What amp/dac & headphones/speakers are you using?

I do love that colour scheme. mines all traditional silver finish but that definitely looks cool

 

The silver Schiit gear is hot as, I love it. The SMSC stack also looks great.

 

i do recommend looking into the Loki or if theres something else red/black as an EQ. i dont normally bother with EQs too much as I prefer to hear the headphones neutral sound, but flicking the Loki on and EQ'ing is a lot of fun, even though its only 4 band

 

Fulla Schiit?

That is very fitting considering the products they sell!

I have gone down the rabbit hole myself, and there are many fantastical products available to increase your audiophile needs.

I love that audiophool thread lol.

My desktop audiophoolery consists of -
SMSL SU-9
Yamaha HS8's
Yamaha HS8S
Yamaha MG10XU
Darkvoice 336SE
Audio Technica MSR7
Corsair Virtuoso XT

I have been through a few dacs, even used an oppo 205 on my desk for a while(which was unbelievably good), have had this setup for a while now and see no need to change.

 

I wound up finding the FiiO E09K Amp to go with my E17 DAC, en route from the States at the moment. I sold the DT990s and picked up a 600 Ohm set of the DT880s which I'm looking forward to receiving.

The idea of going a bit 'vintage' overboard for the desk appeals. Might try and find a nice old Sherwood/NAD receiver with a bit of EQ or something, and see how that goes. Got a shelf under the desk that isn't being used.

I did consider a Darkvoice - they seem to get a very good rap and are pretty hard to come by. One on eBay currently for 325 - I'll see how the FiiO goes with the 880s first.

 

If you look in the right spots you can often pick up Bottlehead Crack for under $450 or so. Basically a Darkvoice 336se but better.

 

Yeah, another one that popped up a lot as 'reference' in reviews. Haven't seen it under a grand at all, wrote it off immediately

 

They sell between 400-700 used on StereoNet pretty frequently. Just depends on age and what tubes.

The DV is good for its price. Is a bit prone to transformer noise though. Also only for high impedance cans like the 300ohm beyers. Will sound like crap on low impedance or planars, will struggle to drive them.

 

StereoNet seems to be a bit of a weird beast. One page viewable before you have to sign up, couldn't even see the new member guidance thread. I mean I get it's an easy process, it just seems a bit excessive to cap it at one. What's the moderation like over there? I've lurked Head Fi for years, but always keen on different opinions - gets a bit echo-chamber-y.

To be honest mate I am not well-seasoned on all this, nor do I have the disposable income to dive in for now. I've been perfectly happy with an old set of AD900x on the E17 from an iPad forever. I caught a listen on a mates old DT990s a while back and always remembered I enjoyed it, so I picked them up and the rose coloured glasses had obviously been on, so I've got a set of 600Ohm 880s on the way - seems like they'll give me a bit less top-end and a bit more bottom than the 990s, which will be perfect.

 

Not a super strong Head-Fi presences on Stereonet. But some. Head-Fi has lot, lot of nutters too though.

 

Some wild stuff there if you go down the rabbit hole. Same as anywhere I guess. People would look at us the same no doubt

 

Currently still using Razer Tiamat 7.1 headphones connected to Asus Xonar AE PCIe card.
The ONLY issue I've had with the headphones is the ear cushions are a little on the weak side, that is they tend get unstuck from the headphones after yrs of use (glued back on, but they could have done a better job at the factory) . Otherwise the sound quality with proper full on 7.1 support is outstanding!
No complaints about the sound card either, does exactly what it claims to do, at least on win 10.

 

PC
> Optical out
> Matrix Cube
> Audio Technica AD-900's / Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohm

Footnote, The AD 900's and the Cube have been in my service almost 11 years. Only just put new pads on the AD 900's, Sure hope the DT 990's (which arrived yesterday morning) last just as long (or longer)

 

new pads are sweey

dropped a set on the ad700's some time ago (now the wife's set), and later still the akg q701's also got the treatment; pity the elastic supports on them are such a crap design, because they sound sweet - lucky they are comfy lying down in bed

bed : oneplus 5T > stoner acoustics ud130 > akg q701
desk : pc > tone1 > waplington wa2200 (topping rebadged i believe) > focal elears
desk plan b. : pc > alo pan am > focal elears - but i need to use a battery for the dac /amp or the ground loop buzz between tracks is too distracting, so it's for dedicated listening only

otherwise the tone1 feeds the klipsch 2.1 speakers for the study, and they sound damn fine

 

Ground loop filter any good for Plan B? Cheap linear supply?

 

my skillz are poor for solving it

a 3s lipo with a decent capacitor inline for transients gets me around 2.5 hours of deep black background and awesome dac/amp performance

the number of devices using a single (dual) power point on the same circuit means even a clean12v supply may not help i think; any refs for a ground loop filter option?

 

My solutions aren't transparent mate, unfortunately. They're cheap and they do remove the ground noise, but they also seem to limit the response a bit - it gets a bit muddier.

This for RCA, and this for 3.5mm.

I think you're right on the power too - not going to solve the issue.

 

thanks for your input

for the same money i reckon the answer is this; probably 10 hours of music, and i already have a very good quality lipo charger


if i pull out the laser cutter i can probably whip up a stylish bespoke wooden case with embossed design

 

Yeah, probably a better option mate - sonically, definitely. Plus a nice little project to make it your own

 

Just wanted to report back here and say thanks to you guys for the advice and give a quick update on where I'm at.

The 600 Ohm DT880 Black Edition arrived and are more than what I'd hoped for - I absolutely love them, even without dicking with EQ. They've got all the mid and top of the AD900X, more bass, and less clip on my shittier audio files - they're a huge step up on the better stuff. Solid upgrade - I get the 'bright' comments around the reviews, but that seems to be my thing. I also sourced a FiiO QOGIR E09K from the States to pair with the FiiO E17 - bit of a rare beast. Bought untested, DC jack needed a solder reflow and power LED is shagged but otherwise functional - even had the dustcaps still on the RCAs. Seems to be a solid pairing with these cans - power there for days (comfortable listening around 10-11 o'clock), found a linear PSU from a while back so I've got a 'triple-stack' thing going on with the E17 on top on the desk, love it.

Also been doing a bit of very basic comparison work on a few of those twenty-buck DAC dongles from eBay - moving to a tablet for music and the 3.5 out sucks balls. I bought three - a Realtek ALC5686 one, a Cirrus Logic CS46L41 one, and a Conexant CX31993 one.
From the tablet Type C port the Realtek is dogshit, the Conexant won't drive at all (too little power, I guess) and the Cirrus puts in a significantly better showing than the standard 3.5 out but also obviously isn't getting fed quite enough juice. I put this down to the cheap tablet - I'm thinking a USB PD charge adapter might help rectify the lack of power, worth the price of admission anyway.
From a desktop Type C port though, unreal what 20 bucks buys you. I think the Conexant's got the slightest edge over the Cirrus - just in pronunciation of "s'" and tightness of cymbals - basically, it clips a smidgeon less at the top than the Cirrus - but it's very close. Realtek a little way behind, but if I'd just bought the Realtek and knew no better I'd be chuffed.
They all support 32/384 from within Windows.
None of them have quite enough power to drive the 880-600s properly, but this isn't a surprise. I also had a generic Type C > 3.5 DAC I picked up ages ago - left very, very wanting in comparison. Even the regular 3.5 out was better.

All in all, learning some good things. Info on these dongles is pretty scarce (there are a couple of hits for the DACs themselves, but not for these implementations) so it's been interesting. Next step is to grab the USB PD adapter and see if I can get the Conexant working from the tablet. That - and the signature from the Cirrus - should tell me I've skirted around the low power output