[darckhart]

Hi all,

Googled my way into this forum about a week ago and have spent days lurking and cramming all this new info into my brain. First off, I'd like to give a hearty thanks because I'm convinced that I've found the gold mine of all things audio! Now I need some help picking out a suitable headphone amp.

My situation:
I've done a fair amount of reading here about it and I'm thinking I will get the AKG K701s to replace my aging Grado SR60s. I have three sources I'd like to use:
1. Techincs SL1900 turntable - looks like RCA LR are the only available connections on it
2. PC (I never bought a soundcard for it, so I'm using onboard Realtek ALC888. Eventually I hope to get an external DAC for this.) - I would assume I'd use the optical S/PDIF out here, but it also has the 3.5mm plugs.
3. Rio Karma

Ideally, I'd like to be able to use the amp among all three devices, but priority goes to 1 and 2 obviously. From the threads here, the few I seem to like are the CanAmp, GS-1, Xin Reference/Supermacro4, dv 332. I have no idea about the SS vs Tubes sound as I've only ever used SS devices (read HT parts).

I primarily listen to classic rock/hard rock and trance/dance. I'd like to keep the cost around $500.

TIA!

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Since you dont have a soundcard, I suggest you take a serious look at DAC/AMP combos as there is absolutely no point in investing in an amp for PC audio without a proper soundcard. And the meier Cantate falls bang into your budget and has gotten good reviews overall.

Also, the 701's are very power hungry, and the smaller portable amps probably wont do them much justice. Hence I am not sure how well the 701's will do with the Meier Move or the IBasso D1's, maybe someone with experience with those combos can comment.

For 500$ though you can also split things up and get a good USB DAC like the EMU 0202 or 0404 and a dedicated amp for 300 like the Gilmore Lite, or if you wanna go tubey Darkvoice 336i or the Little Dot MKIII.

 

[Mindless]

I'd get one of Meiers amplifiers.

 

[mrarroyo]

The iBasso D1 will drive the K701 w/o any problem. I would get one and then later you could consider changing the op-amps. Some possibilities are:

AD8616 in the Dac to an AD8656

NE5532 which are the buffers in the amp section to either LM4562 or the AD8397.

AD823 in the amp section to either the OPA2111, OPA2107, AD8066, LT6241HV

Good luck.

 

[darckhart]

Thanks for the input! I'll do some more browsing/reading. Also, just so I get this straight, the chain looks like this?

PC (toslink) -> Ext DAC -> Amp -> Headphones

Ok another question is a few of my dvd-a discs have a stereo 24/192 track. Supposing the ALC888 passes it unaltered straight out the toslink, I need a DAC that supports this correct? The reason I ask is because the spec for the BB PCM2702 on the Meier Cantante tops out at 16/48. Hm, it seems that this restriction is because of the USB1.0 12Mbps cap.

 

[pianomav]

That's correct, that's a usb limitation but a dac with optical input should be able 24/192 with no problem.

I definitely suggest going for an amp/dac combo but unfortunately, i'm not sure of any 'non-portable' amp/dac with an optical input that falls in your price range.

 

[darckhart]

Ok I just read the info for the ibasso d1 and the dac part looks very good on paper. Will read up the threads in here next to find out about the amp section. Although, since it is dac/amp combo I can always add dedicated amp later on.

@pianomav: thanks for info. "portable" or "non-portable" doesn't really matter to me. Accuracy and price are the motivators so far!