[newguy2012]

Hey guys new to this, so was just wondering the components to making a great audiophile setup at home on my desk.
 
I know a DAC, amp, good headphones are needed, but is there anything else that is needed? (apart from using flac files etc.)
 
cheers,
Matt

 

[atonce]

Take some headphones cable from ALO or other premium sellers as well. 

 

[newguy2012]

so would i replace the stock ones i would get with my headphones or are the headphone chords you're talking bowt for the DAC-computer/MP3 player connection??

 

[CantScareMe]

Quote:

Hey guys new to this, so was just wondering the components to making a great audiophile setup at home on my desk.
 
I know a DAC, amp, good headphones are needed, but is there anything else that is needed? (apart from using flac files etc.)
 
cheers,
Matt

 
Is there anything else needed....
 
....yes BUT IT ISN'T CABLES.
 
Cables are for the very very picky people. To start off and play with different cables is near enough completely pointless as it's hard to distinguish differences for well seasoned headphone audiophiles let alone newbies whether they exist or not. Plus once you recable a headphone- how do you know it makes a difference. Unless you can compare it directly to a stock headphone that's in the exact same condition as the modded one except from the cable change, you can't even come close to saying a cable change has made a difference.
 
 
What I'm pointing toward as being the other thing that is needed for you to consider in this setup is the stream going into your DAC. I suspect it's computer based and so you would need to make sure that it's a smooth operation. I use foobar as the player (opposed to itunes/ wmp/ mediamonkey..) with asio4all which is something to make sure of minimal computer interference to the soundstream. Then with a £7 usb cable I connect the pc to the dac. This usb cable isn't advertised as 'audiophile' quality but it is a high quality one period. It's reasonably thick, has shielding and most importantly it's connectors are well made. The cheapest usb cables and rca/optical cables often have things wrong with their connectors so I would avoid these.
 
(Note: I have had at least 2/3 over £100 usb audiophile cables and they made no difference on my setup)

 

[newguy2012]

cheers for that info!

 

[CantScareMe]

No problem