CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points  (Read 8776 times)

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ericfarrell85

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #30 on: November 04, 2014, 11:04:09 PM »

Good suggestions. Used Gungnirs go around the $600-650ish range last I checked. I haven't heard one before but my Bifrost is the best $300ish DAC I've heard (haven't heard the Peachtree DAC-iT), so if the Gungnir is anything like the Bifrost, it'll be a solid purchase in its price tier.

HE6 isn't popular around these parts, but the Trends TA-10.2SE does a phenomenal job driving it and is in the low $200s. If I only had $1k for a headphone and amp rig, I'd get a used HE6 and Trends TA-10.2SE and be done with it.

I haven't heard the Trends, but certainly the HE6 is a funny animal and I can see why it is no beloved around these parts. I've never heard my unit sound as good as from the vintage Marantz. Since mine took a shit I've tried all kinds of combinations (rigs far, far in excess of 2k), but to this day cannot get it right. Unless my expectations were lower then, I look back upon the Marantz/HE6 combo with great fondness.
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Elysian

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #31 on: November 05, 2014, 12:05:15 AM »

I love my HE6, though I think my LCD3 with Fazor is even better. There are things the HE6 does better than the LCD3F though and vice versa.

I use a First Watt J2 with my HE6 which works great, though I had to experiment with preamping to soften the etch. There was a bit of etch at the higher frequencies going directly from DAC -> Amp (Berkeley Alpha to First Watt J2) which was distracting with cymbals, high-pitched vocals, and brass.

My dream is to hear a First Watt SIT-1 with the HE-6 and LCD3F but the Leviathan has inhaled my audio budget for the year.
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hplunket

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #32 on: November 05, 2014, 03:45:35 AM »

You guys are awesome!  Thanks for all the great suggestions.  I'm new here but your comments make me feel like I'm on the right track.  I've been listening to KSC75's on an old PortaPro headband plugged into a Leckerton fed lossless files from an iPod.  It sounds bloody amazing.  I can't believe I've all but abandoned my NAD HP50's for $20 headphones, but every time I compare the two I like the Koss' better.  Am I nuts? 

Reading your posts here, it seems the next reasonable step up might be a pair of 600's.  But then I read Tyll's glowing review of the Fidelio X2's...  Hmmm.
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ultrabike

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #33 on: November 05, 2014, 03:54:49 AM »

I would get the 600s, but I'm proly biased.
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Claritas

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #34 on: November 05, 2014, 04:19:19 AM »

HD600 really scales well and gains with tubes. I'm guessing X2 will be more like PMx in having limited scaling potential. So that might be a consideration.
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hplunket

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #35 on: November 05, 2014, 04:21:57 AM »

Thanks Claritas and ultrabike.  Ultrabike, your recommendations post was particularly encouraging.  The Focusrite 2i2 was an interesting one on your list I thought.  Cool that you're looking beyond "conventional" headphone components.
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ultrabike

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #36 on: November 05, 2014, 04:34:16 AM »

The 2i2 is a usb powered system, so it won't deliver a large voltage swing like other systems that operate from an AC plug. However, it can drive the HD600s past 100 dB SPL w/o any issues, and it does a decent job SQ wise. On top of that it has a pretty capable DAC implementation (differential outputs I think), so can drive active speakers. Independent headphone and line-out volume control. Also has decent mic pre-amps and line inputs... It's a decent audio interface for the price.

If all one needs is a DAC and an amp, then the Leckerton is proly a better option which I would recommend due to how practical and well implemented I found it to be.
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imackler

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #37 on: November 20, 2014, 07:35:36 AM »

I'm fascinated by the inclusion of the HD558 on the Pyrate Leaderboard. I picked one up for around $100 and haven't been sure whether I should keep it or not so haven't opened it.  Can the Clip+ manage to run this well? I'm not seeing a whole lot on Changstar regarding the <300 dap or dac/amp options, except for the GO450. I'm having the same problem running the ER4S portable. 

I abandoned my ipod but budgety alternatives have been harder to find than I thought.

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Marvey

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #38 on: November 20, 2014, 07:41:20 AM »

Clip+ will do absolutely fine with HD558. Open it up now. Unless you have something better around. The Clip+ should be on the Leaderboard if it isn't already. Install Rockbox on it if you can for extra functionality.


If you want more power for portable, UHA-6 is one of the best portable amps; but try straight out of Clip+ first.
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Solderdude

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Re: Recommendations for Good Rigs At Specific Price Points
« Reply #39 on: November 20, 2014, 07:48:31 AM »

The clip can drive it.
The HD558 is a decent headphone and tonally close to HD600 etc but NOT equal in sound quality.
It hangs just below it.

A budget 'replacement' for the clip is the FiiO X1.
Don't put it in your pocket or briefcase along with a cell-phone though.
The X1 is highly sensitive for those things.
All FiiO players are a bit 'buggy' but they are constantly improving the firmware (which is easy to upgrade).

Fun player that beats the Sansa's in a few areas except size and ease of operation.

A real budget portable rig = FiiO X1 + Koss KSC75/PortaPro

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Use your ears to enjoy music, not as an analyser.
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