EYEdROP
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Posts
- 696
- Likes
- 37
I hear DAC technology has come a long way in the past few years and I'm looking to upgrade since I just sold my old one.
Most of my headphones and speakers are reference monitor style sound. ER4, HE4xx, DT48, K701, etc..
After spending some time away from hi-fi, I grew an appreciation for a more organic and musical sound signature. Settled in with Denon AH-D series, Bose QuietComfort for portable use, etc... Great stuff for casual listening.
But now that Im listening critically again, I find my various reference monitors to sound thin and lifeless for the first 10 minutes until my brain gets used to the sound. Then they sound fantastic, as long as the room is dead quiet and your focusing hard.
I'm looking for a DAC and amp that will give my reference monitors life, but not necessarily warmth. Im actually NOT looking for more bass.
I just feel like they are missing a certain visceral pitch definition in the details. Everything in the track is there in spades, but you have to work hard with a scalpel for the magic to happen. Most laymen find their quick 10 second demo a snoozefest on my system.
I want a setup that will just pour effortless emotion out of the track (and not the fake kind of emotion like super tubey sounding tubes). An ever so slight smoothing effect and a gradual high frequency rolloff is what I think I need.
I want smoothing to take off some of the leading edge. And more important, add some real authority and visceral impact that makes details still pop despite the smoothing.
I guess I might want DSD right? I use Tidal and a collection of flac, sacd, etc...
Budget is wherever the law of diminishing returns starts to get dumb. Whether thats $100 or $1000, I have no idea nor care. I just dont wanna be a dumb audiophile.
And the amp. My friend is raving about this THX 789 amp I should get??
Please help me.
Most of my headphones and speakers are reference monitor style sound. ER4, HE4xx, DT48, K701, etc..
After spending some time away from hi-fi, I grew an appreciation for a more organic and musical sound signature. Settled in with Denon AH-D series, Bose QuietComfort for portable use, etc... Great stuff for casual listening.
But now that Im listening critically again, I find my various reference monitors to sound thin and lifeless for the first 10 minutes until my brain gets used to the sound. Then they sound fantastic, as long as the room is dead quiet and your focusing hard.
I'm looking for a DAC and amp that will give my reference monitors life, but not necessarily warmth. Im actually NOT looking for more bass.
I just feel like they are missing a certain visceral pitch definition in the details. Everything in the track is there in spades, but you have to work hard with a scalpel for the magic to happen. Most laymen find their quick 10 second demo a snoozefest on my system.
I want a setup that will just pour effortless emotion out of the track (and not the fake kind of emotion like super tubey sounding tubes). An ever so slight smoothing effect and a gradual high frequency rolloff is what I think I need.
I want smoothing to take off some of the leading edge. And more important, add some real authority and visceral impact that makes details still pop despite the smoothing.
I guess I might want DSD right? I use Tidal and a collection of flac, sacd, etc...
Budget is wherever the law of diminishing returns starts to get dumb. Whether thats $100 or $1000, I have no idea nor care. I just dont wanna be a dumb audiophile.
And the amp. My friend is raving about this THX 789 amp I should get??
Please help me.
Last edited: