Audiophiles, audio & stuff thread

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EDIT: I really gravedug this Q, didn’t I. Hope you got that amp sorted!

I don’t have an answer to your actual question! However, your desktop may be able to, possibly your laptop, depending on sensitivity also. It’s not that high an impedance. Have you tried it?

If you have a Realtek chip, it may sense them as Ultimate power output. If you’re not getting the gain you want, go into the audio console app and select Ultimate. You may need to plug them into the line out directly, in back, if the front jack isn’t working great. You can then gauge if you have enough power and get an amp if not. Go up to around $100 ($135 shipped with tax, or so) and you can grab a Schiit Heretic or Magni+.

(Also, I’m recently running Beyer DT 900 Pro X with either an oldish Electric Avenues portable op-amp or a Magni+, though it’s overkill. Source DAC. Using raw tuning or reasonably close to Harman via AutoEQ.app and Equalizer APO. Hoping to pick up Audio Technica r70x next year, so I thought I’d prepare to EQ into 450ohms, though I guess they aren’t actually hard to drive.)

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Finally picked up the Sennheiser 560s. Hoping to enjoy the wide sound stage some report and perhaps the most listenable tuning I’ll have sans EQ. Mail day this week.

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This is a rabbit hole where I successfully got away with only dipping a toe in. My most thought out setup is in my office, and it’s nothing more than a pair of Micca MB42x on a “Douk Audio” digital amp pulling analog from my motherboard; it has a little USB DAC but I can’t tell the difference, so I don’t use it. Headphones are Philips SHP9500.

Elsewhere, the living room has the “nice sounding” Google Home thing from a few years back, and there is an LG soundbar to go with the LG TV. The game room upstairs has the Denon receiver we brought from our last house’s media room and a pair of Sony tower speakers I bought off FB.

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Also successfully dipped my toes in, found good enough, and then stepped away.

Setup:

  • Sennheiser HD660s2 I got on big discount from Amazon
  • JDS Labs Element III mk2
  • Wiim Pro Streamer
  • Switched to Tidal yearly sub at just the 16/44.1 tier.

Completely satisfied with this setup and will not change a thing unless something in it breaks.

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I’m a big believer that in many of these hobbies, when you’re coming in you can get 80% of the benefits with your first entry level purchases if you do a bit of research. Even keyboards: imagine the difference versus your pack-in membrane board or laptop keyboard when you’re using a Keychron or even a hotswap gamer board with your choice of budget keycaps and switches. Keyboard bug bit me hard (and fountain pens decades before that), though in my specific case keyboards take more of my time than my money, but I was pretty content to land on “louder and clearer than before” with my audio stuff.

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Yah, some great headphones, amps, DACs, (and keyboards) are available now for $200 or less, certainly under $450, at which level they may have design or technical features you may not be getting in that $150-$200 range. The value of those will vary for different people. I’m willing to spend more on a keyboard than on audio at this point.

I don’t think you’re getting better performance above that (approximate) level, or maybe even above $200 for amps/DACs.

That’s not to say there are not things worth buying above that, or that there are not really substitutes for, but it’s about some specific quality to the sound (HD 800 comes to mind) or fancier build at that point, or collecting, or cognitive bias, or some combination of those.

I have a Magni+ running from a Apple USB-C dongle out of my motherboard and a few pair of headphones averaging $190.

I know better technical performance is available at the same price point as the Magni+, but it works for me, and I thought the discrete design was cool. Not sure if I’d get the Heretic were I to do it again, but I probably wouldn’t hear a difference anyway. You can’t really beat the $9 dongle tho.

One thing I would like is a Qudelix 5k so I can parametric EQ these cans from my iPhone and get cleaner EQed audio from my TV, which I use them for sometimes at night.

EDIT: There are some amazing budget IEMs, but I know some expensive ones have multiple drivers of different types. That seems awesome, and it would be hard to do this inexpensively.

EDIT 2: More power to you if there is a keyboard from a designer you are a fan of that you just feel is a work of art or speaks to you and you are happy to pay a bit more for it, especially for a small run. Been there. Go for it. Part of the fun of the hobby.

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Absolutely! That goes for so many hobbies. The point at which diminishing returns become an issue is very personal, and if you’re keeping up with the bills, then enjoy!

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