unfortunatly the PRE OUT's in SONY TA-ZH1ES are not balanced. I just can not insult Adams A7X with unbalanced connection! What is of TEAC UD-505 is to be seen on this Forums, I hope.(And for TEAC UD-505 it would be a Sony 4.4mm connector for extra 300 EUR)
The idea is: You "click" some "output switch" on front panel, adjust the volume of monitors and do what You have to do. Uninterrupted listening, almost. Ease of use is important.
Good DAC/Amps are really expensive, I would like to use it neatly.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

The idea is: You "click" some "output switch" on front panel, adjust the volume of monitors and do what You have to do. Uninterrupted listening, almost. Ease of use is important.

NFB-1AMP has an output switch in front and balanced headphone and preamp output. Pair it with the NFB-1.38 balanced DAC.

 

[STHead]

Thank You,
ProtegeManiac!

Checking.
No local retailers.
Interesting.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Checking.
No local retailers.
Interesting.

AudioGD is a direct seller on the internet, kind of like if Schiit didn't set up one there.

If you want something from the EU that you can be more confident about when you need warranty or post-warranty repairs, you'll just have to go with Violectric. You either give up the front panel switch on the lower range models, or get the V281 which has has two independent switches (in case for some reason some users might want both running).

Just note also that the DAC stage only comes with one input, and you have to select it in the options when you buy otherwise it won't come with the DAC daughterboard.

 

[STHead]

Thank You againe,
ProtegeManiac!

Checking Violectric Headphones Amplifier HPA V281. Looks really good!
Their DAC daughter board is not enough already. I would like to try more. No DSD too. All I know for now is up to 24/192. So, let's upsample everything as high as possible and pray we notice the difference
I'm quite old already, You know.
Can You help me pair the HPA V281 with some cool DAC?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Their DAC daughter board is not enough already. I would like to try more. No DSD too. All I know for now is up to 24/192. So, let's upsample everything as high as possible and prey we notice the difference

I wouldn't get too hung up on 24/192 or even 32/384, unless your music is natively mastered and the copy itself is in either. Subjective tests did have some consistency in picking out differences with upsampling, but there was one white paper from the last decade that figured out the reason for it: upsampling adds very high frequency noise that while itself inaudible affects the rest of the range in how the driver needs to move in order to reproduce it. In other words, the difference, or "improvement," is just added noise and distortion.

Not sure if a DSD DAC will do that but nowadays DACs that can do true DSD and PCM* AFAIK will decode them as normal. No DSD to PCM conversions, but they won't upsample PCM at the same very high sampling rates (much less at 1bit). AFAIK, DAC chips nowadays don't even work with upsampling chips nor have they become integrated into the chips, unless the specific DAC has a switch (which indicates it has the upsampling chip), so if you hear differences in most DACs, it's most likely due to the circuit as a whole just having less noise.

If you're going to get into DSD then get DSD compatible DACs. Otherwise, any 24/192 DACs will work well enough since 1) CDs and most regular streaming are on 16/44.1 anyway and 2) FLAC downloads are at 24/96. 24/192 is mostly just future proofing in case FLAC downloads move up to that (although not likely - the reason why they sell FLAC only in 24/96 now is because that's the sampling rate when mastering the album, and given the proliferation of 24/192 compatible DACs including smartphones let alone DACs, 16/44.1 just takes up server space).


*ie, DSD is 1bit/2.8Mhz, or higher; used to be they'd cite only the DSD spec and it can run Redbook, and then initially 24bit DACs just converted DSD to PCM. Some DACs now can do both without conversion, but what you'd normally see is they're rated at 32/384 or 24/196.

I'm quite old already, You know.

That's the thing...if you have higher frequency hearing loss, it's harder to guarantee you'll hear a difference, not to mention the difference with upsampling has been due to added noise and consequently, driver distortion.

Can You help me pair the HPA V281 with some cool DAC?

I don't really get fussy with DAC specs apart from whether there's feedback that there's an obvious flaw in the sound (like some Rega CDPs sounding too dark, or some Cambridge CDPs that image the drums too far forward) or the specs (single ended line voltage output too far below or above Redbook standard) so I can't help there.

 

[STHead]

Thank You very much,
ProtegeManiac!

I hope more music addicts will read Your post here.
It is really helpful.

The DAC I need should be able to:
1. Be able to upsample PCM up to 32/768kHz or not upsample at all, by my decision.
2. Be able to decode till DSD 256 natively (not DSD over PCM).

If such a beautiful thing would be able to do DSD over PCM (DoP) and Thai massage on my demand, then I TAKE IT!
The budget is 2000 EUR maximum, so no jokes, no miracles.
Anybody heard about something like my dream?