Improving Headphone Sound

Excellent advice Sugarbrie. I would advise heading over to Head-Fi.com, regerstring and posting there this same OP!

I know many of my fellow Headfiers match the DAC1 to many different types of head amps then driving the HD-650s sucessfully. The DAC1 is a fairly aggressive source which does mate well with the warm 650s , although the DAC1s headphone jack is usually found to be only fair and is easily bettered by many popular mid level headamps. One of the better headamps, which I own is the Meier Audio Corda Opera, with crossfeed, which also is offered without its DAC section sold as the Opera Analogue @ $700. Highly recommended! The Blue circle is heard to be a notch better @ about 35% higher $.$$ invested...

Good luck and happy listening~

by the way, how much are you prepared to spend? I can answer your question better if i knew. i've been down your road with the benchmark..seriously. i haven't even mentioned half the options i explored. For me, anything over $3k is a waste on headphones. I was prepared to buy the sennheiser HE90 and singlepower es-1 fully modded (total of around $12k used) until I heard it. NO WAY. The Stax Omega rig for $3k was in some ways better and the HE90/ES-1 was in no way worth the extra money.

BTW, Steerpike... buying used over on the Head-Fi ForSale subforum is a great way to audition headamp prospects, with depretiation already taken off the price and turning it over again if not satisfied, with S&P.P. being the low cost loss.

Also, do research there for "Iron_dreamer"'s review of the Benchmark DAC1 vs. Meier Corda Opera , Stello & other competitive DAC/Headamps...I'm sure you would find that useful reading...

Regards,

Thanks everyone for your very helpful responses. I have now registered at Head-Fi and am beginning to discover how little I really know about Headphone listening. Thanks Finthen for the heads-up about "Iron_Dreamer"'s review(s), they'll take some time to digest but initially are truly impressive & valuable.

Kublakhan, I'm not sure what "She Who Must Be Obeyed" has decided that my budget will be, but would guess in the $2,500-$3,500 range.

Again, thanks everyone and I'm off to do my homework.

Regards,

Bob

Is She Who Must Be Obeyed possibly going to be listening with you? In that case you should keep an eye out for amps with two jacks...although even with an external headphone amp connected to your DAC1 you can listen from the DAC1 and from the headphone amp at the same time (which, btw, is a great way to decide whether the amp is better than your dac1 jacks.)

If you budget is that high I can recommend w/o hesitation the Stax Omega II system for around $3k new. Very satisfying for audiophiles relegated to cans.