[tryingtimes]

Hi all
I currently work from home in a family environment so I listen to a lot of music through headphones (Beyerdynamic DT 531) plugged directly into my laptop's headphone socket.
It sounds pretty good actually as they are really smooth warm and open headphones, but as I spend about 8 hours a day listing to these, I think it's well worth an upgrade.

So - what is the best way to do this?
I have firewire, usb and a headphone socket and I will also consider the option of a separate audio streamer if it's the best route.

I guess my budget is around £2-300. So I can either keep the headphones and add other bits or just swap the headphones.

Cheers
tt

[DorKnight]

I suggest you take a look at the CORDA ARIA which has a built in DAC, so you can connect it to you PC via USB;

http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

That will come in at around £270.

[tryingtimes]

Thanks for that - I've contacted them for information.
Also - the Ultrasone headphones on there took my fancy as they are low radiation - I was wondering about that as I use them so much.

[DorKnight]

Jan is very helpful, any questions you have for him don't hesitate to ask as he's a great bloke.

If your spending that much on headphones it may be worth your while upgrading your laptop's sound card too if you're just using the onboard sound. The Creative X-Mod is supposed to be pretty good:

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121164/rb/25634554127

[Reano]

Originally Posted by D@vey

If your spending that much on headphones it may be worth your while upgrading your laptop's sound card too if you're just using the onboard sound. The Creative X-Mod is supposed to be pretty good:

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/121164/rb/25634554127

EMU (which is Creative's professional arm) do even better stuff look here http://www.emu.com/welcome.asp

Or Terratec are good look here http://sounduk.terratec.net/

or m-audio look here: http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family look at the USB family of products

[tryingtimes]

I've found it really hard to get a listen to any of this stuff. There was an Ultrasone dealer in Manchester, but after I said which headphones I was interested in listening to, they never got back to me
I can listen to the M-Audio and Terratec stuff at the Sound Control in town, so might pop in there next week.
I'm pretty particular when it comes to 2-channel audio, so I think that hearing is probably the best thing. I've been reading lots on Headfi, but it's hard to know if people are hearing the same thing as you.

[Holden4th]

Your budget should cover this quite easily.

1st - get a dedicated sound card. Even Creative's basic entry model makes a huge difference but the audigy range is an even better start. This Page gives you a good idea.

2nd - buy a dedicated headphone amplifier and if you're going to do that then consider adaptability. I suggest that you purchase either the PA2V2 or the Go Vibe 5 both of which are portable and also significantly improve your listening experience.

Try http://www.electric-avenues.com/audio8.html

or http://www.go-vibe-headphoneamp.com/

The headphone upgrade is only your third option as it appears that you are very happy with the sound so why change?

Happy hunting

[tryingtimes]

Hi Holden
I guess they're cheap enough to take a punt at. But I find it hard to imagine that they'd beat the all-in-one CORDA ARIA.
Hmmm - more reading to do

[DorKnight]

The CORDA ARIA uses it's own DAC which has had great reviews, just whack it in the PC over USB and off you go and you bypass your soundcard all together.

[tryingtimes]

It sounds better for me - the thought of having 2 power supplies or batteries the other way puts me off.
I've added it to my "wish list" waiting for the next time I have spare cash.

[DorKnight]

I suppose the best bet would be to ask Head-Fi, at least you should get a few peoples opinions and not just me mentioning CORDA Amps in this thread.

[caramelsoul]

The Aria has good reviews. You could also go for the Headroom Micro Stack. I think it retails for $600 which is just slightly over your budget but again has had some good reviews for the price. If its for home use get the desktop module. I have the MicroDAC from the micro stack, but i paired it with the SR-71 amp. But that was more for my portable set up.

[TameRacingDriver]

Not really a helpful comment, but i would like to say that my previous headphones were dt531 and they are brilliant cans for the money. It took a pair of HD650 matched to some pretty serious components to sound better than they did even with modest components.

They can improve nicely with a decent amp too - I recommend something with a bit of warmth and good bass to go with these.

[Holden4th]

Originally Posted by tryingtimes

Hi Holden
I guess they're cheap enough to take a punt at. But I find it hard to imagine that they'd beat the all-in-one CORDA ARIA.
Hmmm - more reading to do

No, they probably won't beat the Cordia Aria (which I've never heard) but have you considered the sound card option I proposed? If the initial amplified source of your sound is inferior it won't really matter what headphone amp you buy. It will just highlight the faults.

[tryingtimes]

The Aria has a DAC in it too - so it just plugs into the USB and does it's thing.
I assumed that this was bypassing the internal soundcard completely. Can someone confirm that this is the case?

[DorKnight]

A soundcard doesn't even come into it when using the USB DAC on the CORDA.

[Reano]

Originally Posted by DorKnight

A soundcard doesn't even come into it when using the USB DAC on the CORDA.

But the Corda wouldn't come into it with a good sound card Remember a lot of musician that record the music you listen to use these cards.

Hey lets develop our own 'UK' experts. Even though I do sneak the odd look at Headfi

[Holden4th]

Looking at the price of the Corda Aria and comparing that to a top sound card I'm not sure that I see any value for money. 350 UK pounds is over $850 Aussie dollars. With that sort of money I'd definitely be getting some new phones first, like the Senn 650s.

Attaching a headphone amp like this to a humble laptop is like installing a 5 figure home theatre system into a Volkswagen Beetle - redundancy personified! With advice like this it's no wonder that the Poms lost the Ashes 5-0. Portable computing obviously requires portable headphone amplification. Listen at home or in the office you'll still need a portable amp.

As I said in my first post to this thread, most of these guys (like Dork Night) haven't the faintest idea what they're talking about. All they seem to be interested in is promoting the latest luxury piece of HiFi gear (which they probably haven't heard) and making themselves look like aficionados in the process. It's elitism and snobbery at it's worst. Paying for a headphone amp which costs more than your laptop sounds like lunacy to me but it's your money.

[Holden4th]

Originally Posted by Reano

But the Corda wouldn't come into it with a good sound card Remember a lot of musician that record the music you listen to use these cards.

Hey lets develop our own 'UK' experts. Even though I do sneak the odd look at Headfi

Hey, with the advice floating around in this thread from some of your regulars a team of experts could be a tall task! They haven't even read the original thread properly.

[GBDG1]

Originally Posted by Holden4th

Looking at the price of the Corda Aria and comparing that to a top sound card I'm not sure that I see any value for money. 350 UK pounds is over $850 Aussie dollars. With that sort of money I'd definitely be getting some new phones first, like the Senn 650s.

Attaching a headphone amp like this to a humble laptop is like installing a 5 figure home theatre system into a Volkswagen Beetle - redundancy personified! With advice like this it's no wonder that the Poms lost the Ashes 5-0. Portable computing obviously requires portable headphone amplification. Listen at home or in the office you'll still need a portable amp.

As I said in my first post to this thread, most of these guys (like Dork Night) haven't the faintest idea what they're talking about. All they seem to be interested in is promoting the latest luxury piece of HiFi gear (which they probably haven't heard) and making themselves look like aficionados in the process. It's elitism and snobbery at it's worst. Paying for a headphone amp which costs more than your laptop sounds like lunacy to me but it's your money.

I understand what you are getting at and sometimes the habit of people to suggest high end kit to everyone does annoy me slightly. However, you seem lack an understanding of how the Aria works.

The Aria takes a digital input (via USB) processes it through its internal DAC and then amplifies it. Therefore it is completly irrelivant what quality the laptop itself is, it's only providing a digital signal!

Futhermore the majority of the cost of an Aria is the amp itself, which is a pretty highly rated.

You can't fit a new sound card to a laptop so you need to look at external solutions. In order to amp headphones and make them sound nice you need either a line out signal (I'm not aware of an external soundcard that has this facility) or you need one with an optical out so you can feed it into a DAC and then to an AMP. So either way you are talking exspensive.

If the OP had a desktop it would obviously be alot easier, as he could just get a better soundcard. However, he was asking about a laptop.

[StevieDvd]

It all depends on what point of view you have. Using a computer as a source can be quite good if you can get a decent digital/analog signal from it without undue interference. Almost the same concept as using a DVD player and an external dac, the DVD player does not have to be that good if it can output a decent digital signal.

So if we were to work the requirements backwards:

• A good set of headphones such as the HD650 shine when amped.

• A decent headphone amp will drive the HD650s better than a cheapo diy one.

• An external dac 'usually' beats the ones on soundcards, especially when dealing with laptops.

In saying all that then we don't need to spend a fortune on a high spec laptop if it's just for playing music!

From previous experience on my computer I was unhappy with the usb as an audio feed and went for an Emu 0404 which gives a decent analog out but also has a great digital/optical output. I had used an M-Audio Transit which was fine but since my PC was a desktop I switched to a pci card.

The usb driven audio situation is improving, you can now find a few headphone amps which take a usb feed or some smart matching units where one does the usb>analog and another does the amping. Have a peek at the Firestone Audio gear.

So the questions that need to be answered are:

Do you want a portable setup?
What sort of quality do you want (and will you hear it)?
Are you likely to use it fixed at home with a hi-fi setup?

For use on the move (commuting for example) a one piece unit taking a usb feed with a headphone socket would probably do.

For 8 hours at a time at home I'd suggest a more up market setup, even if using a humble laptop as a source.

I must update the stickied post at the top of this forum section as I'm still learning and have been through some chages that the UK members here may be interested in.

Unfortunately the wealth of info, source of cheaper equipment and the cause of many a reducing bank balance is over at head-fi. You'll see a few of us here and over there using the same forum names.

I try to stick to equipment I've owned or tried personally when making any recommendations but sometimes I can only point to gear which a consensus of members have recommended. I'm not into budget earphones so that's a grey area for me too!

If you are still unsure about choices give a little more idea of usage and I'm sure we'll get you some answers.

Steve

[doctorjuggles]

Originally Posted by Holden4th

Hey, with the advice floating around in this thread from some of your regulars a team of experts could be a tall task! They haven't even read the original thread properly.

Want to take your own advice here?

Originally Posted by Holden4th

Portable computing obviously requires portable headphone amplification.

He/she listens at home. Works from home. Listens at home. The thread title asks for the "best for computer sound", there is not a single mention of portable anywhere in the post.

Coming in here and shouting your mouth off, as well as aiming thinly veiled insults at an entire nation, isn't going to draw the kind of respect that you might think. If you have a reasonable suggestion, then putting it forward is the best way to do it. Insulting all and sundry just makes you look like you're not worth listening to, irrespective of how good/bad your advice may be.

[tryingtimes]

Hi guys
Please don't turn this into an argument
Holden - as Lawrenzini points out - the Aria would completely bypass the internal sound card, so it's doing the job of external soundcard+amp. £270 doesn't sound that bad for something powering £130 worth of headphones - with then some room for upgrading the headphones.
Anyway - to clarify...

Originally Posted by StevieDvd

Do you want a portable setup?
What sort of quality do you want (and will you hear it)?
Are you likely to use it fixed at home with a hi-fi setup?

Portability isn't important at all - I wont be using headphones when I'm visiting clients.

I'm looking for something which makes listening a total pleasure. My current downstairs hifi is Naim CD5 feeding Nait5 + FlatcapII + HeadlineII - I use the same headphones. I don't really get chance to listen much to that which is why I want to upgrade my office system.

I don't really understand the 3rd question - this will become my primary headphone setup, I may sell the Naim HeadlineII amp to part pay for the upgrade. But I will only be listening to this when I'm working.

Cheers
tt

[DorKnight]

Originally Posted by Holden4th

Looking at the price of the Corda Aria and comparing that to a top sound card I'm not sure that I see any value for money. 350 UK pounds is over $850 Aussie dollars. With that sort of money I'd definitely be getting some new phones first, like the Senn 650s.

Attaching a headphone amp like this to a humble laptop is like installing a 5 figure home theatre system into a Volkswagen Beetle - redundancy personified! With advice like this it's no wonder that the Poms lost the Ashes 5-0. Portable computing obviously requires portable headphone amplification. Listen at home or in the office you'll still need a portable amp.

As I said in my first post to this thread, most of these guys (like Dork Night) haven't the faintest idea what they're talking about. All they seem to be interested in is promoting the latest luxury piece of HiFi gear (which they probably haven't heard) and making themselves look like aficionados in the process. It's elitism and snobbery at it's worst. Paying for a headphone amp which costs more than your laptop sounds like lunacy to me but it's your money.

The CORDA ARIA is £260 Shipped to the UK, it can connect to your PC over USB so it doesn't matter what your kit is (it doesn't even need a soundcard) so long as you have decent quality ripped music unless running from the machines CD/DVD Drive - And it would be stupid to purchased the HD650s before a decent amp IMO unless you're planning on picking one up.

Latest luxury piece of HiFi gear?? Obviously you have no idea what's out there.

How about a maxed out singlepower which should set you back $14k?

I think Holden4th might be right, I haven't the faintest idea what I'm on about. However, for anyone interested, my current setup's below;

Source: iPod 4G 20Gb | Audigy 2 ZS | NAD C 525BEE | Pro-Ject Debut III/Phono SB
Cans: Grado SR80 | Grado SR125 | AKG K 701 | Sennheiser HD 650 with Zu Mobius | Future Sonics EM3
Amps: PA2v2 | NAIM Headline 2 | Zhaolu D2.5 with CS-4398 DA-Chip | CORDA PREHEAD-1 MkII SE

tryingtimes;
It might be worthwhile popping over to Head-Fi.org and also asking there, there's so much knowledge there that you can also get a number of other peoples opinions.

With the amount of listening you do, I still suggest the CORDA ARIA followed by an upgrade of cans.

[tryingtimes]

Nice to see you've got a DS and Wii too

[doctorjuggles]

Originally Posted by DorKnight

With the amount of listening you do, I still suggest the CORDA ARIA followed by an upgrade of cans.

Given your budget, source and listening patterns, I would agree with this too. I must point out that I have never heard the Aria, but the other offerings I've heard from Meier Audio (Porta Corda/Headfive/HA2-MkII SE) there is no doubt his amps are superb, and I'd be very surprised if his DAC doesn't beat out the sub-£100 soundcards on offer.
But given your request, it's hard to see past the Aria at all, plus it will allow you to experiment with other headphones/harder-to-drive headphones in the future if you wish to.

DorKnight, your post reminds me of the 'Post Your Listening Rig' thread on Head-Fi. Might start one up in here.

[GBDG1]

If you already have a headphone amp (Headline) why not just get a DAC?

you could punt for a USB DAC such as something by firestone audio (or the various others on offer) or go for one with an optical input (the buy a USB>optical convertor).

Also, when i was in the market for a Aria (which I later decided against) I placed a wanted ad on headfi and was offered one from a European member with good feedback for around £170-80, so you can save abit of money by buying second hand.

[DorKnight]

Originally Posted by doctorjuggles

DorKnight, your post reminds me of the 'Post Your Listening Rig' thread on Head-Fi. Might start one up in here.

I think it would be interesting if one was created as I like to see what people have, it all interests me throughout the price range - I think I just like to see how people enjoy music.

I created a thread on another UK Forum which I visit, it didn't get too much attention but what attention it attracted seemed to be 80/90% B&O spanning 10 to 15 years (perhaps longer).

[Reano]

Originally Posted by DorKnight

I think it would be interesting if one was created as I like to see what people have, it all interests me throughout the price range - I think I just like to see how people enjoy music.

I created a thread on another UK Forum which I visit, it didn't get too much attention but what attention it attracted seemed to be 80/90% B&O spanning 10 to 15 years (perhaps longer).

By the way excellent response Doctor Juggles. Dorknight I would post my setups no worries if someone starts the thread. You might just get a peek at my Grace m902, RS1, home studio too, hehe