What's Next for My 580's ?

[jim580]

Hello everyone!
What a great site. I've been lurking for awhile but this is my first post.
So far the lurking alone has cost me $600.

I have two daughters in college, so I have to improve a little at a time.
I started with a pair of SR-60's plugged into my PC's headphone jack. Best sound I'd heard for awhile.
Put in a Sound Blaster X-fi, added some hd580's and a headroom micro amp.
The X-fi did fine with the Grado's but would not push the 580's.
My question is.........
Where should my next money go?
A matching micro DAC from Headroom? Upgrade to 650's or 701's?
What would be the most bang for the buck?
What could I expect from the DAC? Definition...soundstage... more seperation and clarity?
Thanks for the help........Jim

PS....I'll also post a review of the 580's....and did burn-in make any difference(in my opinion).

 

[jagorev]

Micro DAC. Will give you a higher quality and more powerful source signal.

 

[jim580]

Thanks jagorev.
Wasn't sure what the dac would do. Makes sense to upgrade the source first.
Jim

 

[cmirza]

Definately go for the MicroDAC. I think the most crucial point of the travel of your music from your hard drive to your ears is the digital to analog conversion. This is where alot of artifacts can enter the signal.

So first of all, you need to isolate the process from any interference. An external DAC will acomplish this by getting the DAC chip away from all the noise in your PC.

Second, you need a quality DAC chip that will turn the digital signal into a clean analog signal. A good quality DAC like the MicroDAC, use a good DAC chip and you should notice the the cleaner sound with better definition, seperation, etc... Mostly, the qualities that you like in the HD580 will be enhanced even further.

Upgrading to an even more high end headphone like the HD650 or K701 will just make your weak source even more obvious. The HD580s have alot of potential and I don't think your setup is fully exploiting them yet.

Anyway, if I were you, my next step would be source (a MicroDAC since it is a great DAC and matches the MicroAmp too). Then upgrade headphone cables (get some stock HD650 cables or if you think you might eventually move on to HD650s, consider Cardas or another high end cable that can be used with the HD650s). And after that, then start considering new headphones.

Doing things slowly and one at a time is what makes this hobby fun. You see the changes that different components make and apreciate the gradual improvement in sound quality.

So have fun improving a little at a time.

 

[granodemostasa]

slowly:
Zhaolou dac 2.0 (out in april), around 150,
senn 650 cable, between 12 and 35 dollars
moderate:
micro dac, around 300
cardas or blue dragon cable, 150
hastly:
desktop amp with desktop dac, 850
equinox cable, 220
absurdly:
max balenced amp with max dac, too much
balenced equinox cable.... also a rip off.

 

[jim580]

"Doing things slowly and one at a time is what makes this hobby fun. You see the changes that different components make and apreciate the gradual improvement in sound quality."
Totally agree.

cmirza,
What a great reply. VERY helpful in it's entireity. Makes very good sense to me. The sports car can't perform on cheap gas sort of thing.
Now that I've agreed wholeheartedly, I got a deal on some K-701's today that I just couldn't pass up. Won't be the first time I've done things back-a__wards.

The dac is definately next on the list.

granodemostasa,
Slow, moderate, hasty and absurd.

Got a good laugh from that.
I'm going to keep the 580's as far as I know. They sound really good with my Clapton unplugged, etc.
What will the 650 cable do for them?
Also, I've heard using the 600 covers will help in some way. Do you know anything about that?
Gentlemen, what great replys. When I learn more about this new love-hobby, I'll try to pass it along to other neebies like I am at present.
Thanks so much............Jim