Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
As a starting point for both desktop and mobile use the Creative e5 dac/amp can drive your HP’s plenty good and punches above it’s price here on MD. You may find it even cheaper second hand:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/creative-sound-blaster-e5-usb-dac-amp-combo
Zeos from Zreviews has a comprehensive list of options and reviews. Some portable dac/amp combo’s are also suitable for desktop use: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/66xylk/guide_dac_amp_combo_units/
If you go for a desktop solution: the modi 2/magni 3 Schiit stack is very highly rated at the price. Above that there’s the audio GD NFB 11 or R2R 11 which Z almost worships (audioGoD he calls them). But these may be a little overkill for the 58x and M50x.
Lol, Hi Rachel!
Sonically, the E5 is more crunchy and grainy, while the the GET doesn’t seem to struggle as much and has a rounder, less digital, smoother sound. GET has better synergy with the HD 58X Jubilee too. The GET is like a smoother whiskey ;) I actually haven’t done an A/B till right this moment. Now, the E5 has DSP options and more types of inputs, and a gamer would easily prefer the E5... but on the go, and for music, I would way prefer the GET. The E3 sounds... about as good as straight from my old iPhone, that still had a headphone jack?
http://www.head-fi.org/t/646786/evshrugs-if-i-knew-then-what-i-know-now-discussion-journal/360#post_12468585
Maybe keep the iFi DACs in mind for later, but for now Wolfie13 is pretty well covered with the LCX plus SDAC, and the GET is meanwhile complimentary as a small but capable Bluetooth/DAC/Amp. I mean, I’ve got some great stuff at home that I use there, expensive too, but on the go the GET is more convenient than my iPhone 8+’s included dongle and sounds better than my other Bluetooth receivers.
Thanks for the cat compliment, she just joined our family in December and I‘ve never had a cat before. She’s single-handedly (single-pawed?) trying to make me a cat person, very affectionate, and always curious to see what oddball thing I’m doing ;)
One advantage of separate components is you can mix and match. Say you like the Modi, but you get a great offer on another amp that people say has great synergy with an HD 58X Jubilee. With separates, you can upgrade parts as you go. The enclosures of each unit also almost guarantee good shielding between digital and analog components. Lastly, a stack of stuff sometimes looks impressive >_<
With all-in-one units, you have less mess and you sidestep the interconnect cable debate. You get a direct connection between the DAC and Amp and therefore minimal signal degradation.
Now, specifically with the Schiit Audio - only components you were looking at, the Modi 2 is a better DAC than the DAC part of the Fulla 2, and the Magni 3 is a better amp than the amp section in the Fulla 2. The Fulla does allow it to be used with an external DAC or Amp later, so it’s not a bad starting point either. So, basically, choose between price and size of the Fulla 2, vs the upgraded capabilities of the next-step-up M & M stack.
That said... it’s like a perky young HD 650. Compared to the HD 650 (HD 6XX), the HD 58X Jubilee has a more modern tuning, with a crisper impact and more sparkle on the treble end of things, while retaining that famous liquid midrange. Bjork’s “Frosti“ track, in fact the whole Vespertine album, shows off some of th HD 58X Jubilee’s best strengths. Quality-wise, it’s a side step from the more rounded HD 650, a contrast of sunny and fresh versus easygoing and beguiling. Both are rather charming ;)
The volume setting doesn’t need to be turned that much lower than it would for an HD 650, but it is clear (especially on weaker amps/sources) that the HD 58X is more efficient and scales up sooner... meaning that you don’t need as powerful of an amp before you’re starting to hear the HD 58X’s potential in soundstage and depth. Sometimes, I just want a simpler setup or I’m limited by what source I can use – for example, I’d rather use the HD 58X Jubilee with my gaming surround DSP than the HD 650. Now, overall, I got to demo the HD 660 S and I’d like that over either of the others, but I’m not there yet. The HD 58X Jubilee is like an HD 660 S lite.
One--I've ordered a Bravo V2 to dip my toe in tubes (I know better than to expect anything spectacular from such an entry level product, but I figured it would be a safe entry into tubes for the price). I feel pretty confident the 6XX will sound reasonably good with the Bravo (it's actually one of the reasons I got the 6XX in the most recent drop). Should I expect similar performance from the 58X (not same sonic signature, but same "plays well"?)?
Two--I am also interested in a decent set of headphones for late night movie watching when firing up the whole "home cinema" proves problematic. Would you consider the "livelier" 58X or the lower bass extension 6XX the better of the two for movies?
(again, just looking for some observations--I know my own ears will be the final arbiter)
Thanks.
If you don’t want to try upgrading the capacitors and resistors yourself, Garage1215 makes some great already upgraded tube amps like the Sunrise, Solstice, Amber, and Starlight.
DON‘T TOUCH the tubes while the amp is plugged in and running! If the tube breaks and you make contact with some of the high voltage inside...
If you want someone to professionally EQ a headphone for you, a company called Sonarworks has software for sale that contains matched EQ profiles for particular headphones to EQ towards their neutral or studio target. If you want to learn what noises match a particular frequency, and EQ yourself with some assistance, I find the Sennheiser CapTune app is pretty cool (and free).
CapTune lets you play music from inside your smartphone/connected DAP as well as integration with TIDAL (you have to have an account and be signed in), and shows a live graph of how much amplitude is playing at that moment at each frequency. Then, there is a Parabolic EQ for those frequencies, and a nifty “Do you prefer EQ A or B?” tool that collects your preferences from several A/B comparisons and then makes a custom EQ for you based on your answers. It can also save different EQ profiles for different headphones.