Quote:
Originally Posted by awu_gigabyte
My headphone line up is fairly short right now, but i'll be using mostly senn hd555s, ultrasone hfi-550, and shure e4c.
My current source is a creative audigy 2 platinum.
The reason i wanted to get something better than my current is that music seems to be very tinny and unfufilled. I'm hoping either of both of these devices will help that a bit.
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Your HD555 (which I don't have, but I have an HD595) should sound quite decent out of a decent source even without your CMOY in line. Ditto the E4C. That is, both are efficient enough that they should not sound "tinny and unfulfilled" without an amp. (I don't know anything about the Ultrasone.) Adding an amp would give you more bass power and more clarity during complex passages, but, with these cans, won't make the difference between "tinny and unfulfilled" and "hey, this sounds good!" -- because they should already sound really good without the amp.
I'm not familiar with the Audigy series; maybe someone else can say whether they constitute a reasonably good source or not. But if your music sounds tinny to you through those cans, I think something other than lack of $300 worth of amplification is likely to be the cause.
- Have you listened to the headphones directly from the Audigy, without the CMOY? Does the CMOY genuinely improve the sound quality? I'm asking this just in case the CMOY itself might be in some way faulty and possibly diminishing rather than adding to your experience.
- Are your sound files of good quality, that is, not 56Kbps downloads or other hopelessly compressed low-fi music, but something at 192Kbps or better or lossless?
If your sound files are good, and if the HD555 and/or E4C sound tinny straight out of the Audigy, then I'd say your source isn't measuring up and that you should get the DAC first. But if the sound is better without the CMOY than with, then I'd say to get the amp first.
Edit: FWIW, my desktop stack is the Micro DAC plus a HeadFive amp. Very nice combination, and less costly than the Micro Amp. No portable/battery option, though.