[traehekat]

 
Dog got after my 650's last night. He's a small dog but he managed to put some small teeth marks in the headband. I paid $350 for them used and recently purchased a new pair of ear pads for them. If I buy a new headband I would have been better off just being a new pair, lol. 

 

[JmanOfIsrael]

I figured I'd come over hear to ask this question this question. What DAC would pair well with the Bottlehead Crack and the HD650? I will be running out of a MacBook Pro so USB is fine however, I would prefer if is had optical input (I'm almost positive the quality is better). I'd like to stay sub $200 if possible. Thanks for any help!

 

[Raptor34]

Quote:

Anyone know a cheap decent balanced xlr cable for the 650s?

Headroom has some for $99 for the 650s.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

I figured I'd come over hear to ask this question this question. What DAC would pair well with the Bottlehead Crack and the HD650? I will be running out of a MacBook Pro so USB is fine however, I would prefer if is had optical input (I'm almost positive the quality is better). I'd like to stay sub $200 if possible. Thanks for any help!

 
Mmmm the HD650 sounds like a million bucks out of the Crack. The time I heard that combo it was out of a PS Audio transport/DAC system though. 

 

[JmanOfIsrael]

That might be slightly out of my price range... 

 What about the Schiit Modi? It doesn't have optical in but I have heard good things about it. I just don't want my DAC to be a bottleneck in my... uh... Bottleneck, you know?

 

[ffivaz]

I figured I'd come over hear to ask this question this question. What DAC would pair well with the Bottlehead Crack and the HD650? I will be running out of a MacBook Pro so USB is fine however, I would prefer if is had optical input (I'm almost positive the quality is better). I'd like to stay sub $200 if possible. Thanks for any help!

Odac? Since the Crack is already "coloured" (in the best sense of the term in my opinion), and the 650 are also quite (best sense, still), I would go with something just neutral and resolving. Hence, odac!

 

[magiccabbage]

ill have the t1's with my wa2 soon i wonder will i have to retire my hd650's or will they complement each other?

 

[JmanOfIsrael]

I was recommended the ODAC in another thread as well so I am thinking I will go with it. I actually just got the HD650s yesterday. Already I am so blown away by them, more so than the LCD-2 (hence why I don't own the LCD-2s anymore). I just put the AKG Q701s on sale as well. I absolutely love these things.

 

[joebobbilly]

O man, mojo and gungnir arrived!!!

Now i just gotta wait for my friend to bring the balanced HD 650 cable!!! OMGOSH Can't wait!!!!

 

[MattTCG]

Quote:

Odac? Since the Crack is already "coloured" (in the best sense of the term in my opinion), and the 650 are also quite (best sense, still), I would go with something just neutral and resolving. Hence, odac!

 
This is good advice. I have owned both modi and odac. The odac was hands down better IMO. But now I've got the uber bifrost and it's better than both. 

 

[daigo]

Quote:

I figured I'd come over hear to ask this question this question. What DAC would pair well with the Bottlehead Crack and the HD650? I will be running out of a MacBook Pro so USB is fine however, I would prefer if is had optical input (I'm almost positive the quality is better). I'd like to stay sub $200 if possible. Thanks for any help!

 
I think running usb out of a computer is ideal since the other outputs usually pass through the computer's soundcard/onboard sound.  On a budget, the ODAC is fine for the price.  

 

[JmanOfIsrael]

I've heard people going crazy over the Bifrost so I don't blame you. It is just slightly out of my price range, but I will definitely consider it as an upgrade in the future. I am in the midst of purchasing an ODAC and I've heard USB is fine. However, doesn't running optical out of a computer bypass the computers DAC since the computer outputs a digital signal? Then that signal is converted by the DAC in whatever instrument the cable is plugged in to? I'm new to most of this stuff but I've got to say I'm almost having more fun learning about and building amps/DACs than I am listening to music (at least at the moment).

 

[fuzzybaffy]

Actually... I might have heard that there are indeed differences in optical outs (in other words, where the optical out is coming from can indeed affect the out signal), but I may be wrong on that. 

 

[Solitary1]

Quote:

I figured I'd come over hear to ask this question this question. What DAC would pair well with the Bottlehead Crack and the HD650? I will be running out of a MacBook Pro so USB is fine however, I would prefer if is had optical input (I'm almost positive the quality is better). I'd like to stay sub $200 if possible. Thanks for any help!

ODAC is good choice, the Maverick Audio D2 should mate well with the Crack also.

 

[muzic4life]

I just did comparison yesterday. Between my HD650 (with toxic silver cable) vs a loaner LCD2r2. A friend of mine is kind enough to borrow me a demo unit of LCD2 before i decide my purchase. By doing the comparison...now i convinced and realized how good HD650 really is. I must admit the lcd2 wins in term of texture/clarity of the sound. But i dont think is by that much. And tbh..some songs i played...i still definitely prefer my hd650. Although technically lcd2 might better in some ways..but what i dislike about the ortho's sound is that I found my self very hard to get the vocal hooked into my head. I just dont know why. Looks like the sound that came out from my left and right ears somehow they did not focused being one right in the middle of my head which made me difficult to get the sense of life-like vocal. I listened many hours but still i found it the same. Swapping to my HD650...one thing innitially i noticed was the soundstage much better. Wider. And the vocal was easier to catch and enjoy. Thou the clarity is not as clean and crisp to lcd2...but is enough satisfying me. For comfort level....the weight of lcd2 while on my head..is a bit too much. During 1st 20 minutes was fine...but after that i felt like the clamping was too tight as well. So for the comfort level....hd650 is WAY better than LCD2, at least for me. So now i am gonna return this LCD2 and maybe i will get the hd800 instead.

He told me to try the lcd3 as well...the sound shoud be improved from lcd2....well...for that price..it better does ! ...but no thanks