[one-eyed-xander]

Hi head-fi-ers,

So I have a pretty dismal headphone situation at the moment, hope you can help me pick an upgrade path. I have about $300 to spend.

Problem is to upgrade my headphone situation at work and home. In both cases I am listening to PC-sourced sound.

Current equipment at home is a old pair of Sennheisser HD535s. No complaints about these, sound-wise, but the cable plugs tend to work loose pretty easily... At work I have a rather uncomfortable pair of Sony MDR-NC20s (the active noise cancelling type that sound terrible unless you're at 30000 ft

. Both work and home PCs have onboard audio of no special distinction.

I was thinking of buying a new pair of headphones for home use (perhaps HD580s?) and move my HD535s to work. In addition I would buy a semi-decent audio card (Audigy2?) for the Home PC.

But then I was reading about the BitHead amplifier and USB audio source - this sounds ideal for me because I could take it to work with me and get better quality sound at both places. But it does tend to reduce the headphone budget a fair bit.

So what do you think? Get the BitHead and some lesser headphones, or the HD580s and an Audigy2 for home? Or a regular portable amp instead of the BitHead? Or something else?

I'm interested in ideas here. I don't mind toting a portable amp to work and back, but probably not these bulky headphones...

 

[one-eyed-xander]

Hmm, noone want to have a stab at this?

Let me just 'bump' and make a more descriptive subject line and see what happens then...

 

[commando]

This is a tough question, it's really up to you - there's no right answer.

The headphones can only reproduce what the source gives them. The bithead will give you decent sound for the 'phones to reproduce, but if you have crap 'phones, a good source is wasted. That the bithead is portable means it's good value, because you can use it in both places.

I'd probably just spend more to get the bithead and some good quality portable 'phones - not sure if the 580s are portable or not. Within your budget though, i'd definitely get the headphones before the source - i've found that my PC sound card as a source compares well to a separate usb audio card and PIMETA amp.

 

[ReDVsion]

I would definitely focus on upgrading your home rig and have a "hand-me-down" setup, so to speak, for work.

As far as your upgrades go... I'm sure there's got to be a way to upgrade source, amp, and phones with $300...

M-Audio Transit: $85
Marantz Reciever: $75
Sennheiser HD580: $125 in F/S forum (more or less, you just have to wait for a sale to pop up...)


Well... it's what I'd do in your shoes...

 

[one-eyed-xander]

Thanks for the excellent comments.

Firstly $300 is not a hard limit. I was secretly hoping that someone would suggest "spend a few more $$ and get <X>"...

For example: M-Audio Transit plus Marantz Reciever = $165. Wouldn't it be better to spend a little bit more ($30) for the BitHead, and gain the advantage of portability? (although, now that I think about it, there are other advantages to the Marantz/M-audio combination...)

Hmm, lots of food for thought. I think I need to read up on the Marantz reciever in the amplifier forum...

Thanks again!

 

[ReDVsion]

Also, the transit was offered up as an example. You can spend more/about the same depending on what you want, i.e. USB/PCI Card, etc. (revolution, sonica, audiophile, etc. are other good choices)

 

[commando]

The plain sonica's been discontinued, but some places still have stock. I'd recommend aganist the sonca theatre, it's not idea for headphone listening - i'm sure there's something better around.

 

[dSquared]

First what kind of music do you listen to? That's going to make a big difference. . .

Three ideas:

1. If you really really like the idea of the TBH, you could get that and some Koss KSC 50/55s for work, and just hold off on better home cans until you have more money, since you're happy with the 535s.

2. Get a portable mint (~$90), a soundcard like the transit, echo indigo, etc etc (~$100), and the used 580s (~$125 used or ~$150 new)

3. Ety ER-4P (~$250) and an iPod mini (~$250).
Okay, the mini blows your budget, but it comes in pretty colors and, more importantly, this setup is extremely portable and bypasses the soundcard problem.

Hmm, how about to stay in the neighborhood of your budget, you could get one of the iRiver CD/mp3 players (they range from ~$100 to $140 w/ rebate on the 550).

The last idea isn't good if you need to hear what's going on around you, though. . .

edits for english, blah

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

oneeyedxander? A pun on my name?

 

[dSquared]

Or it could be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference. . .

 

[one-eyed-xander]

Thanks again to everyone for some great comments.

Firstly my name is a Buffy reference, as correctly spotted by dSquared.

The kind of music I favour is mostly electronic. Autechre, Underworld, Adam Freeland and The Avalanches are all current favourites.

After doing some research on the vintage Marantz angle, I don't think that's going to work for me just due to the scarcity of these things near me. Also I am a bit space-challenged at home...

The M-Audio Transit looks nice, but again if I need to pair it with an amplifier, then I might as well go for the BitHead.

Which leaves me with BitHead ($200) plus HD580 ($150). A little over the budget but not much.

 

[Ticky]

The Total Bithead seems experiencing some production related problems right now (channel swap issues and some comments on high noise floors). Also some users state that they prefer the analog section to the USB/DAC section on the Total Bithead. I haven't heard any Bithead users laying claims to these problems but Headroom appears to have temporarily pulled out the BH and TBH from their product page. You should take a look at the Headroom forum for more details on this topic.

Unless you are willing to wait for the folks at Headroom to amend the problem, you might want the go for the Total Air Head instead. Of course this could mean that you would have to upgrade your home soundcard (not a bad idea IMO). Seeing that you could stretch your budget abit, this should not be a problem.

 

[ReDVsion]

Allow me to recommend the K240 Studio instead of the HD580s for electronica. I get the feeling you'll have a much more fun time listening to them than you would the senns (judging from the way I feel about my DT880s).

Edit: Close Parenthesis...

Edit2: I thought the Porta Corda was better than the TAH from what I read...

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

ah, can't say I ever watched buffy.

 

[Ticky]

Quote:

Originally posted by ReDVsion Edit2: I thought the Porta Corda was better than the TAH from what I read...

I've read that on a thread in the amps forum that contained that suggestion. But if I remember correctly, that comment was made by one member. Haven't heard other members stating the same.

I suspect that, performance-wise, any difference between the TAH and Porta would be minute. It is more likely that the two amps would have distinct sonic signatures and would sound different rather than better or worse.

But I haven't heard the Porta, so I'm only speculating based on past experiences with amps.