[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterR Just out of curiosity, you seem to be very sure the SR71 will be inferior to the DAC1 - is this based on actual experience? That cable would mean a very modest investment (considering the price of the amp), and very well worth it even if it's just to find out IMO.

Heh, I was just in the process of typing out the same question. I'm interested in the answer as well...

 

[EyEPoD]

Just leave the SR-71 separate for your travel rig. The Dac1 has a built in headphone amplifier that is capable of surpassing the the SR-71.

For the best setup use your iriver (or any cd/dvd player), and connect it to the Dac1 with a toslink optical cable. Lastly connect your senns to the Dac1. You can do this 2 different ways. The easiest way being just plugging the 650s straight into the front of the dac1. The alternate way (and will offer a nice bump in several areas to the sound quality) is to connect your 650s to the Dac1 using the balanced outs on the back of the Dac1 as seen here:

In order to connect the 650s via those balanced outputs you will need an aftermarket cable for the senns (or you will need someone to mod your stock cable). Zu Cable can make a cable for you here. If you decide to go with a Zu Mobius make sure when you call them you ask for a cable with balanced female terminations (or just tell them you will be hooking it up to a benchmark dac1 via the balanced outputs).

 

[dip16amp]

Make sure you move the output level switch to variable when connecting the headphones to the XLR connectors..

 

[some1x]

I am basing my recommendations against using SR71 with DAC1 for these reasons:
-Need to use a Mini-to-RCA interconnect. A good mini-to-rca costs $70, and the money would be better spent elsewhere (i.e. getting a Zu Mobius with XLR connectors).
-Adding a Mini-to-RCA interconnect will, at best, not hurt the sound.
-It is more convenient to just connect the HD650 to DAC1 (whether its the built in headamp or the balanced output).

 

[Kurt]

Before connecting the phones direct to the XLR output, make sure you attenuate the signal either with variable switch and volume pot or before the DAC (for example with the Iriver volume). Otherwise your drivers/ears will get enough loudness for a long time.

 

[NeilPeart]

...but don't forget that using the internal jumpers as pads for attenuation will change the impedance of the output and therefore affect the synergy the XLR outputs have with the HD580/600/650. When the pads are disabled (0dB) the impedance is 60ohm IIRC and -10/-20/-30 dB padding will increase the impedance too much which adversely affects the outputs. I use foobar’s digital attenuation when I use my PC as a transport and the volume pot for attenuation when I use my DVD-A player.

 

[seankonnery]

I have decided to use the dac with my sr71 and hd650. I'm getting a mini to 2rca cable for the dac to sr71.