[sokolov91]

Preamble
 
I have enjoyed this site very much. Since before I was a member and got caught up in posting, I enjoyed coming here to read about peoples opinions and reviews. Most importantly I came here to figure out what was actually good to people, like myself, are genuinely interested in sound quality and experience much more so than the price tag attached. To be honest, when you are in the market for a new product, it is lots of fun to read about all the ranting and hyperbole as much as the down-to-earth stuff.
 
That being said, this place, like many before me and many to come, has caused me to spend a ridiculous amount of money on headphones. To the point where my parents wonder why this condition is not in the DSM (diagnostic and statistic manual for psychologist/psychiatrists) haha. But I am here asking for help on how to buy more headphones .
 
I have a DX 700 on the way. Yes, a DX 700 and not a DX 1000. The reasons why are 2. 1) because I think they are much better looking, and they are said to offer everything the DX 1000 does in terms of soundstaging and all that, minus the "flabby" bass some have described. so seems like a safe bet. 2) price and convenience played into this greatly. I had a wonderful guy on ebay hold these for me at a decent price for 3 months until I could afford them.
 
That being said, I am actually really happy with my current dynamic headphone repetoire, and with my recent addiction of the Meier Concerto amp, they all REALLY shine, and I can't expect much more from them. While some of you are surely thinking I have too damn many headphone and should pick one or two, maybe I should but thats not what I am after right now. You don't know what you have until it is gone, so I will take my time to sell them.
 
What I want is some advice as where I should direct my investments.
 
In the summer I will have about 1500-2000$ to spend. That can buy me a few things like:
 
1) Audio GD Ref 7 because it will benefit everything I already have and provide me with a state of the art, fully balanced source to built any other rig upon. I am strongly leaning towards this choice.
 
2) STAX 404 signature kit + CDs because STAX are supposedly awesome and this seems like a good way to enter. I might built myself a Blue Hawaii if I ever get good enough at soldering, so a standard STAX amp is good enough for now
 
3 )Audeze LCD-2 + some CDs because it is supposedly the bees knees and can be used with the gear I currently have! 02 comparisons are nothing to scoff at!
 
4) Meier StageDac + DT 880 600ohm trade + cash for my HD 600 + CDs galore because I have always wanted to try a beyer, Jan has a great offer if you get both the concerto and the stagedac and it has all the inputs I need. Downside is it is not balanced and I am stuck re-upgrading when I want to go balanced. 
 
Any advice would be great. If you could also include an option in your reply it will help.
 
Thank in advance guys!

 

[stang]

Well I would most likely go for the Reference 7 and try and see if you can trade your HD600 for someone else's DT880 (or just sell the HD600 outright and buy the DT880 600ohm). Once you have a very, very, very good source such as the ref 7, you no longer have to worry about "My source is holding me back, it's now about amping my headphones correctly". I would LOVE the Reference 7 over any of the other options, hence my opinion.

 

[tamahome77]

I second the above poster.  I would also choose the RE-7 DAC upgrade since your source is quite weak and the rest of your gears are decent.  I'm very sure you will be very happy with the RE-7 purchase.
 
Also, if you're playing music off your pc, I would like you to look into the teralink USB converter.  They will provide you with a sound that is neutral with some warmth.  You may look into the Hiface but may sound bright if not matched correctly with the right coaxial cable.

 

[dreamwhisper]

After hearing Stax and orthos there is no way I would buy a beyer again.
You can never go wrong with upgrading you source...

 

[sokolov91]

Hrm.... seems everyone thinks source is of paramount importance! DUH, I know, but it is a ton of money.
 
Kinda sucks to spend my entire budget on one item... but then I basically never have to worry about a source again...
 
Less is more I am guessing in this case... Maybe the 15kg weight of the REF 7 will help realize how important it is
 
Thanks for the advice and suggestions so far!

 

[tisb0b]

What about the audeze + stagedac because that would still cost less than the audio gd reference 7 and probably give you more enjoyment in the end. You are still within the time limit to get the discount on the stagedac which would end up only costing you about 400 euros (incl. shipping) and you'd still have a bit of money left over for cds.  

 

[dreamwhisper]

Perhaps a less expensive source upgrade and also the LCD-2?
 
I hesitate to suggest the Stax 404 because I'm not sure about the bass extension which for me that would be a deciding factor.
 
The Apogee MiniDAC is a nice balanced source if you can find a nice deal used for $500-600, like here:
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1278380855&/Apogee-Mini-DAC-2-channel-usb-
 
I have owned quite a few of the balanced mid-fi (~$1000) DAC offerings (check my profile) and auditioned the Benchmark DAC1 as well but the Apogee is the one I ended up keeping.
The Electrocompaniet ECD1 & Bel Canto DAC3 were also very nice but the first is very coloured and the second is very neutral. The MiniDAC is more between the two extremes-neutral enough for the recording studio but still musical enough to sound great. And the bang-for-the-buck is darn good if you can find a MiniDAC used.
Sorry, I haven't heard any Audio-GD stuff or the DACMagic so I can't say how it compares.
For the next step up I would personally choose the DIY Buffalo32 DAC, and avoid the Audio-GD stuff because I have seen a few members here hype it a little too much for my comfort level and have developed a a bias against AudioGD.
 
BTW if you think you might build a Blue Hawaii for yourself eventually, you might want to set aside some cash and start looking for boards now (start a WTB ad etc) because they are extremely difficult to find.
The boards will likely run you $150-250 for just the Blue Hawaii board without the PSU. The BH PSU is available from HeadAmp as it is just a modified KGSS PSU board.
There's a thread about a group buy somewhere around here as well.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Perhaps a less expensive source upgrade and also the LCD-2?
 
I hesitate to suggest the Stax 404 because I'm not sure about the bass extension which for me that would be a deciding factor.
 
The Apogee MiniDAC is a nice balanced source if you can find a nice deal used for $500-600, like here:
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1278380855&/Apogee-Mini-DAC-2-channel-usb-
 
I have owned quite a few of the balanced mid-fi (~$1000) DAC offerings (check my profile) and auditioned the Benchmark DAC1 as well but the Apogee is the one I ended up keeping.
The Electrocompaniet ECD1 & Bel Canto DAC3 were also very nice but the first is very coloured and the second is very neutral. The MiniDAC is more between the two extremes-neutral enough for the recording studio but still musical enough to sound great. And the bang-for-the-buck is darn good if you can find a MiniDAC used.
Sorry, I haven't heard any Audio-GD stuff or the DACMagic so I can't say how it compares.
For the next step up I would personally choose the DIY Buffalo32 DAC, and avoid the Audio-GD stuff because I have seen a few members here hype it a little too much for my comfort level and have developed a a bias against AudioGD.
 
BTW if you think you might build a Blue Hawaii for yourself eventually, you might want to set aside some cash and start looking for boards now (start a WTB ad etc) because they are extremely difficult to find.
The boards will likely run you $150-250 for just the Blue Hawaii board without the PSU. The BH PSU is available from HeadAmp as it is just a modified KGSS PSU board.
There's a thread about a group buy somewhere around here as well.

my knowledge of electronics is very low. I would start by building a few cheaper amps to get the hang of it so that built is quite a while away...
 
Are the blue hawaii boards really that hard to find?
 
 
Sorry for all the questions but why do you have a bias agaisnt Audio GD? I have seen nothing  but praise

 

[TheWuss]

if you're worried about blowing it all on the ref. 7, then why not go with the ref. 5?
it's bound to sound amazing.  and is $750 less.
and, it actually has a couple more inputs than the ref. 5.
for example, if you are "slumming it" and using usb from your computer, then the ref. 7 is out.
so you'd have to get a converter to go to spdif.
 
and so on and so forth...

 

[sokolov91]

I have 2 coax out from my PC and one optical. One of the Coax out is from my soundcard so luckily I can avoid USB!
Quote:

if you're worried about blowing it all on the ref. 7, then why not go with the ref. 5?
it's bound to sound amazing.  and is $750 less.
and, it actually has a couple more inputs than the ref. 5.
for example, if you are "slumming it" and using usb from your computer, then the ref. 7 is out.
so you'd have to get a converter to go to spdif.
 
and so on and so forth...

 

[sachu]

You already know what I would choose on your list.

Get the LCD-2 and upgrade your source.
 
As for a source..i'd stay away from the AudioGD stuff. I owned the REF-1..while its all nice and all..i personally feel much better can be had by going with a nice vintage DAC. (Parasound DA/C 1100HD, EAD DSP-7000MK3, Sonic Frontiers SFD-Mk2, Parasound DA/C -1600, Parasound DA/C 2000, Assemblage DACs). 

 

[sokolov91]

Where can these vintage dacs be found?? What price are we talking about?
 
HAHA LCD-2 is really that good? Damn... hows the bass like compared to a D7000, any idea?
 
I might just end up getting the StageDac and LCD-2 and call it quits for a while.
Quote:

You already know what I would choose on your list.

Get the LCD-2 and upgrade your source.
 
As for a source..i'd stay away from the AudioGD stuff. I owned the REF-1..while its all nice and all..i personally feel much better can be had by going with a nice vintage DAC. (Parasound DA/C 1100HD, EAD DSP-7000MK3, Sonic Frontiers SFD-Mk2, Parasound DA/C -1600, Parasound DA/C 2000, Assemblage DACs). 

 

[n3rdling]

I'd personally go with the LCD2 or a vintage Stax setup.  If you want to spend $2k, I'd find a used Stax O2/717 combo in Japan, absolutely no question about it.

 

[sokolov91]

Hrm... I would love to get an O2 and call it quits, but somehow I think that is the lease viable option for me. Plus, having such amazing headphones with my crappy source might even be a bad thing...
 
Getting a truly balanced, reference source would let me then upgrade my amp in the future, or use to their fullest potential any STAX I get in the future.
 
However... The concerto really gave me a huge increase in performance... even more than I was expecting. So it might be really worth it for someone with a limited budget like mine to get something like a StageDac and LCD-2 and call it a day until I have some serious money to throw into this...
 
As far as the Audio-GD goes, am I right in assuming it is the highest quality DAC money can buy anywhere, new, close to this pricepoint
 
 
Thanks for all the help so far guys!

 

[TigzStudio]

IMO source = greatest importance, get the REF 7....I have the Ref5 and am floored by it.