Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

mindhead1 said:
Before I had a space for a proper speaker setup my hifi was strictly headphones. IMO a headphone amp or DAC/Amp combo is a worthwhile investment if you are going to invest in a nice set of headphones.

I’ll caveat that by saying that depending on the headphones you get you don’t need crazy amounts of power. For example, the Meze 99 run really well off of an Apple dongle DAC. The Meze 109 Pro can run off it as well, but do benefit from better amplification. Even headphones like the Audeze LCD-X can be run off of modest amplification and sound good. But again they do benefit from good amplification.

Amps in the $100-$200 range from from Schiit, JDS Labs, iFi Audio, Topping, Aune are nice additions to an audio setup.

Even though I now have a dedicated listening space in my house I still keep a headphone setup in the living room that everyone can use.
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yeah, I have a very nice set of wireless for if I want to be somewhere other than the listening area and while not top of the line (none of my stuff is), the headphone amp and dac on my NAD 3050 are certainly nicer than anything I've had in that space previously. I might upgrade my headphones after a few more pieces are in place. Priority is a CD player/transport which should happen in the next two months.
 
Okay, question, when I get the cd player/transport....

Is it okay to stack it on the amp? I see lots of manufacturer pictures with the cd player on the amp. I thought if you were gonna stack, you wanted it on the bottom?

If stacking on top is a bad idea and I suspect it is... does it matter how long the interconnects are... like if I run rca vs optical vs coax?
 
Jbraswell said:
Yeah our two integrated amp connections do the opposite with external amp plug in.
The Denon converts to a power amp (Input) and your 3050 converts to a preamp (Output).
Glad I'm not into headphones because this is a pain in the ass.
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I’m not into headphones by choice but by necessity. Many times the only way I can listen to music at home these days is with headphones on…especially at night. my home office is next to my 1 year old's room so can't listen through speakers at night. and my main set up can't be properly blasted at night when he's asleep. the audiolab has a pretty solid headphone amp built in that it switches over to when headphones are plugged in. The headphones output on the NAD316BEE is nothing to write home about. I can listen to streaming through the Singxer DAC headphone output but not vinyl.

Angsty said:
Sounds like the Meze 99 is the one for me. I won’t invest in a headphone amp (anytime soon!) and I’d need a closed-back that sounds good from the quarter-inch plug on my Bryston preamp.
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I have the massdrop meze noirs and quite like them:
drop.com

Massdrop x Meze 99 Noir Closed-Back Headphones | Audiophile Headphones | Drop

A fixture on InnerFidelity’s Wall of Fame, PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice section, and award lists around the world, the 99 Classics get new look in the 99 Noir.
drop.com drop.com

I think the main difference with the drop ones are a little shorter cord and different color.
 
Lee Newman said:
Okay, question, when I get the cd player/transport....

Is it okay to stack it on the amp? I see lots of manufacturer pictures with the cd player on the amp. I thought if you were gonna stack, you wanted it on the bottom?

If stacking on top is a bad idea and I suspect it is... does it matter how long the interconnects are... like if I run rca vs optical vs coax?
Click to expand...
Depends on your amp I guess. I generally would not put anything on top of my amp for heat reasons. IMO the CD player should go under the amp.

My rule for audio stacks is amp on top.
 
mindhead1 said:
Depends on your amp I guess. I generally would not put anything on top of my amp for heat reasons. IMO the CD player should go under the amp.

My rule for audio stacks is amp on top.
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yeah, that doesn't really seem to be an option, so ontop of the kallax it goes... so how long is okay for cables to equipment?
 
Lee Newman said:
yeah, that doesn't really seem to be an option, so ontop of the kallax it goes... so how long is okay for cables to equipment?
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I modded my Kallax, the 8 box version, by removing the center wall. It created a big enough space to house full size components. My Cambridge Audio stack (CXA81/CXNv2) lived in there for years. The space is now filled with a Willsenton R8 tube amp.
 
Lee Newman said:
Okay, question, when I get the cd player/transport....

Is it okay to stack it on the amp? I see lots of manufacturer pictures with the cd player on the amp. I thought if you were gonna stack, you wanted it on the bottom?

If stacking on top is a bad idea and I suspect it is... does it matter how long the interconnects are... like if I run rca vs optical vs coax?
Click to expand...

Depends on the amp but generally it’s a bad idea to stack anything on top of an amp, or to give it too little headroom above, because they cool by convection to they need to be able to vent hot air out the top.

RCA should be fine up to 1.5m approx. Optical similar. I think you can run coax a little longer.
 
mindhead1 said:
I modded my Kallax, the 8 box version, by removing the center wall. It created a big enough space to house full size components. My Cambridge Audio stack (CXA81/CXNv2) lived in there for years. The space is now filled with a Willsenton R8 tube amp.
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I'd probably mod a 4x4 but the 5x5 are a beast and I ain't about ready to knock out any support.
 
mindhead1 said:
I modded my Kallax, the 8 box version, by removing the center wall. It created a big enough space to house full size components. My Cambridge Audio stack (CXA81/CXNv2) lived in there for years. The space is now filled with a Willsenton R8 tube amp.
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I wish I had gotten some more of the Swedish house mafia collab from ikea…they had a modded kallax with shelving for components and a bunch of other stuff that ended up being quite good.

1706581677785.jpeg
 
Joe Mac said:
Depends on the amp but generally it’s a bad idea to stack anything on top of an amp, or to give it too little headroom above, because they cool by convection to they need to be able to vent hot air out the top.

RCA should be fine up to 1.5m approx. Optical similar. I think you can run coax a little longer.
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yikes... I guess I really am gonna go jbl or leak then... I was looking at an open box marantz cd60 but I think running it into the NAD's dac would be a step backwards....
 
Lee Newman said:
yikes... I guess I really am gonna go jbl or leak then... I was looking at an open box marantz cd60 but I think running it into the NAD's dac would be a step backwards....
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You might get away with a bit longer on the RCA than that it’s a higher level signal than a phono stage but it’s generally not a cable type that I’d want to be covering longer distances with.
 
Joe Mac said:
You might get away with a bit longer on the RCA than that it’s a higher level signal than a phono stage but it’s generally not a cable type that I’d want to be covering longer distances with.
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I might still go with the marantz... who knows what I will do in the future... we'll see what's available when it's time to pull the trigger.
 
Lee Newman said:
I might still go with the marantz... who knows what I will do in the future... we'll see what's available when it's time to pull the trigger.
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I think the cd60 is replacing the old p6000 ones looking at its price so it is likely a flip of a coin between its DAC and the NADs one. Which you prefer is likely going to be down to preference as a opposed to one being miles clear of the other.
 
you know another idea... these turntable shelfs... do they actually do any supension stuff or is it all in the brace to the wall. Like if I mounted the butcher block to the wall, would that isolate the table from floor bounciness?

I could get the Nad out of the cabinet and on top, the marantz could go in that hole and the table on a shelf above the stand...
 
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