[moodyrn]

I'm using a prelude sound card with the opamp upgraded to a moon HDAM. It sounds like the bypass opamp mod without the lowered output. I also have a Chinese KT88 head amp that uses 6sj7gt tubes in addition to the KT88s. I thought I had a really good amp untill reading posts on this site about their tube amps being superior to other amps they have had. That's what brought me to this delima. The only thing I have to compare my kt88 to is a headstage lyric. Even though it is better than the lyric, the difference isn't night and day. The problem could also be that the kt88 isn't reaching it's full potential with the prelude. So should I upgrade my amp or opt for a dedicated dac. Oh yeah one more thing, before the prelude I had a zhaolu 2.5A, and I much prefer the sound I have with my upgraded prelude. My budget is 300 to 400 usd which would be expanded it I sold one of my other components. So which will be the better upgrade path?

 

[poo]

New DAC with quality inbuilt HP amp (so you can sell both your current devices), then upgrade by adding a new external headphone amp down the track.

 

[Currawong]

Wow, someone actually tried a HDAM on their sound card. I'm glad to hear it works well. What headphones are you using by the way? What I could find about the KT88 is that it is designed for high-impedance headphones (300-600 Ohm).

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, someone actually tried a HDAM on their sound card. I'm glad to hear it works well. What headphones are you using by the way? What I could find about the KT88 is that it is designed for high-impedance headphones (300-600 Ohm).

I'm using Sennheiser HD580s.