[milezone]

I never suggested the PS-1's. The DT48s are sublime.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Go high end. You could easily get back 90% of your money if you sold the HD800 or K1000.

x2

 

[dasmb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrolic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Listen, I'm willing to bet you your entire $10000 that not one single person posting here could consistently (90%+ of the time) tell the difference between FLAC and a 256kbps MP3, and they most definitely could not tell the difference between 320kbps and FLAC. Don't listen to them.

I can tell you 100% of the time, if the source is Money Jungle and playback were on my gear.

MP3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't know what magic some folks think happens at high bitrates, but MP3 uses a psychoacoustic model that could not model certain sounds if you gave it twice as many bits/s as the PCM source! If you cannot hear the difference on a given piece of music after becoming familiar with it, it is either because your source does not feature those sounds, the gear does not highlight them or because your ear does not care.

It bugs me not because I am shamed the source is MP3, but because I can hear this shimmer sometimes. I find my new Audio Technica ESW9a phones make it way more obvious than my Grados did, to the point of being fatiguing. I don't have the same problem with the CD, LP or ALAC versions of the same songs. And I don't recall ever having this issue with AAC files.

Please: there are all kinds of placebos in audio, but this one's real and acknowledged by the non-audiophile signal processing community. If you hear something and it bugs you, fix it. If it doesn't bug you, all the better. You just doubled your storage capacity.

 

[midoo1990]

I don't know why some of you guys recommend something as the k701 oe hd800!the k701 is extremly revealing and it can make alot of my 320kb music sound horrible and my 256 are most of the time not listenibale on them.before you make any move I suggest you upgrade your music collection and buy CDs or get a forgiving phone even if you have the money to get the stax omega.

 

[AtomikPi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dasmb /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can tell you 100% of the time, if the source is Money Jungle and playback were on my gear. MP3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I don't know what magic some folks think happens at high bitrates, but MP3 uses a psychoacoustic model that could not model certain sounds if you gave it twice as many bits/s as the PCM source! If you cannot hear the difference on a given piece of music after becoming familiar with it, it is either because your source does not feature those sounds, the gear does not highlight them or because your ear does not care. It bugs me not because I am shamed the source is MP3, but because I can hear this shimmer sometimes. I find my new Audio Technica ESW9a phones make it way more obvious than my Grados did, to the point of being fatiguing. I don't have the same problem with the CD, LP or ALAC versions of the same songs. And I don't recall ever having this issue with AAC files. Please: there are all kinds of placebos in audio, but this one's real and acknowledged by the non-audiophile signal processing community. If you hear something and it bugs you, fix it. If it doesn't bug you, all the better. You just doubled your storage capacity.

To prevent this from getting out of hand, there's a very easy way to resolve this. Just go ahead and do an abx using foobar's built-in abx comparator. Compare a LAME 3.97 320 kbps mp3 generated from a lossless file to FLAC. Please do at least 15 trials.

 

[tvrboy]

Actually I already own a DT48. It's a very awesome headphone, but it doesn't sound good with every genre. For rock and pop I like a little more bass. Let me be a little more detailed about what I want: I want a setup that allows me to switch headphones every month or so. I love getting new stuff... buying and selling on the for sale forum here. So I want to buy an amp that will allow me to play with lots of different headphones. So I was thinking about these combinations:

EF-5 (good for HE-5, RS-1, AD2000, D5000, Ultrasones)

Dynalo (good for RS-1/AD2000 but just OK for HD600/K701/DT880)

Lake People GS100 (OK for RS-1/AD2000 and good for almost anything else)

+ a DAC later, need to do more research on that.

 

[Zeroblade]

Congrats on the 10,000 indeed! (and honestly, I am incredibly envious)

Your parents are right - invest most of it and spend a bit on audio stuff; I think you're entitled to a bit of splurging now and then

Tempting as it is to jump straight into hi-fi, it's a lot more satisfying to earn your equipment. Plus as you said, you can't really afford to make mistakes with hi-fi, especially with the components.

If you're building a full computer audio deck from scratch, you'll want a DAC, and amp, and a headphone or two (or three

).

When talking about computer audio, I believe that DAC's are a must. if you don't have a good source to start with, a hundred-thousand Dollar setup will sound like crap; likewise, even if you use lossless, if it's processed with a crappy soundcard, then it's all for naught. DAC's range from cheapo cables that have the DAC itself integrated somewhere along the line (not what you want, of course), to huge hulking boxes worth thousands, but really all you'll need is maybe 200~300 bucks for a really good one that'll last you years.

I don't have much experience with DAC's outside the KECES DA-151 which I got at a bargain (and love dearly), as well as a few other lower-end ones I've tried out like the SuperPro 707 DAC and the iBasso D10. One of the cheaper DAC's gaining attention is the NuForce uDAC at about 100 USD, so that might be of interest. Another good source is the EMU 0404 going at twice that price. Cambridge Audio's DACMagic looks pretty neat too, with all those inputs and outputs.

As for amps - you NEED an amp to make your cans shine, but you shouldn't need to spend more than $400 or $500 for a high-end, reliable amp - it's overkill, actually. Personally, I'd go with solid state because they are a lot more practical for non-audiophile listening. No warm-up and no need to tube-roll, they're very low-maintenance, and easier to work with compared to the hot and fragile vacuum tubes. Not that I'm dissing them or anything of course. Mind that all the amps below are solid state. One of the more oft-recommended amps is the Gilmore Lite so you could go with the tried and true path. Creek Audio's OBH-11 amp looks pretty neat too, but apparently the power supply sucks and necessitates buying their more expensive one! Audio-gd also seems to be highly regarded as a great value-for-money manufacturer too, so their C2C might be of interest.

For headphones - well, that's entirely up to you

A good way to save a bit of money is to get a high quality combination DAC/amp (shouldn't be more than 500 USD for a good one either), and then spend the remaining money on say, a pair of really good home-phones, and then on a nice IEM for on-the-go use (if you want one).

Meier Audio's Corda Cantate looks good, but rather pricey at 515 bucks (and pretty darned stylish), as does Audio-gd's FUN for around 300, and KECES's DA-152 which goes for 475, though it only takes USB input. It'd be nice to save a few bucks by popping in the FS board to see if there are any good deals though.

As a final note, a lot of the stuff I noted here is around mid-fi level (IMO) and the amps probably will not be able to drive the really high-end headphones (HD800, K1000, etc.) to their best.

 

[Ninkul]

Try audition stuff, if you have $10,000 spare... surely you have the means to find somewhere to try this stuff first. I'm sure some head-fi'ers in your area with equipment in your price-range will certainly be kind enough to let you squeeze some headtime on their rigs. Much better than buying something you dont -completely- like

 

[Zeroblade]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention that. He's right - you should audition whatever you can get your hands on, even if you don't really plan to buy it at first. It'll at least give you some ideas on what you want in your rig, and who knows - you might find something you like

 

[Landis]

Pay yourself first!

Before allotting any money towards gear, make sure you decide what you're going to do with what you're saving. I'd recommend a three-way split; put some in your back account, invest some and then put some towards what you want!

I'd probably split it 5,000 in your bank, $3,500 invested and leaving $1,500 toward audio gear or whatever else it is you need/want at the moment to celebrate your gain.

Whatever you decide to do with it, congratulations!

 

[Shike]

I'd say buy a rig you're going to be happy with, sell off old gear you don't need anymore. Also: only buy used. This increases your chance of getting most of your money back should you need to sell it in an emergency. I'd probably impose a hard limit, say between $1k-2k.

 

[VALIENTE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvrboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif For once in my wretched life I got lucky ... I just got $10,000. SO you can imagine I will A. spend some of it on audio gear and B. ask you lot about my options.

tvrboy, Happy New Year to You! Also a Lucky New Year to You.
I think you are one of the lucky headfiers out there this 2010.

If I were in your shoes, I will save/invest my big money-so that it will go bigger and bigger for my future and for the future models of headphones.
I will just buy the best bang for money headphones like the Grado SR60-unamped sounds best and similar to high end headphones three times its price without proper/matched amp. AKG K701 will also be on my list, a very cheap headphone nowadays cos this already an old model, K702 is the new one-more expensive than K701 but shares the same sound drivers. It is better to buy old models than new models cos they are cheaper.
Best bang headphone amplifiers I am looking is the Audio GD C2C to match the K701. Plus you may buy Cambridge DAC Magic-one of the best DACs out there if you need high quality sound with CDs. And Marantz CD5003 as your source-a cheap but audiophile quality player.
(This kind of setup is just a suggestion based on around of 5 years more or less experience with the internet searching for best for the bang audio equipment)

I think the setup above will just consume around 10% of your big money.
Invest 90% of your money in business and make your money happier.
Years passes by....
And when your 90% doubled after a successful invest it will become 180%.
Then, I think at this time you could buy Sennheiser HD800-cos this will be cheaper already cos an old model aready-so bang for the money again. The new model is HD1000-just an assumption.


tvrboy, you are really lucky. Invest your money so well and be happy not only yours ears but your wallet. I would like you to refer to Suze Orman- she's a nice money adviser.
Also, when your parents, brothers/sisters and relatives asked money assistance from you-you will be able to help them with your investment.

tvrboy, Good Luck be with you.
And God Bless You!

 

[Asr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvrboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif For once in my wretched life I got lucky ... I just got $10,000. SO you can imagine I will A. spend some of it on audio gear and B. ask you lot about my options. My parents want me to invest most of it, and I actually agree with them. So I'm not gonna spend all of it on Head-Fi, but I'd like to get some nice things. My criteria is that I want a system that will sound great and beat every other system under $1000, but is also listenable with 256k mp3s. I use Napster a lot because I find it very convenient to listen to millions of songs for only $12 per month. Yes, I know that's not very "audiophile" of me, but I like it. It's a lot easier to discover new artists that way than to just go out and randomly buy CDs. So until I can expand my CD collection, I mostly listen to these mp3s. My thinking right now is to get the Head-Direct EF-5 + HE-5 combo. That amp gives out 7 watts at 32 ohms, so I assume it will be great for powering other current hungry phones as well. That way I can also play around with the RS-1, AD2000, etc. Maybe buying a DAC is pointless until I have better source material. I'm sure any good DAC will just make my mp3s sound worse - is this true? So let me know your suggestions or thoughts about this whole thing. And if you're gonna tell me Stax...well I'm gonna buy very soon so I don't want to wait 10 months for a bargain amp/phone to come up on the used market.

I would suggest not spending any money right now and instead making the travel out for CanJam 2010 in Chicago, and then afterwards making your decision on what to buy. Actually hearing equipment can radically change your perceptions and will also give you a proper frame of reference with respect to the posts you read on Head-Fi about various headphones and amps.

 

[n3rdling]

First, congrats on getting the money.

If I were in your shoes, I'd do the following:

Only buy used gear. Don't rush to buy things unless you think it's a good deal. I don't buy unless I think I'm getting a good or great deal (people would be shocked at some of the deals I've squirmed my way into). Say a headphone usually goes for $100 plus shipping/paypal and you see it for that price, don't forget that if you want to sell it you're automatically losing money on the shipping cost in most cases. There are many great deals to be had on ebay and audiogon in particular and sometimes on this forum, due to people unloading gear as a result of the economy.

Get a couple different headphones you're interested in trying. Buy all of them used of course. Get an electrostat, preferably a Stax Lambda. You won't know if electrostats are for you or not until you try one. They have a great buyer satisfaction rate. It is somewhat uncommon that somebody buys an electrostat setup and isn't pleased from what I've seen.

Get a dynamic amp, an electrostatic amp, and a source. If you know how to DIY, then that's a no brainer. If you don't check the FS forums for one of the mid level dynamic DIY amps (M3, CTH, dynalo, etc). Your dollar will go much further this way than buying a commercial amp. If you insist on commercial builds, I think the DNA Sonnett and Headamp products punch a fair amount above their weight. As for sources, audiogon has tons of them listed every day. Look for an older source that is selling for a fraction of its' retail price. Audiophiles tend to think old gear is somehow inferior, but my ears tell me that older gear oftentimes sounds even better than newer gear (I'd imagine there was less cost cutting back then). Parasound and Assemblage both make fantastic sources you can find for well under $300. As for electrostatic amps, try to get an old, used SRM-1, SRM-T1, or exstata DIY amp. These are all good for the money.

Audition them all for a while. This system will allow you to directly compare many headphones at once and you'll have all the time in the world to decide which you like or where you'd like to take your rig.

Sell the losers. If you follow my advice above, you should lose little to no money on the gear you don't want to keep. The most important step to all of this is finding decent deals. "obo" is your best friend.

You'll now have had adequate time with multiple headphones and amps of completely different flavors. You won't have regrets that you didn't try out a certain piece of gear. You won't be stuck later down the line when you buy a headphone you should have bought now and have to go by memory to decide if you like it as much as the headphone you kept. Above all, you'll have the setup/money combination that result in your highest level of satisfaction.

 

[skiflyer]

Buy some HD800s and drive them with an iPod Shuffle and 128k MP3s just to confuse the crap outa everyone... or maybe some PS-1000s cause I really like Grado.