garydolson
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2017
- Posts
- 1
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- 0
Long time lurker and it's always been a pleasure.
I'm 56, was a professional musician during the 1980's (drums), and discovered audio at the tender age of 10 when my uncle, upon learning I'd disassembled my dad's prize transistor Sony radio (what can I say? He'd given it to me as a gift and I wanted to see if 3 more speakers could be connected to it), gave me his Akai reel-to-reel. Those 2 important events changed the course of my life.
After spending many large blocks of time in recording studios throughout the 1980's, high quality sound became as much of a necessity as desire. Who could go back to a Zenith rig after hearing $200,000 audio systems all day? My current collection is mostly vintage plus a Schiit modi 1 uber (which I bought during a visit at Schiit's warehouse relatively near my home), modi 2 uber, and a pair of B&W 685 S2's. I was turned on to head-fi after buying an expensive pair of STAX phones in the mid-80's. Sadly, they were stolen from my home after a garage fire in 2010. The very thought fills me with deep, painful sorrow.
My current "pre head-fi influenced" path is the following: I'm considering selling off some of my vintage gear (Marantz 2330B, Kenwood KR-9600, Luxman R-117, etc) to acquire an Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC plus a pair of active JBL LSR308 studio monitors connected via balanced cables. The DC-1 would serve as pre-amp. But I'm also very interested in a head-fi system for kicking back in the bedroom. For that, I'm currently considering an ifi iDAC2 + some manner of decent in-ear monitors. I know I'd get much higher output with other ifi DACs, but I'm more interested in detail, which apparently the iDAC2 has in spades. Plus, I've read its headphone amp is more than sufficient for most phones. I'll be asking for recommendations soon.
Until then, it's great to be a part of your community!
Gary
I'm 56, was a professional musician during the 1980's (drums), and discovered audio at the tender age of 10 when my uncle, upon learning I'd disassembled my dad's prize transistor Sony radio (what can I say? He'd given it to me as a gift and I wanted to see if 3 more speakers could be connected to it), gave me his Akai reel-to-reel. Those 2 important events changed the course of my life.
After spending many large blocks of time in recording studios throughout the 1980's, high quality sound became as much of a necessity as desire. Who could go back to a Zenith rig after hearing $200,000 audio systems all day? My current collection is mostly vintage plus a Schiit modi 1 uber (which I bought during a visit at Schiit's warehouse relatively near my home), modi 2 uber, and a pair of B&W 685 S2's. I was turned on to head-fi after buying an expensive pair of STAX phones in the mid-80's. Sadly, they were stolen from my home after a garage fire in 2010. The very thought fills me with deep, painful sorrow.
My current "pre head-fi influenced" path is the following: I'm considering selling off some of my vintage gear (Marantz 2330B, Kenwood KR-9600, Luxman R-117, etc) to acquire an Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC plus a pair of active JBL LSR308 studio monitors connected via balanced cables. The DC-1 would serve as pre-amp. But I'm also very interested in a head-fi system for kicking back in the bedroom. For that, I'm currently considering an ifi iDAC2 + some manner of decent in-ear monitors. I know I'd get much higher output with other ifi DACs, but I'm more interested in detail, which apparently the iDAC2 has in spades. Plus, I've read its headphone amp is more than sufficient for most phones. I'll be asking for recommendations soon.
Until then, it's great to be a part of your community!
Gary
