[Luketaru]

Hello head-fi'ers!
 
I am looking for some advice/suggestions with how to attain a certain setup that I am interested in. I've been using the HD800 headphones for music and PC use and have been very happy with them but want to incorporate these headphones use into my other electronic devices.
 
First off, my current setup includes:
 
PC > UDAC2 > Matrix M-Stage Amp > HD 800
 
My goal is to use my HD 800's with other devices such as Xbox 360/ps3/wii... I realize the Wii doesn't have HDMI or digital audio out. I have all these devices connected to my HDTV, and this TV only has a pair of analog outs and one digital out (toslink). The UDAC2 only has USB and an SPDIF input.
 
Can I just get a Toslink>SPDIF converter and connect the TV > UDAC > amp ? I figure this is kind of the cheapy way out and I'm willing to spend some money on a new DAC to improve the setup if there is something that will make this work perfectly how I'd like it to. I was even looking at some home theater receivers but it's hard to get info on how well these would do with the 800's.
 
I would also like this device to be able to be incorporated into a more robust home theater system in the future, in case I would like to use headphones instead of the speakers for whatever reason.
 
Thank you in advance for any insight you can give.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Try looking for a used preamp with a tape loop out or line level out.
 
Connect the headphone amp to the tape loop and you'll be able to switch it in and out.  Connect the various sources to the preamp's inputs.

 

[Luketaru]

Thank you for the response. I apologize in advance as I am still quite a newb at all of this.
 
I've thought on this more and incorporating the new device into a larger system is secondary to me. I really want to get great audio quality from the PS3/360 and other devices first and foremost. Is a preamp the best way to go about this? What models are recommended?
 
I'm not sure the best way of going about hooking everything up, since if I used analog outs from my TV to a preamp, that causes the TV to do the D-A conversion from the HDMI signal from PS3/360?
 
I have tested a very old home theater receiver connected by TOSLINK from my TV, using the headphone out with the 800's and it was not terrible but it seemed like it lost a lot of quality and there seemed to be some background noise present.
 
I do not mind replacing the UDAC2 as I feel that is "the weakest link" now, if it would accomplish my ultimate goal.