[sirmasterboy]

I would like to have sort of a poll here for people with much more experience to weigh in what they think is the better option.

I am looking to get my first DAC and Amp to drive HD600's from my PC and laptop. I have narrowed it down to:

Practical Devices XM5
Practical Devices Corporation - XM5 Picture Gallery

or

Travagan’s Green
Travagan’s Green-Travagan's shop

or

Travagan’s White
http://shop.travagans.com/product.php?act=page&id=21

Which do you think would be the best choice in terms of overall sound quality?

 

[synaesthetic]

Throw the XM5 out, it's not going to have the guts to drive HD600.

The White is for obvious reasons a better buy than the Green, since the Green only has input via USB.

You should also consider adding to your list the Firestone Fubar III, another DAC/amp-in-one desktop solution.

Also the Keces DA-152 as well.

 

[Brighten]

I read up on the Travagan's a lot a few months back when I first started looking for a headphone amp.

If you are seriously considering the Travagan's amps, both reviews by Skylab and HeadphoneAddict should be able to lead you in the right direction.

 

[Keppel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirmasterboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am looking to get my first DAC and Amp to drive HD600's from my PC and laptop. I have narrowed it down to: [Practical Devices XM5 or Travagan’s]

I should point out that HeadphoneAddict has a fairly in-depth review of XM5, that tells all sorts of specifics about the XM5 and HD600s:
Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Moving on to the HD600 [...] I also found the XM5 to put out more bass and volume than Predator with HD600.

It's worth reading the whole review. XM5 will drive HD600s with no problem. I can't say that the others will.

 

[Keppel]

Oops. Here's the permalink to that half of that review. It's huge.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

DAC QUALITY: The Travagans White will be more detailed via DAC than the Green, not sure why but that was the case. While the Green was not as detailed as the White, the Green still beats the Fubar III for detail and resolution and as an amp, hands down. The XM5 DAC is about as good as the White, but the amp is not as powerful. The 3MOVE uses the same DAC and has even more power for HD600 than XM5. To get a better DAC you could use upgrade later to something like a HR Micro DAC, or Pico's upsampling DAC (or more costly DAC's).

AMP QUALITY: Either of the Travagans will have more power than the XM5 - while the XM5 was not bad with HD600 it is not my first choice to drive an HD600. The sound is good, but you may find yourself wishing for an extra few dB of dynamic range that it can't deliver, even though it is a few dB above the Predator. In the price range you are looking at I would still recommend the Travagans White if you don't have to get a portable DAC/amp. It very slightly beats the 3MOVE which in that price range is my second choice for USB DAC amp for HD600, above the Green and Fubar III.

I have links to reviews to these posted in my public profile, for the Travagans amps and DAC's, the Firestone amps and DAC, and to my portable USB DAC amp review - see the "about me" section.