[Neyeah]

Hi All,

I am currently using CARAT-RUBY Hifi-audio DAC & Headphone AMP. Somehow I can't find any review of this thing as I just bought it at a local store in Singapore when I went and got myself an Audio Engine a5+ for my dekstop.

I also have a DDT990 250ohm and AKG K7xx
I mainly use my headphone for gaming and music in my dekstop.

So question is, should I keep my current DAC for my speakers and find specifically headphone amps that I can use through my desktop or get something like schiit jotunheim (or anything else if at better value at the price) and upgrade my CARAT-RUBY DAC as well as using it as headphone amp in my dekstop ?

Budget would preferably at under 500 like Jotunheim(with DAC option)

Thanks in advance !

Edit: or perhaps Audio gd R2R 11 would be a good option ?

 

[buke9]

Never have heard or have heard of that dac/amp before now so can’t say for sure. The Jot is one of the few Schiit products that I haven’t heard yet but know several people that I trust that say it is a very good dac/amp. That being said is there a reason you want something other than what you have?

 

[Neyeah]

Never have heard or have heard of that dac/amp before now so can’t say for sure. The Jot is one of the few Schiit products that I haven’t heard yet but know several people that I trust that say it is a very good dac/amp. That being said is there a reason you want something other than what you have?

my current amp at even max volume. is barely enough/ or not loud enough for either of my headphones.

http://styleaudio.typepad.com/styleaudio_hifi_usb_mini_/2010/05/2010-new-caratruby2.html that is the dac/amp i think

 

[buke9]

That is the page I saw when I looked it up as I have never heard of it. If you are not getting enough volume then you should get another amp. I don’t recommend things I haven’t heard unless it is from people I know and trust that have heard them and you could go with a Magni 3 for $99 US and use your Dac that you have and use the Magni for pre amp out to the powered speakers you wish to get also or get a Jot for $399 and use your dac or $499 and be all in with a balanced dac setup and just that. Like I said before I have not heard it yet but others say it’s very good. I like Schiit products as I have a Sys,Mani,Freya and a Yggdrasil but there are plenty of other products out there also.

 

[Neyeah]

That is the page I saw when I looked it up as I have never heard of it. If you are not getting enough volume then you should get another amp. I don’t recommend things I haven’t heard unless it is from people I know and trust that have heard them and you could go with a Magni 3 for $99 US and use your Dac that you have and use the Magni for pre amp out to the powered speakers you wish to get also or get a Jot for $399 and use your dac or $499 and be all in with a balanced dac setup and just that. Like I said before I have not heard it yet but others say it’s very good. I like Schiit products as I have a Sys,Mani,Freya and a Yggdrasil but there are plenty of other products out there also.

buke9 thanks for your input,

however if i were to get the magni3, how do I set it up to connect to my pc ?

Right now its PC - > usb - > DAC/Amp

and DAC amp - > Speaker
- > Headphone

i just switch over to headphone or usb

thanks again in advance

 

[Monsterzero]

I do not own The Jot but Ive taken it on good advice from those that I trust that the DAC part of the Jot is not very good at all.The amp part is decent though.

 

[Neyeah]

I do not own The Jot but Ive taken it on good advice from those that I trust that the DAC part of the Jot is not very good at all.The amp part is decent though.

if i just use my current dac for my dekstop speakers,

but get an entirely new headphone amp, what would work ? Does it mean I can get a headphone amp but connected to the dekstop through my current dac (would it be through optical ? I dont see any more spare connector in my dac) also I dont need the amp to be portable prefer them to be wall plugged actually.

If my questions are entirely wrong in case thats not how thing works, what would be the best dac + amp combo that would work well woth my dekstop speakers and heaphone for use in pc? A combo that would outperform value on jotun or r2r 11 ? Any ideas ?

 

[Monsterzero]

I have the R2R-11 and its excellent,but not without issues and caveats.I suggest you read thru the R2R-11 thread and familiarize yourself with the pops,shipping from China,odd ordering process etc....I love mine and run it out to two external amps so I have three total amps in my desktop set-up,one for high ohm solid state,low ohm solid state and one tube amp. From there I have one of the amps driving passive Focal Aria 905s.Straight outta the R2R-11 you can drive powered speakers,but not passive.

I think the R2R-11 is one of the best bang for the buck performers out there.Its warm and can be made to sound even warmer by switching jumpers,though I havent felt the need to.There is also the NFB-11.28 if you prefer a clearer,more digital sound.

I do not know of your current DAC,but it should have RCA outs to feed into a stand alone amp,but you would need to confirm that.

 

[Nadham]

I love my Audio GD R2R11 with Senn HD 6XX but as Monsterzero mentioned, go thru R2R11 thread. Alternative is Audio GD NFB 11.28. They are best value for the money you pay.

 

[Neyeah]

Thank you all for your help and inputs.

I will most likely be going for r2r11 = )

though its chinese new year now, they can only ship the items on 24th feb

looking forward to it !