[DarthSilverice]

First of all, forgive me if I ask redundant questions that were answered before. I did do quite a bit of reading but I am still quite confused.

So here it goes, never knew I would be buying an amp. I was an IEM guy that just got into headphones few month ago. Started with Sennheiser HD 555 and enjoyed the sound. Just last week, I was lucky enough to inherit a pair of HD 600 from my dad. So now I am here, in need of things to power it properly.

As a student, I do not have too much money to burn off so I will set my budget at say $500.

I will be needing a DAC and amp or DAC/AMP combo. Portability is not a concern for me. For my money, I would like to spend it on something with a good DAC so I don't have to upgrade my DAC in the near future. The music will be mainly played from my desktop or laptop or Ipod.

Here are some of my current selections:

Audio-GD Compass
Pico DAC/AMP
a decent DAC + a decent little dot amplifier

The amp could be SS or tube. I am pretty open minded and are open to suggestions!

Thank you all in advance!

 

[somestranger26]

Skimmed your post and didn't see anything about not wanting to buy used. Head over to the for sale forums! There's some good dacs, such as the Keces DA-151 on sale for good prices. Same thing for the amp, I saw a LD MK3 earlier today for $200. Hmm, I see a compass for $350 shipped and it includes the other two HDAMs as well. I would look into that, and set back $150 for future upgrades or what have you.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Consider the PreSonus Central Station. They were popular here a couple of years ago - they have a nice upsampling DAC and a very good headphone amp. You can find new ones just around $500, but I got one for $400 on special.

I would have kept it, but vinyl and SACD pulled me out of computer-as-source. Still, I might get another one as the Red Book collection continues to grow and I'm thinking about moving it to the computer to save rack space for SACD and DVD-A discs.

 

[koven]

Pico DAC + MKIII..i had this combo w/ the hd600.. it really shined imo, hd600 sounds amazing with tubes

the pico is great for the money.. it was a significant improvement from my old d2 boa

i think id have to spend at least 1000 for a noticeable upgrade from the pico, which i wont do (hopefully, lol)

 

[ksu06]

pico is a solid dac recommendation, or maybe the gamma2 looks promising

amps, if you are thinking tube amp then little dot mkiii or darkvoice dv336, if you are thinking solid state then a ec/ss, gilmore lite, or ckkiii.

i have personally heard the pico, gamma1, little dot mkiii, and ckkiii, so i could answer specific questions if you have any

 

[skeptic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by koven /img/forum/go_quote.gif i think id have to spend at least 1000 for a noticeable upgrade from the pico

What makes you think that? If the OP is looking for a portable solution, the pico has certainly gotten some positive reviews, but I've only seen one poster suggesting he liked it better than a full sized desktop dac (and he owns the pico, so you can't discount the exposure effect).

Have you personally compared it to other similarly priced full sized dacs: keces, oritek, dacmagic, MHDT, Stello, OPUS, littledot, etc?

 

[noinimod]

I might be crucified for saying this, but I believe one should be spending more money on the amp than the dac when starting out, since the gains to be had from a better amp are much more than a better dac.

 

[DarthSilverice]

Wow great read this morning. Thank you all for your opinions, Looks like I have a bit more reading to do.

Never heard of PreSonus Central Station but I will search it up!

Yes I dont mind buying used and I will check the board everyday for good deals. Lets hope they ship to their brothers up north.

Couple of questions: If portability is not an issue, how does DACmagic compare with pico DAC?

How is the DAC itself in audioGD Compass?

Also correct me if I am wrong but a DAC is more important than amp correct?

Thanks all!

 

[apatN]

I have the DacMagic and it's a solid piece of hardware in my books. I have never heard the Pico or any other higher-end DAC though.

Your best bet anyway is to buy used. Make yourself a list of DACs and amps and then go hunting around the F/S forums. Welcome to the hobby.

 

[DarthSilverice]

^ and sorry for my wallet? =) =(

I think I will give the audio GD Compass a try first. Should give me an idea of what decent amp/DAC should sound like correct?

I would love to try tube amplifiers but I guess that will be next on my list.

Any objections for pairing HD600 with Compass?