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Looking to build a new rig... help me blow some cash =)


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So it's time for me to build a new home rig. I haven't been keeping up with the new stuff much. I stopped looking at gear around when the HD800 was FotM. I've been enjoying my ES3X for quite some time now but have been missing having proper cans.

My budget is around $3k for cans and an amp. I might be able to stretch it to $4k, but would really prefer to keep it down. I will probably be building a DAC over the winter/spring.

DIY isn't out of the question as I'm not in a RUSH to have a setup. (sooner the better though :) )

I will mostly listen to classical and folk when it's not just background noise.

So as far as options I was thinking of these:

HD800 or LCD2 with a B22 or GS-X if I can find one used for the right price.

O2 and build a BH (I have some old boards laying around)

I'm open to any and all suggestions. I know you guys can't pick gear out for me but I'd like suggestions as far as good combos these days and what's worth spending money on.

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Welcome back Jim

HD800 second hand - a bit less than $1000

OTL tube amp, if yer feeling up to it. Spend a few more bills on the DAC, and the rest on Booze and bullets.

Thanks Ari,

I've never owned an OTL amp so that might be fun. I also like the way you think with booze and bullets.

Do you still have my old vintage RS-1s that you modded?

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Looks like I will be picking up Rics B22 as well as some new LCD-2s. I've been trying to hunt down reasonably priced(sub $1k) USB DAC options. My taste is too rich for my wallet at the moment. laugh.png

I think the CEntrance DACmini is a really great sub $1K DAC with a very nice sounding 24/96 USB input, as well as optical and coax S/PDIF. The included headphone amp is also pretty darn good for the price, and it sounds great with my LCD-2, HE-500, ES3X, ES5, JH13Pro. I have the stock gain of 8 and the stock output impedance is 10 ohm, but you can special order these with a gain of 10 or an optional 1 ohm output impedance. (I'd worry that a gain of 10 might be too high for IEM.) I'd guess that the DACmini via USB is on a similar level of performance to the Apogee mini-DAC with Sigma 11 feeding a maxed Woo WA6, but for a lot less money.

I thought the Stello DA100 or PS Audio DLIII had good USB performance (Stello not so much with up-sampling turned off when using USB), but I preferred the Apogee. If I didn't need XLR outputs I think I would still pick the DACmini over those. It's too bad they don't make the Apogee with USB input anymore, but it was limited to 24/48 and the Firewire version does 24/96. The Pico DAC-only seems to perform very well as USB DAC if you are willing to give up S/PDIF, and you could investigate the DACport LX which is a portable DAC with 24/96 USB and a 1/4" line out and no internal amp (like the Pico). Again, I'd still pick the DACmini over these, unless portable under $400 was my target.

I haven't compared this to something like the Lavry DA11, which is a little above your budget, but maybe others can chime in.

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I think the CEntrance DACmini is a really great sub $1K DAC with a very nice sounding 24/96 USB input, as well as optical and coax S/PDIF. The included headphone amp is also pretty darn good for the price, and it sounds great with my LCD-2, HE-500, ES3X, ES5, JH13Pro. I have the stock gain of 8 and the stock output impedance is 10 ohm, but you can special order these with a gain of 10 or an optional 1 ohm output impedance. (I'd worry that a gain of 10 might be too high for IEM.) I'd guess that the DACmini via USB is on a similar level of performance to the Apogee mini-DAC with Sigma 11 feeding a maxed Woo WA6, but for a lot less money. I thought the Stello DA100 or PS Audio DLIII had good USB performance (Stello not so much with up-sampling turned off when using USB), but I preferred the Apogee. If I didn't need XLR outputs I think I would still pick the DACmini over those. It's too bad they don't make the Apogee with USB input anymore, but it was limited to 24/48 and the Firewire version does 24/96. The Pico DAC-only seems to perform very well as USB DAC if you are willing to give up S/PDIF, and you could investigate the DACport LX which is a portable DAC with 24/96 USB and a 1/4" line out and no internal amp (like the Pico). Again, I'd still pick the DACmini over these, unless portable under $400 was my target. I haven't compared this to something like the Lavry DA11, which is a little above your budget, but maybe others can chime in.

Thanks for those suggestions, I will look into those. USB as well as S/PDIF would be nice that way I can shame the whole rig by playing Xbox360 on it. laugh.png

XLR outs would be nice for later down the road but I can always buy a new DAC and sell whatever I end up buying if I do go balanced. I might be able to get a Lavry DA11 for under budget if I wait around long enough for one to pop up used.

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What about the Audio-gd NFB-9? It looks pretty beastly and weighs the part at 15kg! Shipping is a bit of a killer, though, at $201 to the US, so it'd come out to $1551 plus any import tax.

http://www.audio-gd....NFB9/NFB9EN.htm

I don't know enough about DAC design to have a good sense of what's going inside there, but the 3 transformers aside, there seems to be an awful lot more metal in there than the newer DACs in the same pricing tier. I've only heard one Audio-gd, though, so I'm not sure how the premium models perform.

Don't recommend shit you haven't heard this isn't Headfi

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Some nice Rega sales out there. http://www.needledoc...tore/Turntables wink.png

And keep in mind the on sale V-Link is a cheap option to make many more sub-$1K DACs async USB - http://t.co/v4q28SN

Sweet, thanks!

The B22 is paid for and I just ordered some LCDs from TTVJ.

Until I can really decide on what to use as a source it looks like: MBA > iBasso D10 Aux (lol) > B22 > LCD-2.2

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