[Brackaus]

Hi all,

Been lurking for a bit and saw there was alot of helpful (and very opinionated) people on this forum so I'm hoping you can help little ol' me.

I've Started to get into "better" sounding music. In the last 2 years I've gone from Youtube music sounds great to, It has to be 44.1hz or above. I've also purchased a bunch of Chi-Fi IEM's (Like Moondrop arias, Truthear Hexa-Blue-Red and others) I've also purchased a BTR 7 to get a better sound of of these units (was on Android but went iPhone 15.. Still USB-C)

So, Being down under and having to take a Kangaroo to uber to the shops I was looking online for a Dedicated Audio Player. My friends tell me to just get a DAC/AMP and stay at home but I really do enjoy taking good sounding music with me. Being from the Land of the everything nature wants to kill you, prices arn't the best. So I had kind of narrowed down the DAP's to..

Fiio M15s (~ $1599 aud)
Ibasso dx260 (~ $1599 aud)
Sony WM1AM2 ( ~$1800 aud...OMG the tape view)
Hiby r6 Pro 2??
A&O R35??? (has that weird angle?)

What did concern me a little was what "kind" of overear headphones I could run. I don't need to run 5W monsters, but I don't also want to have to run the DAP at 119/120 to be able to hear the songs well. I have heard some nice things about BeyerDyanmics T1 (Not Gen 3) and they need like 600ohms?

I guess I'm into the early stages of the audiophile game, I don't have the cash to spend $5k on headphones that make me cry every time I use them (I have enough tissues in my room to looks sus already). My current pair are Sony XM3 and some Senny openbacks

Hoping you amazing people and help give me some good advice on where to spend the cashie at.

Cheers

 

[dunring]

I've been in the business for years and if I was just starting out I would get:
Apple 3.5mm USB adapter
Phone with 5,000ma battery
Music files in flac 44.1khz 16 bit
7hz Zero:2 for travel and Hifiman he5xx for home use.
Great way to get a baseline how good stuff can sound without melting down a credit card.

 

[Terriero]

Ove been in the business for years and if I was just starting out I would get:
Apple 3.5mm USB adapter
Phone with 5,000ma battery
Music files in flac 44.1khz 16 bit
7hz Zero:2 for travel and Hifiman he5xx for home use.
Great way to get a baseline how good stuff can sound without melting down a credit card.

Agreed. but music files can also be mp3 320 kbps, and no issues

 

[dunring]

Agreed. but music files can also be mp3 320 kbps, and no issues

Yes I've heard some MP3's at 320k and could have sworn they were as good as FLAC. I think it depends on the encoder used and settings. I use Freac to convert them for things like the boom box I have that can only read MP3 format, and the car stereo and others can use FLAC.

 

[earmonger]

Once you're out of the realm of compressed streaming sound -- that is, playing FLAC or good 320 kbps Mp3 -- and you have a flat source (the Apple dongle from a phone), the headphones are going to make far more difference than a fancy DAP will. You don't have to be broke to get music sounding really wonderful.

Put your major investment into the 'phones and, if needed, an amp. Don't scorn the Megatron VE ($50 US) DAC/Amp, which has good specs and lots of power; then you could even skip the Apple dongle.

If you like the Sennheiser open backs, my beloved Audio-Technica ATH-R70X are like improved Sennheiser HD650 : more transparent, deeper bass, more comfortable.

 

[Terriero]

I recommend to you the Sennheiser HD 58Xs from Drop, right now I'm listening to music with them and enjoying a lot the experience. I have tried a lot of headphones, including the Denon AH-D9200s that are praised a lot in the forum and other "mid price" headphones (for example DT 1990 Pros or Sony Z7)... At the end, I sold or returned all of them and decided to stick with just my HD 800...

... Until last december when I bought the 58X and 580 Precision (luckily, I found a mint second hand unit) and since I've received both 58-s I haven't took out the 800... I alternate between them with excellent results

I love the 58Xs bass, you can see one review I wrote at the Drop page: https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

I still can't believe that I could get this sound at that price... Some people here call them "a good entry level pair of headphones" but I think that's because their price...

 

[Brackaus]

Right, Audio-Techica Rx70, Hifiman he5xx and the Senny HD 58x. I'll add them to the list to check out.!!! Legends

I've learnt my lesson in the past with spending alot on the old CC, I've already pre-budget these equipment up to around $3k aud. I was in Japan a while back and that triggered my interest alot, thus I already have in the Audiophile world:

Fiio BTR7 (usb dac/amp)
MOONDROP ARIA (with spring tips)
truthear Blues
truthear Hexa
truthear reds x Crinicle ?
Fiio FD3 Pros.

This is where I kind of realised I was "doing it wrong". I would have not purchased Half of these (especially the Fiio FD3...most expensive paperweight). and I kind of wanted that overear sound.. Also The reason I was asking for a DAP was playing music via a dongle on a phone is ok, but has some issues.

1) If I'm streaming music and then I happen to open some other apps, The audio will stop even if there is no audio playing? Super annoying.
2) I want to be Able to add my own music collection (ripped Flac) to a player via SDCard (I don't have the biggest storage on the iPhone and if I wanted to swap my phone I don't want to have to re-copy it again)
3) I sometimes want to be alone with the music system , no 'minor' distruptions..just music time.

I Super love the recommendations of headphones, I Know that they make the biggest difference. Please keep it going!