Headphone based system
Discussion
Im totally confused and would be grateful for some help please.
Following a few 'spring cleans' I have no music and no hifi system. I was using spotify on an ipad (now broken) and bought some grado 325e open back headphones (now sold). So I am starting from a clean slate.
Due to the layout of my house and having young kids, there really is no point getting a speaker based system, so I am again thinking about building up a headphone system for late evening listening in living room only.
Budget I guess is up to £1k, although I would have a few more months saving if i spent that much. If I can, and assuming it is somewhere near my budget, i would like to try find a sweet spot where what I buy is noticeably very good quality but not getting into the realms of diminishing returns. Best bang for buck.
Ideas so far:
-use my existing android phone, buy chord mojo dac. Use spotify, rather than tidal, as i understand android phones dont have a digital out- so i am assuming that the benefit of tidal would be lost?
-as above, but with a more table top sized headphone dac/amp
-astell and kern hi res player to stream tidal from over wifi, direct to headphones. (neat solution, but is there similar quality to be had for less money by going with separate types units?)
-some sort of streaming system that could ideally be controlled via a phone based app (cambridge audio do some) Use with Spotify? Tidal?
I am thinking a budget of £400-500 for the headphones themselves?
In what order would you get best sound quality gains. I am assuming headphones first, but then not sure about source files or DAC/amp?
Apologies for all the questions. I think I just need pointing down the right path, and hopefully things will be come clearer!
Following a few 'spring cleans' I have no music and no hifi system. I was using spotify on an ipad (now broken) and bought some grado 325e open back headphones (now sold). So I am starting from a clean slate.
Due to the layout of my house and having young kids, there really is no point getting a speaker based system, so I am again thinking about building up a headphone system for late evening listening in living room only.
Budget I guess is up to £1k, although I would have a few more months saving if i spent that much. If I can, and assuming it is somewhere near my budget, i would like to try find a sweet spot where what I buy is noticeably very good quality but not getting into the realms of diminishing returns. Best bang for buck.
Ideas so far:
-use my existing android phone, buy chord mojo dac. Use spotify, rather than tidal, as i understand android phones dont have a digital out- so i am assuming that the benefit of tidal would be lost?
-as above, but with a more table top sized headphone dac/amp
-astell and kern hi res player to stream tidal from over wifi, direct to headphones. (neat solution, but is there similar quality to be had for less money by going with separate types units?)
-some sort of streaming system that could ideally be controlled via a phone based app (cambridge audio do some) Use with Spotify? Tidal?
I am thinking a budget of £400-500 for the headphones themselves?
In what order would you get best sound quality gains. I am assuming headphones first, but then not sure about source files or DAC/amp?
Apologies for all the questions. I think I just need pointing down the right path, and hopefully things will be come clearer!
Edited by covmutley on Monday 9th October 12:49
A nice headphone system is really hard to beat - I use a chord mojo and Sennheiser IE800's when I'm at work - all through my iphone, either using spotify if I'm 'browsing' music, or Onkyo player app with flac files if it's music I own already.
The mojo made a massive difference, headphones also,but I think the mojo made more difference per £ than my earphones. Diminishing returns kicked in on my earphones before they did on the dac.
The mojo made a massive difference, headphones also,but I think the mojo made more difference per £ than my earphones. Diminishing returns kicked in on my earphones before they did on the dac.
Really?
I just got an iPhone 7 today and am very surprise by how good the sound quality is on both my beyerdynamic dt-150s and on the stock apple earbuds.
Does the mojo really offer such an additional improvement?
Am tempted by one but it's a big outlay... it's a good chunk towards a pair of Harbeths :0
I just got an iPhone 7 today and am very surprise by how good the sound quality is on both my beyerdynamic dt-150s and on the stock apple earbuds.
Does the mojo really offer such an additional improvement?
Am tempted by one but it's a big outlay... it's a good chunk towards a pair of Harbeths :0
Personally I would first go for a good standalone DAC and buy the headphones after.
One to consider is the Ibasso DX200 which is a great player and has been getting very good reviews and also seems to do the things you are after.
I own its smaller brother the DX80 which is very good however the 200 is in another league.
https://www.head-fi.org has plenty of information in their forum section about all sorts of portable equipment.
Good luck with your purchase.
One to consider is the Ibasso DX200 which is a great player and has been getting very good reviews and also seems to do the things you are after.
I own its smaller brother the DX80 which is very good however the 200 is in another league.
https://www.head-fi.org has plenty of information in their forum section about all sorts of portable equipment.
Good luck with your purchase.
thanks.
I have to say, for wifi streaming, the portable players do seem ideal for me.
But I just have this nagging (and probably irrational?) doubt that something chunkier and more complicated to buy/setup/use would give better results for less money. Like the schiit headphone DAC/amps?
I have to say, for wifi streaming, the portable players do seem ideal for me.
But I just have this nagging (and probably irrational?) doubt that something chunkier and more complicated to buy/setup/use would give better results for less money. Like the schiit headphone DAC/amps?
benz0 said:
Really?
I just got an iPhone 7 today and am very surprise by how good the sound quality is on both my beyerdynamic dt-150s and on the stock apple earbuds.
Does the mojo really offer such an additional improvement?
Am tempted by one but it's a big outlay... it's a good chunk towards a pair of Harbeths :0
It did for me! My earbuds arent hard to drive either - I'd like to hear it with some meaty headphones.I just got an iPhone 7 today and am very surprise by how good the sound quality is on both my beyerdynamic dt-150s and on the stock apple earbuds.
Does the mojo really offer such an additional improvement?
Am tempted by one but it's a big outlay... it's a good chunk towards a pair of Harbeths :0
I'd like a dedicated player now with a massive SD card... or spotify to hurry up and go lossless.
Maxf said:
It did for me! My earbuds arent hard to drive either - I'd like to hear it with some meaty headphones.
I'd like a dedicated player now with a massive SD card... or spotify to hurry up and go lossless.
Me too, when i let one of my colleagues use the Mojo on his iPhone 7, he just said 'wow, thats amazing'.I'd like a dedicated player now with a massive SD card... or spotify to hurry up and go lossless.
He uses P5's in the office. I use a variety of headphones and all show an improvement using the Mojo.
He was less impressed with my Sony ZX2
To update this thread, I managed to get a set of Hifiman HE400i headphones a couple of months ago off Amazon for £180, which seems a massive bargain.
Really enjoy these headphones, but my smartphone couldn't power them- you could clearly hear them being held back, plus I was relying on the phone's DAC.
Using some Christmas money, I picked up a Chord mojo today. I'm very, very pleased with the results- it sounds fantastic!
My daughter has a pair of Beats and it will be interesting to see how they perform on the mojo.
Really enjoy these headphones, but my smartphone couldn't power them- you could clearly hear them being held back, plus I was relying on the phone's DAC.
Using some Christmas money, I picked up a Chord mojo today. I'm very, very pleased with the results- it sounds fantastic!
My daughter has a pair of Beats and it will be interesting to see how they perform on the mojo.
I use a Mojo also with IE800 as somebody else mentioned above... it is a great bit of kit. I have the Poly add-on sat at home beloning to a relative which i'm going to have a play around with... its nice to know the mojo can be extended effectively to incorporate local storage, media rendering and bluetooth/wifi.
For anyone who may be interested, I tried my headphones and daughters bears, with mojo and just on smartphone.
Similar to what maxf said above, using the mojo on beats is a bigger jump than my hifimans on the mojo. The beats are decently clear and defined on the mojo there is just a lack of sparkle. Not being an audiophile, that's the best I can describe it!
Similar to what maxf said above, using the mojo on beats is a bigger jump than my hifimans on the mojo. The beats are decently clear and defined on the mojo there is just a lack of sparkle. Not being an audiophile, that's the best I can describe it!
Anyone who spends either a lot of time or money streaming though a mac or PC via headphones *really* needs to consider Sonarwork's software.
It basically started life as a headphone calibration plugin for anyone who needs to seriously assess and evaluate audio (ie, producers/engineers etc). The technology is now repackaged and available to anyone as free standing software for anyone.
Doesn't seem to be available as a iOS/Android app, but haven't looked into this. This one piece of software will improve (and in some cases vastly) 112 different headphone types by giving you an off the shelf calibration profile for these headphone models, or Sonarworks can provide you with a tailored profile by measuring your headphones' frequency response when you send them in for assessment.
The software also works for speakers. It's a very impressive and useful tool.
https://www.sonarworks.com/truefi
https://www.sonarworks.com/reference
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sonarworks-re... <not the hifi/'truefi' version review
Sound On Sound magazine: "2015 was an amazing year for products in the pro-audio industry, but the thing that really impressed us, and wins the Editors' Choice award, is the superb Sonarworks Reference 3 software."
It basically started life as a headphone calibration plugin for anyone who needs to seriously assess and evaluate audio (ie, producers/engineers etc). The technology is now repackaged and available to anyone as free standing software for anyone.
Doesn't seem to be available as a iOS/Android app, but haven't looked into this. This one piece of software will improve (and in some cases vastly) 112 different headphone types by giving you an off the shelf calibration profile for these headphone models, or Sonarworks can provide you with a tailored profile by measuring your headphones' frequency response when you send them in for assessment.
The software also works for speakers. It's a very impressive and useful tool.
https://www.sonarworks.com/truefi
https://www.sonarworks.com/reference
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sonarworks-re... <not the hifi/'truefi' version review
Sound On Sound magazine: "2015 was an amazing year for products in the pro-audio industry, but the thing that really impressed us, and wins the Editors' Choice award, is the superb Sonarworks Reference 3 software."
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