[thecheeks]

ok well for a while i thought maybe my headphones were dieing since they didnt drive bass as hard as they used to but silly me, theres no way my macbook could drive bass as hard as my old comp or a real stereo. i dont know much about amps so i figured i would ask. whats a good cheap way to drive the bass harder? im not a huge audiophile but i can tell these cans are underpowered with this lil laptop. any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Ruppin]

Actually, I figure that 555s are no problem unamped for either an iPod or a MacBook. Still, Grado 60s are fine, as are any IEC.

Any portable amp from Ray Samuals or HeadRoom will do the job just fine.

But, if you want great, use uncompressed music, buy a micro DAC from HeadRoom, and the amp of your choice, then you can power anything at far superior quality.

 

[blessingx]

While underpowered, I thought the HD595 sounded surprisingly good from the MacBook. I assume the HD555 would be similar. How cheap is cheap? And have you tried EQing a bit?

 

[NightBird]

For something "quick and dirty" (and inexpensive - it's $40), try Miglia's Harmony Express: http://www.miglia.com/products/audio...ess/index.html.
It's a sound card about the size of a flash drive that connects to one of your computer's USB ports.
I've got one and it's not bad at all, although some head-fi snobs will likely disparage it, but I think that it works quite nicely; it does improve the sound.
I just received my new Xenos X1HA-EPC amp http://www.aptecpro.com/index.html and it's really extremely good! It doesn't have a USB DAC, something that many folks, here, say is needed when using an amp with a computer, but I've found that it provides full, rich, luscious sound running off of my Powerbook's headphone jack; I've read that the soundcards in Macs, and especially their laptops is better than most.
It's $220.....don't know if that's more than you want to spend, but I think that's it's primo, an amp to seriously consider.
I've been using my K-701s and DT-770 Pros(it's got 600ohm impedance!) with my Xenos/Powerbook setup for about 10 hours, now, and loving it!

 

[kugino]

poor man's microstack should do the trick

 

[RasmusseN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kugino /img/forum/go_quote.gif poor man's microstack should do the trick

Where did you get that green mini cable? and for how much

 

[kugino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RasmusseN /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where did you get that green mini cable? and for how much

it's one of turbo's early cables...bought it with the original turbo dock a while back...can't remember how much it was, though.

 

[kyleisgreat]

so is that a usb dac? did you build it? it looks nice

 

[RasmusseN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyleisgreat /img/forum/go_quote.gif so is that a usb dac? did you build it? it looks nice

Looks like someone made it not sure if it's by him or someone else

http://www.myexposition.com/diy/usbdac/overview.html

and it looks like it is a usb dac

here is a threads from head-fi
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=188717
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=139368
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51870