pathway
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2012
- Posts
- 58
- Likes
- 12
Hi all,
I'm a recent member here as I'm just getting back into hifi/head-fi after many years so all help appreciated.
I generally have 3 listening environments
1. General walkabout - iPhone 5 and V-Moda M80s
2. Office - Laptop/iPhone 5 and V-Moda M80s
3. Home - Laptop/iPhone 5/Roksan Caspian and HD580's
I am happy with 1 - not looking for a portable amp to carry around with me but I am looking to improve on 2 and maybe 3.
In the office I believe a DAC/AMP could improve on my laptop output. In this environment I would want to plug the headphones directly into the dac/amp so a combo solution would be idea.
However, at home I am really only looking to use a DAC to feed a 'better' signal from the laptop to the X-Cans as I really enjoy the overall sound produced with the new tubes.
So, is there a semi-portable DAC/AMP that I can use in the office and then also use as a DAC only to feed my X-Can when at home with the 580s?
Semi portable is ideal and under 100GBP preferred (though can stretch a bit).
Have researched and read so many reviews from various manufacturers from the HM-101, Audinst, Arcam, Fiio, JDS labs etc but it is not 100% clear to me whether any/all can be used in the way I describe or whether I should just ditch the laptop and use the iPhone as the source all the time for office and get a dedicated DAC for home to X-Can use.
All help appreciated.
Oliver
I'm a recent member here as I'm just getting back into hifi/head-fi after many years so all help appreciated.
I generally have 3 listening environments
1. General walkabout - iPhone 5 and V-Moda M80s
2. Office - Laptop/iPhone 5 and V-Moda M80s
3. Home - Laptop/iPhone 5/Roksan Caspian and HD580's
I am happy with 1 - not looking for a portable amp to carry around with me but I am looking to improve on 2 and maybe 3.
In the office I believe a DAC/AMP could improve on my laptop output. In this environment I would want to plug the headphones directly into the dac/amp so a combo solution would be idea.
However, at home I am really only looking to use a DAC to feed a 'better' signal from the laptop to the X-Cans as I really enjoy the overall sound produced with the new tubes.
So, is there a semi-portable DAC/AMP that I can use in the office and then also use as a DAC only to feed my X-Can when at home with the 580s?
Semi portable is ideal and under 100GBP preferred (though can stretch a bit).
Have researched and read so many reviews from various manufacturers from the HM-101, Audinst, Arcam, Fiio, JDS labs etc but it is not 100% clear to me whether any/all can be used in the way I describe or whether I should just ditch the laptop and use the iPhone as the source all the time for office and get a dedicated DAC for home to X-Can use.
All help appreciated.
Oliver