New here, looking for advice for first setup, budget $2000~

[Rollaven]

I have a nice pair of Elears for you to spend your budget on:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/fs-focal-elear.7491/

The 1200$ will do just fine As well as a Topping D30 headphone amp this one you'll get for free when buying the Elears.

 

[Mr. Olinad]

I've seen many good things about the Atom! Unfortunately the Topping is completely sold out and also quite difficult to get a hold of in Sweden. We are, sad to say, not very prioritized by Topping, Massdrop and others, even JDS Labs but they at least have the choice on their website to get a EU adapter.

I think the Focal Clear is available for me to try out, which would be amazing. Would they be a good match for Kpop and Trance also? Will see if the HE500 is available to listen to as well!

Regarding the LCD, I thought the darkness in them would kind of balance them out in regards to high treble in many Kpop female songs, making it a more relaxed listening experience. But this might not be what you have found out?

Is it hard to get products from China in Sweden?
Mine came to Brazil from Shenzen Audio.
They are only 199.00 right now and shipping is free.
https://www.shenzhenaudio.com/toppi...8-dsd512-usb-32bit-768khz-dsd512-decoder.html

I had not much time to try the Clear but I'm impressed until today... I think it's a kind of all rounder.
And I tested it on an ifi nano iDsd... just can't imagine how it sounds in even better dac/amps.
If you can try it before you buy anything, just do it.

About LCD, I don't really know how does it play with Kpop but the same way I think you should try the Clear before as I think you will buy it, I think you should try LCD for the oposite reason.

 

[Tanax]

Available in EU as well: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...plifier-bluetooth-apt-x-hd-black-p-13453.html

Thanks! I saw that before but have never heard of that store before Would prefer to find a Swedish store as that would allow me to return the product within 14-days (even if I have opened and tried it) which is very nice as I would not be able to try these before buying it :/

I don't have a Mac so I'm not sure, but IIUC the options are a little more limited.

For Windows, probably the easiest free way to do it is with Equalizer APO. It has its own in inbuilt EQ, but probably the better approach would be to generate an EQ curve with RePhase (also free) and then plug it into Equalizer APO as a *.txt file.



The products people are recommending here are mostly endgame products, in the sense that their levels of noise and distortion are so low that they are almost certainly inaudible. The only reason to change in future would be in the case of something breaking, or an older format (e.g. USB or PCM, which seem to be here to stay for the foreseeable future) becoming obsolete.

I found these for Mac:
https://www.globaldelight.com/boom/index.php
https://bitgapp.com/eqmac/

I'm very clueless when it comes to EQ software, do they seem fine?
Thanks for the link to a Windows version!

That's true, I'm of course just being very picky - I'd rather get it very right my first time to avoid having to switch and change gear too quick

Sorry, I’ve not tried the HE’s

One thing I think everyone should try are the HD800’s. Even in-store with all the noise, they sat so well on my head, I feel as if the sound was better just on that alone(obviously it’s not, but comfort played a massive role coming from the LCD). This thing costs an arm and a leg at retail, so I’d avoid that, but in terms of performance, they are some of the least distorting headphones, so they’re good for all genres I would hazard to say. Sure there is a spike in the treble region that can be EQ’d if you’re not hyper sensitive(or gone if you have the HD800S), and as a dynamic you will notice a slight subdued sub-bass (compared to good planets from LCD for instance).

But tbh if you’re seeking thump, the HD6XX even have it. And with EQ, they have it in abundance with a proper AMP.

I haven’t critically listened to many headphones in a dead silent room to say for certain (with some personalized subjective qualification on how much “bass” a headphone could lack when driven to their limits), but I feel we are in a time where many headphones these days would qualify as end-games a decade ago. You really can’t go wrong in terms of sound quality much today, but perhaps sound signature you can have something you might not prefer (again, we thankfully have EQ).

As for software Equalizer APO (with Peace GUI if you need it) is the defacto on Windows I would say. And as for Mac, I haven’t the slightest clue >_< I should look it up.

I was advised against the Sennheiser HD800 earlier as they are "too analytical" for Trance and Kpop which are in general poorly mastered. Spike in treble region and subdued sub-bass does not sound too good either for my genres as they are very treble heavy and very bass heavy. Do you still think I should try and find a pair to try?

The HD6XX are only sold by Drop, right? Return policy from Sweden would be a bit tricky, but on the other hand they are not too expensive so might be worth just a chance!

That is true! I wouldn't want to be dependant on EQ though to be able to listen with my headphones, haha

Regarding EQ, please see my response above with some Mac alternatives I found!

I have a nice pair of Elears for you to spend your budget on:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/fs-focal-elear.7491/

The 1200$ will do just fine As well as a Topping D30 headphone amp this one you'll get for free when buying the Elears.

Thanks for the link, will check out and investigate if Elears are for me!

Is it hard to get products from China in Sweden?
Mine came to Brazil from Shenzen Audio.
They are only 199.00 right now and shipping is free.
https://www.shenzhenaudio.com/toppi...8-dsd512-usb-32bit-768khz-dsd512-decoder.html

I had not much time to try the Clear but I'm impressed until today... I think it's a kind of all rounder.
And I tested it on an ifi nano iDsd... just can't imagine how it sounds in even better dac/amps.
If you can try it before you buy anything, just do it.

About LCD, I don't really know how does it play with Kpop but the same way I think you should try the Clear before as I think you will buy it, I think you should try LCD for the oposite reason.

Not really, just that it's very difficult to return if I would need to. And if anything would be broken or need warranty, it's a hassle (and possibly quite expensive) to send it back for repair. On top of that, I won't have the 14-day return policy to try the product.

I can try very little here in Sweden, unfortunately, but at least if I get it from a Swedish store, I can try it for 14 days and return it if I don't like it

Will definitely try to demo the Clear - although they are a bit more expensive so not sure if my budget will allow that. Will try to demo them nontheless!



Currently I've only found the Clears available for testing out of the ones we've talked about in this thread. Will look around more!
And out of the amps, I've only found Pro-Ject available for demo so far!

 

[andreasmaaan]

Thanks! I saw that before but have never heard of that store before Would prefer to find a Swedish store as that would allow me to return the product within 14-days (even if I have opened and tried it) which is very nice as I would not be able to try these before buying it :/

I'm in Germany and have ordered from Audiophonics France and then returned within 14 days for a full refund, if that helps? The same rules should apply all across the EU.

 

[mi-fu]

I like simple stuffs.

For the budge of $2000, I would buy RME ADI-2 DAC and Focal Clear (you need to wait for discount for it) or Focal Elex on massdrop, then call it a day

 

[LTig]

Good to know! I hadn't even thought about EQ. Is software as good as hardware EQ?

It's actually much better than analogue hardware EQ. Digital hardware EQ is software EQ.

[ADI-2 DAC]
Looks like a nice amp/DAC combo! Quite expensive though. Would you say that the amp/DAC is better to spend the majority of the budget on rather than spending the majority on the actual headphones?

You should invest the money if you want to use its special features: EQ, loudness, crossfeed.

Any suggestions for headphones in that price range?

I can recommend Sennheiser (HD600, HD800) and Beyer Dynamic (DT 990 pro, not neutral but forgiving with bad recordings).

[..]
Yes, I'm familiar with the bad mastering - although it has become a lot better in recent years!

Then have a look the DT 990 pro or its newer siblings. The 990 somehow hides nasty treble without sounding dull, at least for my aging ears.

Klipsch HP-3 looks amazing! According to reviews, it has a punchy bass, somewhat scooped mids and "sparkly" treble. Won't the sparkly treble be troublesome with high female vocals in Kpop?

I don't know the Klipschs, but I have heard Beats and their over hyped bass is horrible.

 

[Tanax]

Thank you for all the great suggestions here! And sorry for the slow reply.
I actually ordered the Klisch HP-3 + their Head Amp+DAC.

I got a great combo price on it with almost $400 off the regular price from a Swedish retailer. Plus I have 14 days return policy. I have no doubt they will be great, question is if their sound signature matches me so it's nice to have those 14 days!

Will arrive next week hopefully!

I got this color:

 

[bunkbail]

Thank you for all the great suggestions here! And sorry for the slow reply.
I actually ordered the Klisch HP-3 + their Head Amp+DAC.

I got a great combo price on it with almost $400 off the regular price from a Swedish retailer. Plus I have 14 days return policy. I have no doubt they will be great, question is if their sound signature matches me so it's nice to have those 14 days!

Will arrive next week hopefully!

I got this color:

Nice! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

 

[westyjeff]

I like simple stuffs.

For the budge of $2000, I would buy RME ADI-2 DAC and Focal Clear (you need to wait for discount for it) or Focal Elex on massdrop, then call it a day

This is the best advise on here, I have and use this combination almost daily, I have the Elex. I have many other headphones but if I could start from scratch this would do it just fine. Save you money for other things.

 

[dmac6419]

Hi!

New to the forum. I've been lurking around for a while before creating an account so I'm not completely new here but still
I'm looking for advice on getting my first setup.

My budget is around equivalent of $1200 for headphones and around $800 on amp and dac. If this balance is incorrect, please let me know!

I mainly listen to three genres, Trance (lots of female vocal), Kpop (again lots of very high female vocal) and progressive metal (stuff like Dream Theater and similar which on the flip side can be lots of dark vocals and growls).

After reading and searching a bit, I think the Audeze LCD-2F could be a really good match for me.
Obviously I'd have to go test them myself but basically I'm looking for advice on if you agree that LCDs could be a good match for me? And also what other headphones might be worth testing that maybe I haven't thought of that could be a good match for me, given what I listen to?

Regarding head amp and DAC, I've read that the Massdrop (now called only Drop) THX is supposed to be very good - but that isn't available right now. So I'm now instead looking at JDS Labs EL stack which should have enough power to drive the LCDs, be very neutral and look good - yes, I'm a bit shameful admitting that looks also matter somewhat It's still fairly expensive to get them to Sweden - so if you have other suggestions, I'm all ears!

I'm thinking that a neutral amp and DAC could be good when starting out so that I can get a reference point and then get other amps and DACs as I find out what types of sounds I want to accentuate.

Thank you in advance

Topping DX3 Pro, Audio-Technica's ATH-M50 or Hifiman 400i or the Senny HD650 ,That's about $350 us bucks.