A Route Into Head-FI

[harveymt]

Working from home, I listen mostly sitting at the computer. Im using J River Jukebox with FLAC files. I currently have a pair of Sennheiser PX-200 I've had for 4 or 5 years and like, though I've nothing to compare them to. They are connected to a Creative speaker system that came with the computer.

I'd like to upgrade the headphone set-up and thinking forward in time I'd like to have a dedicated listening area and a head phone set up would be far more easily achieved given the room I have to work with then a speaker set-up.

I've read a bit and have something of a plan and hoped for some feedback and maybe other options.

Most headphone manufacturers appear to have a 'house sound'. I like the idea of AKG's detail so thought I'd get a pair of their K44s. They're about £20 - £25 and will give me an idea of AKG's sound. If I like them I can look at upgrading or look to a different manufacturer if I don't.

The next step would be to get a headphone amp. I like the look of the Firestone Fubar 4. It has the connections I'd need plus a DAC. The main difference between the 4 and the 4plus seems to be the 4plus upsamples to 24/192, the 4 to 24/96. Any others? The Dac means I can add a pair of small actives later as well if I wanted.

After that I'd look to upgrade the headphones. If the AKG experiment works out I'd look to the K701s.

When I get a dedicated listening area, I've read good things about the Little Dot III. It's the look of the valves I like as much as anything. I couls stilll use the Fubar as a DAC for this or upgrade this to something more appropriate.

It's just a loose plan I've got but I think doing it that way means I can upgrade slowly and have a very good set-up at the end of it. Im in NI and there's not many places I know of to audition any of this stuff so I'll have to buy blind from those that allow return.

The products mentioned above could well change based on auditions and further reading but have I got the route mostly right?

 

[Olli1324]

Headphones then amp is certainly the most logical way to go about this. It is the route I took - I bought some Alessandro MS-1 headphones first and then built a DIY amplifier to power them. After that came another amp, and then I added a DAC. Then I built yet another, even better, amp 😉! It is an addictive hobby, to say the least.

Personally, I wouldn't rely heavily on listening to bottom of the range 'phones and expect to get much of an idea about what the higher end models will sound like - they will sound completely different. That said, listening to as many headphones as possible is of course a bonus.

What is your budget, out of interest?

One thing you may be able to consider is buying used because then if the 'phones/amp are not to your liking you can simply sell them on for minimal loss. Although, the issue of being in NI comes up again - I don't know how many used headphones & amps are on the market.

 

[harveymt]

There isn't really a budget. For what I can see, a couple of hundred on headphones and something similiar on an amp would get you a very good system. I can buy the headphones for myself and maybe an Xmas present for the amp. The equivalent in hi-fi would be in the thousands? A different prospect.

 

[Olli1324]

£200 on each would indeed get you some very serious hifi. You are into the realm of Senn HD650s, AKG K702s and Grado 225is being powered by some top quality amplifiaction.

You are right about the quality being much more affordable than a speaker set up, but then there are trade offs of both.

 

[harveymt]

I ended up ordering AKG K99s. They were £30 with free delivery. They are descibed as 'semi open backed' so I figured if it would be better to get something of an idea of what open backed sounded like compared to close backed.

My better half wanted some Disney Blu-rays ordered and Play just happened to have them on a buy one get one free deal so I used the £16 saved to buy a Fiio E5.

I'll have a listen to these and see what I think. Next step will be DAC/Amp. At the moment the Fubar 4 seems a front runner.

I really like the look of the Little Dot Tube Amps but that would require a separate DAC and would probably push the budget up too quickly till I know what I'm looking for.