Budget of $1000 for the whole setup- dac + amp + headphones. Ideally future proof; something that can be complimented by not replaced by purchases down the line. For example a tube amp or different sounding headphones.
Background- currently don’t have a dedicated listening area, ie why I’m leaning towards the drop pandas for their Bluetooth capabilities (listening in the couch/in bed). Sometime in the future would like to set up a nice desktop/workstation in the office, but for now I don’t have enough free time to get sucked back up into the gaming. Uses I’d like to get out of the setup is primarily watching YouTube videos and music. Music choices lately are alternative/indie (glass animals, Elliot moss, chet faker) with some rock and rap (grandson, blackbear, five finger death punch) mixed in.
Also to note- my girlfriend writes and produces a lot of her own music as a hobby so am going to eventually going to need both open back (for mixing/mastering) and closed back (for recording with a backing track). So if I get open now, my next pair will be closed and vice versa.
Thanks in advance for all the advice!! I’m so indecisive so any suggestions really do help.
DT1990 is the best you will be able to buy for mixing and outperforms $1000+ sets in that area, for recording M1060C is pretty good. Can’t think of anything besides Argons then $200 for AMP dac is entry level and all you need.
If I had to go back start from scratch again with that budget: Amp: Vali 2+, little tube rolling and how capable that amp is, WONDERFUL. I’ll post something tubes for this amp soon. Dac: Modius, $200 bargain that I think does VERY well. If you wish to save some money the Topping E30 sounds pretty good. Mic: You said office, to me that means calls through the computer so factor $80 for a mod mic USB if you don’t wan to get an external mic.
Headphones: You will be squarely in the $500 mark so you will have a lot of options. I would research:
Focal Elex
Focal Elegia
Hifiman Sundara
Meze Noir 99
You don’t need to max out your budget. Definitely get started and buy/sell your way around to the sound you want.
Note, if you go with planars maybe swap out the Vali 2+ for the Magni Heresy or Magni 3+. If you want to spend more on an amp, look at the @FiCurious recommendations as a starters. I know most of the people on this forum have a lot of opinions and tastes, poke around around a bit and ask more questions here to try and find what you may want in a setup.
I think this setup would be a total miss if it werent suggested. I can’t help with the monitors I’d recommend any closed back Sony monitors such as the CD900st or M1st / sennheiser 280 pros will cover that.
But what I’ll mainly recommend is the HD 6XX and a tube the main reason for the 6XX is the infinite amp scaleability is incredible and with tubes the tube rolling is a whole bunch of fun dialing in the right combo but moving on from the individual parts is the sum of all these parts is one of the most fun listening experiences out there the sheer relaxed audiophile joy of music while you work and listen to music is second to none on this setup and is reminiscent of a price point that punches so high above its price point.
In regards to a dac any smsl, Geshelli or any other good modern dac from schiit I’m sure will cover you at this price point. Hope this helps this is definitely the pleasure pic for sure
DAC: SMSL SU-8. Clean, simple, balanced and at $200 it’s really nice… Modius could be a decent alternative as I’ve hears nothing but geat Schiit about it.
AMP: SMSL SH-9. Not a fanboy but I’m in europe so a lot of stuff is harder to get. I got this for about $270. It is very clean (THX tech) and very capable (6Watts balanced). Also… I love the remote
Headphones: Hifiman Sundara: They are openback and absolutely amazing, check this community out, a lot of people will tell you they were sent straight from heaven just to make love to our ears Dunno if they’re THAT good. But they’re really solid. $350.
Mic: SE-Electronics X1 A. Been very happy with this one for a little over a year now. $100~120 depending on where you get it
Interface: Behringer UMC-22. I don’t know a lot about interfaces. All I know is this takes the XLR from my Mic, puts it into USB and it doesn’t add any weird artifacts or distortion. Also has the +48V thing some mics need. $65
Total: $1,005
(First time I realize I have a $1000 audio setup is now that I write it out lol)
Would look into Sony MDR-7506, Sennheiser HD-280 Pro and Beyerdynamic DT-770’s
Those 3 (and maybe AKG K-271 or Sennheiser HD-25’s) can be found in nearly every studio.
DAC wise, a better audio interface will work nicely as a DAC (I am using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 2nd Gen as a DAC). An SSL 2+ or Audient iD14 should do nicely (or a MOTU M2).
Amplifier depends a bit on what headphones you decide on. My daily driver is a LakePeople G103-S, as it is meant for studios with its slightly warmer than neutral signature, it should do nicely for your use case.
