[adrift]

Ok, so I break a pair of fairly cheap gamer headphones recently, and I just got done reading an interesting interview with an audiophile on Lifehacker a couple weeks ago, and am in the mood for something that's got some decent sound as a replacement. I buy the nicest cheap intro phones I can find online which turn out to be Grado SR60i's, and low and behold I find out there's a huge community of mutant, high fidelity lovin freaks online to go with the phones. Whoda thunk!! Of course everywhere I turn from Google link to message forums direct me to head-fi.org. A web-forum I've never heard of and a scene I feel compelled to join... along the way I'm warned to hide my wallet...

So I'm here now. I have a pair of decent, yet intro phones that I actually had to burn in to appreciate (never had that experience before, and wow do they sound awesome). I've been reading threads on this forum for 3 or 4 days now (no worries, been bathing between days). The more I dig, the more curious I get. Originally I thought good audio meant simply having quality recording and decent speaker output. Now I feel I'm missing something with talk of $400 dollar headphones, amps, DACS (still not completely sure what that is), sound cards, a decent source (current source maybe isn't good enough between my PC, macbook, and old Sansa Sandisk e200), and never mind talk about kernel streaming, ASIO, etc., etc., etc. And this is just the headphone community!!! Sheesh.

So, Ok. I have the headphones. What now? What should an aspiring audiophile do next? Buy an amp? Acquire a better source? Upgrade my week old phones?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

-Adrift

 

[Skin]

Time to DAC Digital (music on CD/PC) to Analog (sound you can hear) Converter shop.

And you had it right. The most important thing is your music quality. With or without expensive gear you can enjoy the benefits. You certainly can on an SR60.

Still, a DAC would be a good move. Probably the single biggest improvement you can buy on almost any budget.

 

[moonboy403]

Primarily, there are 3 things in a common rig:

1) a headphone(no duh!),
2) DAC(just a device that converts digital signal to analog such as a soundcard),
3) and a dedicated headphone amp.

That's pretty much about it. Then there are accessories such as cable/power cord upgrade.

 

[adrift]

Maybe best for another thread in another forum, but any recommended DAC brand/model at this early stage in the game?

 

[moonboy403]

There are plenty, just browse around, but I would recommending finding used gears in the FS forum as your money goes a lot further there.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Amp/dac combo

 

[adrift]

Thanks a lot folks. I really appreciate it!

So how do most of you go about comparing the performance of equipment. Is it a buy it and try it sort of thing, or do you hang out at your local stereo shop? Do stereo shops even carry high end headphones and associated equipment.

 

[sling5s]

A good place to start would be a budget portable amp/dac combo like the corda move at meier audio.

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sling5s /img/forum/go_quote.gif A good place to start would be a budget portable amp/dac combo like the corda move at meier audio.

Excellent. Just the type of advice I was looking for.

 

[milkweg]

This may interest you too.

HeadRoom Total BitHead @ HeadRoom: The World's Best Headphone Audio Store

But if you have a higher budget then get something better.

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif This may interest you too. HeadRoom Total BitHead @ HeadRoom: The World's Best Headphone Audio Store But if you have a higher budget then get something better.

Awesome. Thanks milkweg!

 

[fjrabon]

dave at hotaudio.com has some pretty sweet DACs. I find this to be a great entry level DAC. HOTUSB1 [HOTUSB1] - $63.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjrabon /img/forum/go_quote.gif dave at hotaudio.com has some pretty sweet DACs. I find this to be a great entry level DAC. HOTUSB1 [HOTUSB1] - $63.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

Ok cool. Thanks fjrabon. Nice price too. Looks like I have some pretty good options. Will probably do some forum reading and buy one tonight or tomorrow.

 

[SneakyNinja]

We have similar stories here... with the exception that I haven't actually bought my headphones yet. One thing you might consider is getting a combined DAC/Amp. Kool Bubba Ice has a pretty good list going.

Kool Bubba Ice's Base

 

[Happy Camper]

HeadAmp Audio Electronics (pico DACs & Amps)

Once you have lived with whatever you get and you like the Grado sound, some MS-2 or RS-1s will really be a jump in refinement and impact.

Make your source material as good as you can. Lossless files sound best but take up a lot of space.