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 #2Mac 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
Pfenning
Paramour 1's with c4s and iron upgrade, Foreplay II, Seduction with c4s, Crack (stock) and Foreplay III (waiting to be built), DIY turntable with Rega RB250 arm with Incognito wiring, Oppo DVD, Pi Stage 4's and DIY subs