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GUTB
238
Nov 21, 2016
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There are no headphones at that price point you could consider to be "audiophile" grade. You might as well pick up a Superlux, save some money and call it a day.
Audiophile grade headphones start, at a bare minimum around $200 for a few old AKGs that are widely considered to be mid-fi. Decent mid-fi starts at around $300. I personally don't consdier anything less than hi-fi (approx 900 and up) to be "audiophile" , but mid-fi headphones will at least get you a very large improvement.
Consider what you want to achieve out of this hobby. If you don't place a great deal of value on your headphone listening, just get some mid-fi headphone, some decent amp/dac combo unit and enjoy. If you want to go for audio bliss (ie, be an audiophile), you will have ot adjust your budget priorities. For example, I'm about 5k in and still hunting for upgrades. Any serious audiophile will tell you to skip the mid-fi step altogether and hit hi-fi right from the starting line.
For a starting audiophile I would recommend the following:
Source: Schiit Wyrd (USB isolator, required for any PC source using USB) - $100
DAC: Gustard X20U (balanced Sabre DAC, exceptional value, easily modded improvements, big upgrade path for I2S) - $800
Amp: Schiit Jotunheim (new product, balanced, which I tested back-to-back with my $1,700 Ragnarok and it was only a little inferior, mainly not as three-dimensional) - $400
Headphones: HiFiMAN HE-6 (one of the best headphones period, amazing value, extremely power hungry) - $1000.
Cables: The amount of benefit depends on the quality of your power. There's a number of high-value manufacturers, but I really like the value and performance of Audio Sensibility out of Canada.
So minus cables, this system represents a very strong start into hi-fi headphone listening. The HE-6 are end-game quality and can be tapped off of speaker amps. I auditioned the Jotunheim and its value is real. The Gustard is going to destroy anything around it's price point, the next upgrade is around 2.5-3k point, and it offers I2S with 4xDSD support which is an a large improvement by itself.
Nov 21, 2016
Baner
66
Nov 24, 2016
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GUTBHave you compared the use of the Schiit Jotunheim with balanced and unbalanced cables? If so do you notice much of a difference between the single ended and balanced outputs?
Nov 24, 2016
GUTB
238
Nov 24, 2016
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BanerI have, out of the Gustard which is a balanced DAC. Using both my HE-6 and TH900 I could tell no difference between balanced and SE inputs.
Nov 24, 2016
Baner
66
Nov 24, 2016
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GUTBInteresting. Thanks for your response.
Nov 24, 2016
FuckHead-Fi
424
Nov 25, 2016
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GUTBThe point of diminishing returns for headphones is about $300 (high fidelity).
The same is true for DAC/amps.
At this price the OP should just buy a pair of HD 5XX's and they will be good enough.
Nov 25, 2016
GUTB
238
Nov 25, 2016
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FuckHead-Fi$300 is roughly the starting point for mid-fi. Mid-fi will produce a very large improvement over lo-fi headphones by itself without any need of any amps or DACs. If someone doesn't care about audio that much and just wants a clear upgrade from mass consumer junk, than I would agree some mid-fi headphones would be just fine. That person should just be aware that a mid-fi headphone is nowhere NEAR the summit of headphone audio quality.
Most people, including most Internet "audiophiles" have never heard hi-fi audio even once in their lives so it's hard for them to understand the gulf between lo-, mid- and hi-fi audio.
Nov 25, 2016
FuckHead-Fi
424
Nov 25, 2016
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GUTBYour ignorance is amusing. $300 headphones are high fidelity.
Nov 25, 2016
GUTB
238
Nov 25, 2016
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FuckHead-FiThey are higher fidelity compared to low end headphones. We call them mid-fi because they are greatly superior to lo-fi but still significantly inferior to the top end which we call hi-fi.
Nov 25, 2016
bafben10
0
Aug 19, 2019
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GUTBHow in the world are $1000 headphones entry-level?
Aug 19, 2019
GUTB
238
Aug 19, 2019
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bafben10Entry-level for hi-fi headphones. Although today the entry level price point is lower, maybe around $800.
Aug 19, 2019
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