[chia-pet]

I'm in a weird situation. My parents don't like me blowing my money on trivial things--such as audio hahaha. I love the audio though. I'm a student who lives away from home; I come home every summer. I have enough money to make one more purchase--I can't purchase any audio during the summer because of both my parents and a lack of funds. As of now I have no amp, a Sound Blaster Live, and a pair Ultrasone HFI--650 Trackmaster headphones. The sound card I am looking to purchase is the M-Audio Revolution 7.1. I have no idea what amp I would want. I have about $160 at my disposal.

Do you think, given my situation, that I should purchase a better soundcard or an amp and why? How exactly does an amp change the sound? If you have any better soundcard/amp suggestions, please let me know and why. Thanks.

 

[Gopher]

I'd buy the Revo now, and make sure to put the remaining 60 bucks somewhere out of reach until next school year when an amp is a possibility. My understanding of the Ultrasones are that they are fairly easy to drive, and therefore you might see the greatest benefits from a better source.

Another option might be spending the $60 on a cmoy or something that would be easy to turn over when your ready to upgrade.

 

[dd3mon]

I agree: buy a Revo now, amp later.

-dd3mon

 

[lini]

chia-pet: You might be another candidate for the Terratec Aureon 5.1 Sky or Aureon 7.1 Space, because the Terratec has a neat little headphone amp section onboard (software controlled: if you change the output in the control panel accordingly, a little relay on the card will switch from the line drivers over to the headphone amp section). Apart from that, the Terratec is a good sounding, non-resampling card based on the VIA/ICE Envy24HT just like the Revolution - but it has Toslink i/o instead of the Revo's electrical/coaxial S/P-DIF output. I'd recommend it as a nice solution for limited budgets.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Solude]

Get the Revo... period. I use a Meta42 thats pretty much balls to the wall but it's really only because I need a 1/8th adapter

The Revo drove the Senn 600 very well. Technically I prefered the Revo directly over the Meta42 with the Senn 600 but the Grado cord is shorter so it's either extension and adapter or use the amp I have

So from what I have:
on baord sound... poop
sony pcdp... decent
maxed meta42... good
revo direct... very good

Unless you want to add an amp to flavour the sound to your liking the Revo alone should be fine for your needs. General rule for amps is get one if you try the source's headphone out and you don't enjoy it. If you like it, why spend money? I learned long ago to stop upgrading once you are happy. Otherwise you are in an endless upgrade marathon where sticker price just climbs and you've easily spent the down payment for a really nice house on gear that will be a relic in a few years time.

 

[Patrickhat2001]

Solude seems to get good results using his HS600s right out of the Revo. Does anyone else have any experience in running high impedance cans directely from a Revo?

I would think that the Revo alone wouldn't work as well as with a pimped out meta.

 

[Solude]

Should qualify my statement. The Revo has a very high quality output but in no way can match the Meta in sheer volume. That said the volume I get from the Revo is beyond 'normal' listening levels. But if you like to listen at ringing ear levels, the Revo probably won't cut it for you.

I should really get off my duff and go get a 1/8th adapter to see how it does with the Grado though. The Senn has a much lower current requirement so who knows maybe the Revo falls apart on low impedance phones that are current hungry... in comparison.

 

[minya]

Definitely Revo now, amp later.

The amp will help, but the amp will help a LOT more when you have a Revolution.

And, lini, that Terratec is a nice suggestion, but coaxial digital out is much more useful -- most outboard DACs (which are a great way to upgrade if you're serious about quality audio from your computer) accept coaxial only, and converting Toslink to coaxial is a pain in the ass.

- Chris

 

[dd3mon]

Quote:

Originally posted by Patrickhat2001 Solude seems to get good results using his HS600s right out of the Revo. Does anyone else have any experience in running high impedance cans directely from a Revo? I would think that the Revo alone wouldn't work as well as with a pimped out meta.

I've run my 600's straight from my Revo - results are very acceptable. I prefer the sound through my MG Head, but it is not night and day.

-dd3mon

 

[msjjr]

I have the Revo and the Meta 42 with the HD 600's at work...excellent combination.

 

[lini]

minya: I'd say it's rather debatable. Coax has some advantages (less jitter, cheaper cables, more common on dacs), but so does optical (no grounding and emi issues, more common on portable equipment)...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini