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Headphones Headphone Amplifier and DAC Recommendation, portables, desktops, amps, dac, lai V2

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Kaerna
post Jun 29 2016, 02:13 PM

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QUOTE(jawengka @ Jun 29 2016, 02:05 PM)
Is Jaben still a good place to buy headphones?
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Yes. Most of these specialized store will let you test headphones so that you can make a better judgement on your purchase.
Kaerna
post Jun 29 2016, 02:17 PM

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QUOTE(KEIofD @ Jun 23 2016, 03:31 PM)
Greetings, this is a music lover without golden ears humbly asking for 2 cents from fellow forumer about the audio equipment.

This is my current equipment:
- My rig: Desktop PC with Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Xtremegamer sound card
- Favorite Music Genre: ACG/J-Pop(Goosehouse, Yui...etc), rock/metal(Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Queen, X Japan, Beyond, Eagles...etc), CantoPop(Eason Chan, Hacken Lee...etc), instrumental(Joe Hisaishi, Kitaro, Nobuo Uematsu...)
- Headphone/Speaker: Audio Technica ATH-M30, ATH-AD700X, Edifier R2000T 2.0 bookshelf speaker


I bought the sound card since XP era, it works fine on XP, but troublesome when I upgrade to Windows 7->8.1->10, sometimes hardware is not detected, sometimes I hear pop noise(tried Daniel K's driver, reset default setting, disable replaygain, but no cure), the PCI sound card is still healthy, it should got a lifespan longer than my lifetime, but the new OS is forcing me to upgrade.
 
Future Upgrade: Audio Technica ATH-AD2000X maybe, or Philips Fidelio X2 or Hifiman HE-400S or Fostex T50RP MKIII, I wouldn't know which one I will buy before auditioning
Prefer DAC choice: USB powered, switchable between speaker and headphone, comes with digital output coz I might connect some bigger dac/amp in the future


I always switch between speaker and headphone, coz I cannot wear them all day long (even it's the comfy AD700X), a DAC with output switch is adorable, prefer not to get a device with 2 output working simultaneously, coz I might forget to mute the speaker(had been complained by neighbour about me being noisy at night T^T)
 
I've search through lowyat and lelong for DAC that is available to buy, the Nuprime uDSD and Audinst HUD-Mini seem suit my need, but couldn't make my decision yet coz uDSD lacks 1/4 headphone jack(yes, bigger and harder I prefer devil.gif ) and HUD-Mini's volume knob is ugly(maybe I could replace it?)

I've written too long, I should make it short, so the main question is:

Nuprime uDSD or Audinst HUD-Mini, or if there is any alternative? Budget below RM1000, coz want to invest more in headphone.
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Do consider the Asus Xonar Essence StX. Cost <RM600 new. Of course being a PCI sound card you lose the mobility of a portable DAC. But for me best bang for buck DAC/Headphone amp combo.

edit : Sorry I didn't read the part you prefer USB. But still do consider if you don't have any other choice.

This post has been edited by Kaerna: Jun 29 2016, 02:18 PM
Kaerna
post Jul 9 2016, 06:48 PM

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Wanna ask what is a good portable dac/headphone amp for rm800? I'm currently eyeing the Sony pha 1a and very satisfied when I auditioned it. Just want to know what other options available around that price range.

 

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