[beez]

Right now i'm very happy with my setup, and to be honest i don't even have the funds to upgrade anything else right now. i was just wondering what the weak link in my setup is so i can start thinking about future upgrades down the line and get a feel for how to approach it.

320 kb mp3 from macbook usb out > keces 151 dac > hiflight modded ef1 with ts black glass > RS-1i / HD650

i'm pretty sure i'll be set with my headphone selection for a long time. the rs1i and hd650 balance each other pretty nicely and i very much like them both. i would think that my dac is the weak link, but am i passed the point of diminishing returns? i noticed a much bigger difference in sound awesomeness by adding the DAC than by adding the amp.

i was looking at the havana as a possible dac upgrade in the future, but is there a noticeable improvement with a higher quality dac? is my amp holding things back? is this as good as it gets from mp3 audio? any thoughts or opinions from anyone who's used similar stuff would be great

 

[Gbjerke]

Lossless, for the sake of it

 

[oldson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gbjerke /img/forum/go_quote.gif Lossless, for the sake of it

same here.

 

[K_19]

As good as the EF1 is for the price, for HD650 in particular it lacks the power to drive it to its full potential. I moved from the EF1 to my vintage C200 amp (a preamp for a speaker amp) as my full time amp for my HD650 and although C200 isn't the most refined amp for headphones, the power difference was definitely evident over the EF1 and that alone made it sound a lot more dynamic and full. During that time I also moved on from the Hotaudio DAC straight to the Pico DAC and although the difference here is also evident, it's not as much as the difference that the amp change brought.

 

[kelvinz]

they all seem pretty equal in weakness

 

[oldson]

have you considered the new stagedac from Meier audio?
thats my next purchase (i think)

 

[oldson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kelvinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif they all seem pretty equal in weakness

we cant all afford stax, yunno!

 

[carledwards]

I'd say the mp3 is the weakest link.

 

[beez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kelvinz /img/forum/go_quote.gif they all seem pretty equal in weakness

um, right. thank you for the excellent advice. i'm a recent unemployed college grad and i put my rig together last year from a night of poker winnings. i'm well aware that there's a lot of room for improvement, so maybe i didn't quite phrase what i'm asking correctly.

what should be the next thing to upgrade? would i get much more bang for buck improvement from upgrading to a better dac or an amp? what price range should i be looking to spend before i'll notice a substantial improvement? $1k+? for the record i can't really tell much of a difference between 320 kbps and flac. whether my ears or my equipment are at fault (or if there really isn't a difference) i'm not sure.

 

[atothex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldson /img/forum/go_quote.gif we cant all afford stax, yunno!

Yes you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beez /img/forum/go_quote.gif um, right. thank you for the excellent advice. i'm a recent unemployed college grad and i put my rig together last year from a night of poker winnings. i'm well aware that there's a lot of room for improvement, so maybe i didn't quite phrase what i'm asking correctly. what should be the next thing to upgrade? would i get much more bang for buck improvement from upgrading to a better dac or an amp? what price range should i be looking to spend before i'll notice a substantial improvement? $1k+? for the record i can't really tell much of a difference between 320 kbps and flac. whether my ears or my equipment are at fault (or if there really isn't a difference) i'm not sure.

Your phones are pretty nice. The other things... not so much. I'd say upgrade DAC first, then amp.

 

[beez]

thanks, i was thinking dac too. i've dabbled in stax, i had the 005a baby stax setup for a few months. i liked it them a lot and can definitely see myself returning to stax in the future but probably not for a little while until i can dedicate enough for a nicer rig. i sold em and got the hd650 because i've been wanting to try it, and while i cant say i think they're definitively better or worse, i don't mind the switch and figured the 650 would scale better when i upgraded my other gear.

 

[atothex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by beez /img/forum/go_quote.gif the 650 would scale better when i upgraded my other gear.

Not necessarily. The old Stax have beastly resolution and speed, even the reasonably priced ones. It's really just a personal preference thing.

 

[paaj]

the RS1i and HD650 is a very nice combination of headphones so don't worry there, go for the DAC or amp upgrade when you get a chance.

most depends on what you think is lacking, and even then there will be several different ways to fix it.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by carledwards /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd say the mp3 is the weakest link.

From your kit, that may well be the case. For the majority of us, I maintain that 320K VBR is perfectly adequate, although FLAC (or Apple Lossless : I cant tell them apart) is preferable for archiving/home listening where you can take advantage of your terabyte HDD. The gap in SQ just isnt anywhere near as profound as some would have you believe - 320K is streets ahead of most of the MP3 downloads available atm.

 

[FallenAngel]

DAC and Amp