So I’m looking for opinions on what to do? I’m moving rooms in a couple of weeks its going to be a smaller room than the room I’m in currently but I’m not sharing anymore. I’m playing with 300-500$. Currently contemplating whether its worth getting speakers or just buying better headphones. For Reference, I currently have dt770pros 80 ohms and Thieaudio legacy3 iems. Only problem with speakers is that I am playing with less space room wise and on my desk I have 3 27in monitors. So not much space on my desk.
Amp: Schitt Magnius
Dac: Drop Balanced SDAC
Audio Signature wise i have no idea what i prefer, it has literally been months since i’ve started to pay attention to audio in general, what I do know is that i would like a little more bass, I dont need a ton of bass but the dt770s lack just a little bit too much for me
You run a pretty bass rich headphone now. Others might have better ideas on the IEM world, where you can get bass for not a lot of money.
However,
I might get:
JBL 550P $180
Amazon Basics Class D $128
Neumi BS5? $100
If you don’t have, you’ll need a pair of RCA to run from Magnius to the Amazon amp. Another pair from the Amazon amp to the JBL sub. Speaker wire from the amp to the Neumi speakers.
Your Magnius will act as the preamp (it will not turn off signal from outputs, so you’ll turn off speaker amp when not using it).
This will give you a simple, adaptable desk+ 2.1 setup for $400+
The Neumis are front-ported, perhaps a bit more flexible on location, especially if you’re cramped some. They can at least go pretty far back towards wall, unlike the many many rear-ported designs on market.
Unshackle yourself!
Thanks for the quick response, that subwoofer recommendation is really nice, the only problem is speaker amp as i cant seem to find it on amazon, I was thinking the smsl sa300 for the amp. Only thing to worry now is how am i going to place the bookshelfs
In truth, what I would do and have done, living in a large metropolitan area: buy speaker amplifiers and speakers used. But, harder to give specific recommendations — buying used is a lifestyle and simply based on what opportunities present themselves.
Placement of this in your space? You’re going to have a better understanding than I. What are you limits? You have a lot of screens occupying your width. Do you have space in the room to the boundaries left/right of the monitors?
I should have space on both sides of my desk to allow for speaker stands hopefully it doesnt look to ugly, as aesthetic is little important to me but if it works it works.
Also thanks for the link amazon is really picky with what it shows when looking for a specific thing that has a generic name
I would think that a good place to go from where you are is a nice pair of open-back planars. I have limited experience, but here are some options to look into for open back planars in your price range:
At the top of your price range is:
-Sendy Aivas(On sale for $479 periodically)
-Monolith m1570’s($600 retail, but open box/used they go for $400-500)
In the middle/below your price range:
-Monolith m570’s(They retail for $300, but you can find them for as low as $150 used)
-Hifiman Sundra’s($350 on apos) ***Hifiman has a bunch of offerings all over in price, but I don’t have any experience with any of them so in terms of Hifiman I’ll leave the rest to you to explore
-Monolith m1070($350 on amazon right now, probs cheaper used though)
-Monolith m1060($280 on amazon and ~$150 all over ebay used)
***Note there are a ton of other open-back planars of all prices, just these of the are the ones that come to mind
I’m mostly familiar with the monoprice Monolith line up(I own a pair of m1060c’s and m570’s) so I’ll offer what advice I can. The m1570’s are the best sounding and most expensive, but they are heavy af. The m1070’s are the most well adjusted, decent(ergonomically) headband and more refined sound then m1060’s, however the headband is a little too bendable for most peoples taste(look a zeos’s review of them). The m570’s are good, but the caveat’s are there is some weird business going on at 900hrz and are a little too treble hot for most peoples tastes(they sound much better after eq). Th m1060’s have a terrible what I’m gonna call head attachment apparatus for fun. It’s the same one that is on them1060c’s(which is a $300-350 closed back planar that you could mod if you wanted to be open back pretty easily. They use a completely different driver then the open m1060’s. However I didn’t include them because they are closed back stock). My experience with the head attachment apparatus is that is isn’t exceptionally comfortable, but you get used to it after awhile. Last, but not least is the biggest issue with monoprice anything is the customer service and quality control is really bad. So if you do buy a pair, buy them used so someone else has already made sure they work, or buy from amazon and eat the small price difference(sometimes there is no price difference or they cost less on amazon) from buying them directly from monoprice.
If you end up buying either the m570 or m1060c and want to eq them to be as neutral as possible let me know I have the eq info from AutoEq(the info is kind of a chore to find otherwise).
If anyone else has experience/input on open-back planars please chime in. I’m assuming you were wanting headphones not speakers, if you are there is a separate thread for speakers, so try posting there. Anyway hope I helped!
***Edit: If you want bass maybe consider the closed back 1060c, they pretty good after a decent eq.
Im honestly on the line on which way I go, but that sub-woofer I’m buying because its a steal for that price and what it can do.
I saw some sendy aivas being sold for 320 I might get those, it seems that the monoprice’s need a lot of tweaking to get just right
its seems like that sub has been on sale for 3 years now
Yeah, your not wrong. The Aiva’s are pretty treble hot as well(same driver as m570’s just with massively more refined tuning). To just get a eq for my m570’s required me to figure out how to use AutoEq, which took like 5+ hours. I like them now, but I need a better amp to get everything out of them. I got them used for $150(a steal), well worth it after the eq. The trouble with the eq is why I mentioned hitting me up for the results if you bought a pair. The Sendy’s are much better documented and a better brand, but price to value wise almost every brand loses to monoprice. That’s why there is so much modding with there stuff. They screw up good head phones with bad tuning, quality control, and “head apparatuses”. If your looking to become an audiophile on a budget though they’re a good option. Good luck on you audio hunt!
I will be looking into those sendy aivas if it seems good ima get those and wait a bit on speakers
Sounds like a good plan, just be aware that they aren’t bass heavy. Going from a bassier closed back to an open-back planar might be a bit jarring at first(was for me). As always eqing is always an option to raise the bass and lower the treble so they are more suitable to your hearing preferences.
It should be fine I had the hifiman 35x’s but they broke and I got refund for them, honestly the only reason Im open to getting new headphones