Need some help picking a headphone and dac/amp to replace some stolen stuff

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
1

I’ll keep it short and sweet. My house got broken into. They stole my Philips X2’s, SMSL m6 (old version), my Wharfedale diamond 220’s, Yamaha class A amp from the 80’s and (I loved that this. FFS the remote had a motor with a rubber band connected to the volume knob to control the volume…beautiful 80’s genius :sob: ) and my old XDUOO x2.
Some other stuff was stolen but nothing else was really audio gear and most of that is covered partially by insurance.
Most of my audio stuff is not covered enough or at all in the case of some of the more expensive stuff.

So my problem is i have a pretty limited budget to try and get some stuff back and i’m trying to figure out how I should start, if I should get the same stuff again, should i try different things etc etc.

Problem the second is I live in South Africa, which for those that don’t know, double or even triple the price of audio equipment, it is really hard to find the better stuff that isn’t sennheiser (god there is so much sennheiser and it is so over priced) or fashion headphones. On the DAC and AMP side it’s even worse. Prices inflated to insanity and barely any variety.

Problem the third I have mild tinnitus so sharp highs are a no no for me. Hence why I liked the X2’s.

If I am going to import something i need to also be wary of import duties and shipping costs. Stuff from china isn’t so much of a problem (I just have to wait for like 2-3 months for it to arrive. )

So my question is (finally getting to it aren’t we, thanks for sticking around).
Roughly I have a 400 USD budget max at the moment. I think it would be best to start rebuilding with headphones and a dac amp combo or a portable player.

I have gone through the r/zeos reddit guides and the hifiguides guide thing.
the monolith 1060’s, audioquest hawks and a few others looked interesting and of course the x2’s (but if there is something better out there these days please do let me know).

And of course I still have to fit that dac amp tower or combo in there or alternatively a portable music player as I do take my headphones to work sometimes and carrying as little as possible would be great.

Any help that can be spared would be very much appreciated.

Edit: open or closed back either way makes me happy as long as it doesn’t have those shrill highs that would hurt my ears :+1:

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Really hope that nothing irreplaceable was stolen and that things only get better for you.:+1:
In terms of headphones, seeing as you liked the x2’s so much, get those and pair it with the Micca OriGen G2. In terms of sound quality, features (optical out), and price it’s hard to beat.
If you can run your music through your phone then I recommend the EarStudio ES100. The things the app for it can do is worth the price. Zeos’ review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWxgoE9Ih8
Was actually looking for a portable player, but bought the earstudio along with a 128gb sd card for my phone upon watching Zeos’ video.

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Hey thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it.

Yeah a few things were stolen that are irreplaceable. My Yamaha amp for one, a pair of Teac sx-550g speakers (not the greatest speakers ever, but they were my first real speakers and I had used them for several parties over the years) and some other sentimental stuff.
The thing that really annoys me is that they didn’t just stop at stealing my stuff. They also decided to shred my curtains, cut my bed, broke some windows and to top it off they opened my fridge and pissed in it…
So it was great.

Anyway. Onto the headphones and stuff.
Yeah i am really considering just getting the X2’s again (they are $185 + $60 shipping right now). I have also looked at the Micca Origen g2. Only problem with the G2 is that amazon doesn’t ship it to South Africa and the places that do ask double. So that’s out of the question really. What i did look at is getting dac/amp wise is the Fiio K3 and also the new version of the SMSL M6 with the new dac chip
(AK4452 same as the Fiio K3) and with a remote. Both withing 2-3 dollars of one another.

I also saw that Takstar released the HF580 planar for 200usd shipped. So I thought If I want a change of sound I might look at those. The first impressions coming in are very good. They have the same planar driver as the Sendy Aiva. So people are really seeing some good potential.
But no big reviews on that one as of yet.

The EarStudio is not really my thing. I don’t do bluetooth audio much. Mainly because I often don’t have access to power all the time and it drains my battery fast. That’s why I do DAP’s instead. Plus there are many situations where my line of work means i need to take any device that produces radio signals and shove it in a safety box. DAP’s get me past that.

Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it. I am going to do research for another week or so and figure it out from there.

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