[Oberst Oswald]

I play games with Stax SR Lambda with a SRD-7/SB connected to a Sony receiver amp (STR-DE875) which is connected with a Toslink to a X-Fi Fatalt1y soundcard.

I also will probably be buying a Denon 5000 headphone sometime in the near future...but the Stax setup takes priority. What I would like to do is to get rid of the Sony amp, which is used for a home theater system, and use something just for the Stax unit, which needs speaker connections, and a headphone jack for the Denons.

Spent almost all weekend researching for a DAC?, preamp? or amp? and became completely confused on what to do. Being concerned about impedance matching gives me headaches.

Also noticed that the volume knob on the Sony receiver (100 watts per channel) has to be turned up pretty high to get the Stax up to the loudness I like. So, I assume, the Stax needs quite a few watts to really "turn on" (a bit of 60's jargon here).

With the vast amount to expertize on this forum could somebody please help me out on suggestions on what to buy? No need to recommend Red Wine 30, Stellas or X-CANv8's because I'm not in that
price range. About $200 to $600 US would be about right. Have the skills to build my own if there is something in the Do-it-yourself section. Since this will be for 100% gaming I would prefer solid state over a cheap tube unit but either/or would be ok. USB connection not necessary but optical is. Thanks in advance and look forward to all advice.

 

[scompton]

I use a vintage NAD 3155 to drive my Stax with an SRD-7 (non SB). I also use it as my main headphone amp although not all headphones sound good with it. Basically, low impedance headphones don't sound too good out of the jack. I'm not sure how Denons would sound. I use an EMU 0404 as a DAC to feed the NAD.

The NAD is only 55 watts and I barely have to nudge the volume knob to ear bleeding volumes. With my SR-3 and SR-5, the volume knob can't go past 8 o'clock. It's 7 o'clock with my SR-Gamma. I never realized that self bias required so much power from the amp.

 

[spritzer]

The SB doesn't need any more power from the amp then a AC bias model. If the bias supply would increase the load then there would be a permanent channel imbalance as it is only leaching juice from the left channel. The overload resistors might be damaged though. the gain on the Sony is very low or the input signal is on the low side.

 

[Oberst Oswald]

If I up my price a little would the Benchmark DAC1 be a good choice for my purpose?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I would look at the Nuforce Icon with built-in DAC ($200), or the Travagans Red being fed by a Blue Circle Thingee or HR Micro Dac ($400-600).

Look in my profile (about me) for links to my thoughts on both of those amps. They both do a fine job driving my stats and as headphone amps. Both have plenty of power to drive my SRD-7 SB or Pro with normal bias phones or even my HE60.

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Thanks for the replies. Read your review Headphone Addict and the Travagans Red amp sounds just what I'm looking for. To bad it don't come with a optical in connection. Is there anything like that with a optical dac built in for around the $500.00 +/- price range? The HR Micro DAC is nice but when you add this all together the price kind of becomes up there and I would like both in "one piece". Don't need or want a portable that uses batteries and it doesn't have to be up to audiophile standards either (but would be nice) as this will be used for gaming all or most of the time. It just that I love the Stax headphones for gaming and will do what I have to do to use them. Was thinking about looking for a high quality mini stereo in Best Buy or Circuit City and see if there is a sort of small receiver amp with the optical connections and get rid of the speakers/DVD player at a yard sale or something.

If there are no other options then I'll go with the 'Red and the HR dac. Can't go wrong with that setup. thx

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberst Oswald /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the replies. Read your review Headphone Addict and the Travagans Red amp sounds just what I'm looking for. To bad it don't come with a optical in connection. Is there anything like that with a optical dac built in for around the $500.00 +/- price range? The HR Micro DAC is nice but when you add this all together the price kind of becomes up there and I would like both in "one piece". Don't need or want a portable that uses batteries and it doesn't have to be up to audiophile standards either (but would be nice) as this will be used for gaming all or most of the time. It just that I love the Stax headphones for gaming and will do what I have to do to use them. Was thinking about looking for a high quality mini stereo in Best Buy or Circuit City and see if there is a sort of small receiver amp with the optical connections and get rid of the speakers/DVD player at a yard sale or something. If there are no other options then I'll go with the 'Red and the HR dac. Can't go wrong with that setup. thx

Well, for optical

There is the Headroom Micro Portable with DAC for $600, which is bassically a desktop amp you can take with you.

Or any of those amps PLUS the SuperPro DAC707 Super Pro DAC707 which I own and sounds close to the iBasso D1 DAC and Headroom Micro DAC. iBasso is replacing the D1 with a D3 in about a month I believe.

There was an amp called the 01 with optical/coax DAC at head-direct.com for a while that was about $299 that mrarroyo loves - I forget the name because they are no longer available and have to be found on the used market.

There is the Apogee mini-DAC which has optical/coax and AES input with an excellent discrete (non-opamp) headphone amp built in, but it is $895 ($1195 if you add firewire). It has the benefit of also having a 1/8" line out of the back, and balanced XLR outputs in the back, and internal jumpers can let you put the 1/8" or XLR on the volume pot along with the 1/4" headphone out on the front. The XLR can actually drive a pair of balanced HD600 well, but the HD650 seemed to be a bit more demanding and didn't sound as good. It responds well to upgraded coax interconnects and power supplies, like my Synergistic Research digital coax and Sigma 11 PSU, to sound world class.

There is the Zero DAC with optical and coax, and it responds very well to opamp rolling. It is a desktop DAC/Preamp for under $200 and penchum has done some reviews on it: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...re-amp-269458/

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Going to take your advice and buy the HR Micro dac in near future. Also would like to get the Travagan Red but sort of ran into a snag... no USA supplier. Went to the 'Red site and was ready to buy when I found out that only PayPal is accepted. I don't have nor want PayPal. Went to the 'Pal site and read about a PayPal Plus card... I have enough credit cards and don't need any more. Heard bad things sometimes about it being unsafe/insecure. Is there somewhere in the USA, that accepts Mastercard/Visa for this amp? If not then I'll just get the HR dac and keep on looking for a small speaker amp. The Zero is also in the same boat...where is a US supplier? I'm wasting so much time on this and my head is spinning on all the different options that are available to me. I want semi good stuff but don't want to break the bank. Maybe I should get the Denon-5000 'phones first and then see if I would like them better than the Stax and sort of end this problem.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberst Oswald /img/forum/go_quote.gif Going to take your advice and buy the HR Micro dac in near future. Also would like to get the Travagan Red but sort of ran into a snag... no USA supplier. Went to the 'Red site and was ready to buy when I found out that only PayPal is accepted. I don't have nor want PayPal. Went to the 'Pal site and read about a PayPal Plus card... I have enough credit cards and don't need any more. Heard bad things sometimes about it being unsafe/insecure. Is there somewhere in the USA, that accepts Mastercard/Visa for this amp? If not then I'll just get the HR dac and keep on looking for a small speaker amp. The Zero is also in the same boat...where is a US supplier? I'm wasting so much time on this and my head is spinning on all the different options that are available to me. I want semi good stuff but don't want to break the bank. Maybe I should get the Denon-5000 'phones first and then see if I would like them better than the Stax and sort of end this problem.

You could email or PM David Lin and ask about other payment methods for the Red. You can join paypal without a bank account being attached, and use you credit card as the source of funds, and not apply for theirs.

 

[Oberst Oswald]

As much as I hated doing it I now have a PayPal account and ordered a 'Red. Guess it will take awhile to get to New Jersey. Thx 'phone addict for your advice and time. Looking forward to hear how this setup sounds.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

You wont be disappointed. Even stock, it sounds nice out of the box, and by 250 hours the bass has filled in even more and it is very transparent. For now the AD743 and OPA627 are my favorites in the Red, and these also do best with my electrostatics. I would love to find out how one of those Burson Discrete Opamps would sound in the Red. That may be my next project...

 

[Sherwood]

I'm in the same boat as Oberst (and it's all your fault, Larry.) I received shipment of my Lambda Normals Friday afternoon, and by Monday morning my wife had filed a missing persons.

I'm running it through my NAD C320BEE, an amp I've always liked okay, fed by my Fubar II with a smooth opamp. I was really tempted by MRArroyo's Glow in the FS forum, but reports of a lackluster DAC stymied my interest.

My question for all of you (namely you, Larry), is this: How important is the speaker amp used to feed the transformer? As important as it is on speakers? I might have to come back to your place to hear some of my options, Larry. If I can tear myself away from my desk, that is...

Ideally I'd love one unit on my desktop that can power my transformer, convert my digital files into something blissful, and power a pair of K701s with authority. Is that asking too much?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm in the same boat as Oberst (and it's all your fault, Larry.) I received shipment of my Lambda Normals Friday afternoon, and by Monday morning my wife had filed a missing persons. I'm running it through my NAD C320BEE, an amp I've always liked okay, fed by my Fubar II with a smooth opamp. I was really tempted by MRArroyo's Glow in the FS forum, but reports of a lackluster DAC stymied my interest. My question for all of you (namely you, Larry), is this: How important is the speaker amp used to feed the transformer? As important as it is on speakers? I might have to come back to your place to hear some of my options, Larry. If I can tear myself away from my desk, that is... Ideally I'd love one unit on my desktop that can power my transformer, convert my digital files into something blissful, and power a pair of K701s with authority. Is that asking too much?

The speaker amp is very important, and I find the transformer box sounds like whatever the amp sounds like. But I do find the Red sounds better through the transformer box than with some home theater satellite speakers that I tried. Somehow the transformer is easier for the Red to drive than my HT satellite speakers, and so the Travagans drives headphones and stats equally well, but actual speakers could benefit from more oomph.

The Nuforce Icon is also quite good driving the SRD-7 transformer, maybe slightly better than Red. On the other hand, the Nuforce headphone out is almost but not quite as good with dynamic headphones vs Travagans Red. I can recommend the Nuforce with HD600, D2000, Edition 9 or RS-1, but I am not sure how well it can drive a K701.

The Nuforce DAC is a little better than the Travagans Green DAC, but the Travagans Red is a little better headphone amp in terms of transparency depth and detail. The Green sounds great even though the less capable DAC is the only input, but the Red with a separate DAC (e.g. HR Micro Dac, D1, SuperPro DAC707) tops both of the others.

You'll will need to come to my place and bring the K701 to try the Travagans Red, Green and Nuforce as a dynamic HP amp, and then hear each one driving the SRD-7/Lambda.