I was going to enter the audiophile world with a 3K USD setup budget, and am not sure what to get. Should I go up the extra few hundred dollars so I can get the Empyrean’s and another Dac/Amp Setup? If not, and if so, could you construct a setup for me with this budget?
Thanks in advance!
P.S I know I should go and personally try them on first, but I would like to get some insight on what products to try first so I can compare…
I would personally start a fair bit lower. Personally I think the real fun of this hobby comes from starting reasonable, testing the waters and what’s out there, and developing yourself. I think it would be more beneficial to start out with a more modest setup to make sure you take yourself in the right direction
I have a humble setup of AKG n40 and dragonfly red. I kind of want to just have one big purchase and not slowly build up as that would be quite costly compared to one big purchase… Thanks for your opinion though, I completely see where you’re coming from.
Well, in that case, I think it really depends then. What music do you listen to? What matters to you most in sound? What are your use cases for the setup?
AGREED with MON take that budget and bring it much lower. myabe around $500 for now and take that 2,5 k and put it into reserves unltil you figure out what you want
If you really want to jump up to that price point, I’d strongly suggest finding somewhere you can actually hear the candidates. Spending that much on something you’ve never heard doesn’t seem like a good way to go.
I listen to rock and classical. I value soundstage, but not to the point of hd800s. I also like imaging. I don’t think there is a specific thing that I am really focused on in terms of sound. Detail? Uses would be just listening to music.
Yea… If I am going to go try out headphones, what should I try out that is around my budget and price range
So personally I think if you did want to start at the higher end, I would say a setup like the focal clears, and an amp like the rupert neve rnhp and smsl su8 would be a great choice imo would suit your preferences. I would say you would want to be looking in the 1.5k-2k range for the headphones and 1k for the amp and dac imo
And also, when you test out headphones and go into a store, how does it usually go? Do you carry and dac/amp with you or do you just listen to it raw?
Alright, cheers.
Of course there are other options as well in that price range, so don’t get set on one specific pair, and go see if you can try them out as polygon suggests. Another good idea might be like the adx5000 and a nice tube amp would be a really good pairing too
There are a lot of options at that price point, but your more likely going to be limited by what you can hear locally.
Alright, thanks sm, and btw is that koneko from dxd on your profile pic?
That is correct lol
i would emplore you to check out Mon’s profile if you have any questions about comparisons.
ooh, alright, will do. Thanks sm
I own and really love the Empyreans, but I don’t think I’d want them as my only headphone. I agree with M0N on the Clears as a really nice high-end starting point, and I also agree that there is a lot to be said with starting smaller. If you haven’t heard headphones in the $500 range like the Fostex, Aivas, and Elex, they probably would really impress you
Alright, thanks for your input. Why wouldn’t you want it to be your only headphone? Just curious. I know that the fun of this hobby is to have different headphones and to wear them depending on your mood I guess. But I prefer to make one purchase only… (thats if I don’t get sucked into this rabbit hole)
I agree with this as well, in the sub 1k range you can get some really nice options to play around with and figure out what you like