Crack with Sennheiser HD650, and questions about a budget DAC

[Pfenning]

Christmas was great to me this year. I snagged a pair of 650's off Amazon for an unbelievable price, so I wrapped them up and put them under the tree for myself. My wife was nice enough to get me those monster Clarity caps to upgrade from the stock caps in my crack. I haven't installed them yet, but it will happen soon, once I figure out how to mount them . I love the 650's. I tried several other usual suspects trying to save a few dollars, but didn't keep any of them. I guess I'm a Sennheiser lover, because within about 30 seconds, I knew I was keeping them. My Crack with speedball sounds amazing.

So I'm currently listening to my Crack/650 combo quite a bit, and I start thinking about all the posts about DAC's on here. I had a couple different DAC's in the 90's (Alchemy and California Audio Labs) that I sold off as my system shrank down, due to 2 baby/toddlers in the house. These were fed by a California audio transport. I started reading all these threads about DAC's and music servers and software, and I'm confused. I would like to stick my toe into the world of high definition digital audio. Can you fill in the signal path for me?

Set up #1
iPhone 5S to DAC to Crack to 650's - Is it even possible to improve the sound of compressed files on my iPhone 5S or the feed from Pandora? Is there other pieces of gear needed to complete this chain?


Set up #2
Mac book Pro (or Mac mini) to DAC to Foreplay 3 to Paramour to Pi stage 4's - Can I use the same DAC in this setup, as setup #1? Am I missing anything in this chain? Do I need special software for my Mac to feed the DAC? The thought of ripping my entire CD collection to another computer is not exciting me, and I'm guessing if I rip them uncompressed the amount of storage they will take will be huge.


Can you guys recommend a DAC that's a big performer for less that $300? How about less than $200? Can that DAC cover set up #1 and #2? How do these high resolution downloads from places like HDTracks fit into the scheme of things? Thanks for the help.

Pfenning

[Paul Birkeland]

I'm not so sure that you need a DAC on your iPhone to convert compressed files.  I think your idea to focus on the home system is a solid one.

-PB

[JamieMcC]

Air Play would be an easy solution if your running  Itunes enabled devices

The easiest way to get music from an apple iTunes device to your amplification imo would be to go for an Airplay enabled device such as Apple TV or a network player that is Airplay enabled and has a stand alone dac function.

Take a look at the Appletv  device.

You could really use any dac which has a matching input to the Apple tv

[Deluk]

A USB DAC like the HRT Microstreamer or Audioengine D3 is an easy add on to either your 5S or MacBook. Any DAC really needs lossless files such as Apple lossless or FLAC to get the best out of them. You should be able to hear an improvement with either of these using your 650's so take them along with your phone and laptop to your nearest seller and give them a try. There are other similar USB DAC's like the Dragonfly and the Meridian Explorer within your budget. Best, they are all small enough to slip in your pocket for travelling.

[Mike V.]

I own the Cabridge Audio MagicDac 100 and I think its great option!

[DenverDude]

I'm late to the party here, but I just finished building my Crack and have it hooked up to my Wyred4Sound uDAC-HD and the pair sounds fantastic. Wyred4Sound makes excellent yet moderately priced DACs (great paring with a Crack, right?). I picked mine up used on eBay for $400, so keep your eye out for one. The pairing is worth hearing. Oh, and I'm listening through Senn HD600s.

[Snarii]

Hi,
My crack is just ordered. It will sit between my HD650 and my iFi iDSD nano DAC. At less than $200, this battery powered single-ended RCA+TRS output DAC is really an excellent option. Take a look at their site.

[SammyJ]

For a cheap DIY solution that sounds great, check out the discussion in this thread:

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,5502.0.html