WANTED - Best Headphone Amp/USB DAC for computer under $500(CDN/US) (and phones purchasing/testing experience)
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| Posted on June 16, 2012 at 17:13:16 | ||
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Posts: 135
Location: Canada-Ontario Joined: April 24, 2005 |
Hi Folks, Just picked up a pair of Shure SRH840s and was wondering what folks around these parts are suggesting for a great value Amp/DAC for computer listening... I see a number of them these days (Arcam, Rega, Cambridge Audio, NuForce, etc etc). So hopefully someone has some recent experience. BTW - I tried a number of phones and decided on these. I know the HD650 is ubiquitously recommended but I didn't like them that much. In fact, as an audiophile headphone I preferred the Grado SR325i. I absolutely _hated_ the Q701s. Maybe my ears need "headphone training" :) But the 840s were on also sale and the seemed to have the best "value" in terms of sound quality. Plus the SR325s seemed a little tipped in the treble and that could have been a bit grating in the long term. I really did like them though and do listen to mainly rock, metal and dance for which they seem to be designed. I also prefer the dealer who has the Grados and felt a bit bad not buying them from him. Finally, I didn't read any of the reviews on the 840s until after buying these and am glad they are pretty much uniformly good (but it was a bit of a chance - nothing but experience from 15 minutes of listening). We'll see how they break-in as supposedly they get better. They seem pretty good to me now (certainly better then my older Sennheiser HD595s) even if I'm only using the headphone output on my computer desktop Klipsch speakers. But depending on how things go, I may still opt for the Grados if I'm unhappy after a period of time. All that said, looking forward to everyone's responses. Thanks, Jeff
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