[DBdotdot]

Hello all. New Member, 1st post.

So I’m sitting around this morning waiting for my teenage daughter to wake up and I decided to break out my old HD535s and listen to some Al DeMeola from the 80’s (Fusion Jazz). I plug in my headphones into my old 1970’s JVC Class A amp and after twisting the faulty cable to actually hear both channels, settled down to listen. Geez, I had forgotten how satisfying listening to headphones can be: immediate, detailed, passionate, and the rest of the world has no idea what excitement is transpiring behind those silent cups.
The upshot is that I have about $1500 burning a hole in my pocket and I’d like to get a complete headphone setup. This would include CD player, amp, interconnects, and new cans. I have read a lot about separate components but I am looking for advice on a complete setup. One whose synergy is well proven. It is incredibly easy to become overwhelmed by the depth of combinations you all have, but my question to you is: if you had $1500, what complete system would you buy?
Here are some of my knowns:

1.This money would buy a CD player, headphones, amp, and interconnects. I realized this puts me near the bottom of a dedicated system, but what I’ve read about wonderful $500 amps and spectacular $300 headphones, I figure we should be able to come up with something good.
2.My listening is rather schizophrenic, I listen equally to jazz, rock, female rock, folk, and female jazz. If I had to place a value on a genre, it would have to be either jazz or Tori Amos-style vocal rock. All pretty dynamic stuff. Darn, but then again, there’s my love of Keith Jarrett’s jazz piano.....
3.I want a tube amp. Never had one and know it is something I want to try.
4.The midrange is important to me. I currently listen to B&W 805 monitors and so big bass has left my vocabulary. However, my HD535’s bass is a minimum experience I look for.
5.Most importantly, I don’t want just a list a good components, but a system that has proven itself to work well together. I am not the kind of person who will buy and switch, buy and switch, looking for that perfect combo. I’m hoping I can benefit from the amazing amount of experience you all have regarding this topic.


Thanks all. David

 

[Pagail118]

I know little dot have a complete system that seems nice. I can't talk for all the components, but the tube amp is really nice for the price. You can go for a Little Dot MKIII or a MK IV.

They also have the CD player/DAC to go with it. As for headphones, I can't really talk for those music styles.

I really hope you get what you are looking for ! 1500$ will probably get you a really nice setup.

Remember you can save money and get better components if you buy used on the forum.

 

[wavoman]

Amp designers often use a particular headphone to voice. If you follow their lead, you know you have a pairing that works.

My favorite example of this is the Sennheiser HD600 and the Head-Direct EF-1. The Head-Direct EF-1 is a hybrid solid-state/tube combo. It uses a 12AU7, a very common tube because of its use with electric guitar amps. An RCA "clear top" is fantastic in the EF-1, and easy to find on the tube web sites (use Google).

Now Head-Direct does not make the EF-1 anymore, so you have to find it used. Shouldn't be too hard. Use the web to find the current best price on a new HD600. Amazon is often the winner. Since you loved your HD535's, you are in for a treat when you hear the 600s.

You have plenty of money left. So get a cheap CD transport, and a separate DAC. This lets you upgrade a piece at a time later. The universal Oppo (one model down from their BluRay flagship) is a fine inexpensive transport, and it will let you play the random SACD and hi res DVD too (though it's internal DAC, analog out, so you have to switch inputs to the EF-1, but that's easy). Lots of good used DACs for sale, or my favorite new one is the Matrix, available only on eBay -- lots of discussion of it here. Just one of many fine alternatives.

You'll need a digital spdif cable (some people believe this should be at least 1.5 meters, who knows), and a pair of analog RCA interconnects (two pairs if you want one always connected to the Oppo ... you can get a high quality input selector some day to switch the EF-1 between the DAC and the Oppo analog if you end up with enough SACDs to matter). The analog cables should be as short as possible.

Measure, then order all cables from Blue Jeans Cables ... getting fine cables at a fine price. I wouldn't worry about power cables or a headphone re-cable at this point in time, but the beauty part of the HD600 is that you can re-cable it yourself. So watch for a used Silver Dragon or Zu or APS or someone's Senn 600/650 cable and if it is cheap enough, splurge. See if you can hear a difference between that and the stock cable. If not, sell it.

A smart alternative is not to get any CD player or transport, but dedicate an old computer, and get a DAC that has USB input, or a USB-to-SPDIF converter (see the very active review thread here). Over time rip the CDs via Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to WAV or better FLAC (lossless compressed and tagged) and you are in fine shape. (You will still need Oppo or something to play SACDs if you end up going down that road).

You can also use a vintage Walkman like the 555 that has optical out, or nearly any old CD player with optical out, and connecting this to a modern DAC with input jitter control and you have fine, cheap solution.

You are right to worry about amp/headphone synergy. At least a little (some people here don't even believe much in that). As for the CDP and DAC, and connecting it to the amp, synergy is not an issue, only the raw quality of each component. With a good (modern) used DAC you will be flying. Audiogon is the other place to check for used gear, besides here.

 

[DBdotdot]

Wavoman;

Thanks for your time and reply. I have heard good things about the Oppo. And I sure am going to check out the Head direct. I am open to moving out of Senn territory in that mine sound too indirect some times and I checked out my brother's Grado 125's and they are attractive in their more forward presentation--just that the soundstage is weak.

If I am to understand, you feel that the true synergy / presence lies in the amp/can combo and not so much in the downstream components. I would think there should be a huge difference between a good CD/DAC and my 5-yr old PC. The question is how much difference. It makes me wonder if this "headspace audio" breathes the same audiophile air as main systems where source components make huge differences. It would be cool if, in this headphone world, a amp power cable would make more of a difference than a music source, but it sure would be a different way of thinking.

 

[McPanse]

With $1500 budget, I'd be looking at Woo Audio and Little Dot amps. I'd also give some thought to closed cans like the Denon D2000 if household noise is an issue. If you plan to listen in a room closed off from the normal hustle and bustle, your budget might go further with open cans like the HD600s recommended above.

I'll second the external DAC recommendation, and not because it's so much better than the DAC included in a decent standalone CDP. Most if not all of the headphone amps you'll find in your price range have a single set of RCA inputs. Many external DACs have 3 inputs (USB, Coax, Optical), which allows you to add a computer-based source.

I also wouldn't worry about the interconnects. Blue Jeans or Monoprice will do you fine. If after you've built your system and broken it in you want to see what higher priced cables bring to the party, buy used from someone here or Audiogon.

If I were still in the market for a DAC, I'd give serious consideration to the Little Dot DAC 2. I believe it has a built-in headphone amp that might be all you need to get started.

I previously owned a DAC with a built-in headphone amp and I'd say it delivered 80 percent or better of what I'm getting from my dedicated amp. Of course, my LD pulls double-duty as a pre-amp for the T-class amp I used to power a pair of old bookshelf speakers -- a budget-minded trio that makes some pretty sweet music -- so I have no regrets. Plus, I dig the tubes.

As for CDPs, you can find discontinued Marantz and Denons for well under $200 from various authorized web dealers. If you have any interest in maintaining a small footprint, check out the Teac PD-H300MKIII. You can find them for $99. Pair it with an external DAC and you're in business. Little Dot and Shanling also make small footprint CD transports, but they're $300 or more.

 

[El_Doug]

I'd stack a Little Dot CDP, Little Dot DAC_1, and Little Dot MK VII, and add some balanced HD600's or 650's (the latter of which are my personal preference, though 600's seem to get more love here).

That there will be a system to hold you for years to come! Delicious small footprint, to boot.

 

[McPanse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Doug /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd stack a Little Dot CDP, Little Dot DAC_1, and Little Dot MK VII, and add some balanced HD600's or 650's (the latter of which are my personal preference, though 600's seem to get more love here). That there will be a system to hold you for years to come! Delicious small footprint, to boot.

That would be a great system, and would look good, too. Those three components plus a used pair of re-cabled HD-650s would clock in under $1400, leaving you $100 for a coax cable and pair of silver YACCO Whirly Whisp or Lucky 7 interconnects.

One of the most impressive things about Little Dot is how responsive they are and how quickly their gear gets here (China to D.C. in six days).

 

[El_Doug]

thats yet another reason I like to recommend them for lowER budget systems

David is so eager to answer emails not only about sales, but about any issues you may have - and resolves such issues very quickly!

my LD MK VI, when I had it, only took 3 days to get to my home!

 

[DBdotdot]

Awesome tips gentlemen! The LD stuff looks like what I was looking for and I can assume that all three are matched well. They match well with the HD650's? What about AKG701's?

Does anyone have experience with these three units as a system? Opinions?


All this info is helping tons.

 

[Armaegis]

Headroom also offers several packaged deals that you may want to look into. They usually include the headphones, amp, dac, all the cables and power supplies. All you'd need to add is the cd player.

 

[macrog]

Has anyone heard the Twisted Pear sabre 32 dac with the optional head phone amps built in? i.e Ventus headphone amp?

If it good it would be brilliant value and provide an interesting option to build a $1500 head phone system around.

regards

Macrog

 

[pekingduck]

From what I read, the LD MKVII has very good synergy with the HD600/650's and the K701's, especially when balanced.

There is a thread about the LD CDP here and the owners complain the unit is a bit slow. If you insist on playing CDs, just buy a cheap DVD player as transport.

I second wavoman's suggestion of using a computer as transport. It certainly beats changing CDs

 

[DBdotdot]

I'm beginning to understand. The CD/music source only needs to be as error-free as possible, but does not need to be brilliant musically because that's the DAC's job. makes sense....this explains why a run-of-the-mill computer used as a music server can be a powerful music source. I understand that the computer is being used to shuffle digital files and you bypass the audio card, but there's really no sonic difference between computer and CD transport? Seems so hard to believe.

Oh, and marcog and armaegis, I'll check those out. Thanks.

 

[DBdotdot]

I'm beginning to understand. The CD/music source only needs to be as error-free as possible, but does not need to be brilliant musically because that's the DAC's job. makes sense....this explains why a run-of-the-mill computer used as a music server can be a powerful music source. I understand that the computer is being used to shuffle digital files and you bypass the audio card, but there's really no sonic difference between computer and CD transport? Seems so hard to believe.

Oh, and marcog and armaegis, I'll check those out. Thanks.

 

[DC5Zilla]

Hifiman HE-5/EF-5 combo with CDP is also another way to go. Orthos are known for their marvelous midrange