Need Advice building first (affordable) rig...

[indiefan]

Hi, I'm new. I'm looking into incrementally putting together an affordable setup and was hoping to get some advice from you guys on what I should get and in what order.

Background: I listen to mostly indie rock and jazz off of a macbook (external hard drive). I just recently got a pair of sr225s and i'd like to put them to a little better use. My next purchase will be in the $300-$400 range and then it'll be about month or so between purchases, so I'd like to buy things in an order that will make the most difference. I know it's not a lot of money (and i don't have the greatest cans in the world) but you gotta start somewhere.

Thanks in advance for the help...

[grawk]

Hi, I'm new. I'm looking into incrementally putting together an affordable setup and was hoping to get some advice from you guys on what I should get and in what order.

Background: I listen to mostly indie rock and jazz off of a macbook (external hard drive). I just recently got a pair of sr225s and i'd like to put them to a little better use. My next purchase will be in the $300-$400 range and then it'll be about month or so between purchases, so I'd like to buy things in an order that will make the most difference. I know it's not a lot of money (and i don't have the greatest cans in the world) but you gotta start somewhere.

Thanks in advance for the help...

If you could stretch your budget to $500, headamp's pico is a great little piece, dac and amp.

Otherwise, I really like the way my m3 sounds with my 225s, and you should be able to find an m3 for $250ish, and then have $150ish to spend on a decent external soundcard.

[n_maher]

Before making any strong recommendations I'd like to know what your current source is and if you're saying that you're planning to make a couple of purchases spread out over a few months. If it is only going to be a month or so between ~$400 purchases it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference what order you buy things in and I'd rather treat it like you've got a budget of ~$800.

And that's not to say that Grawk's advice is bad, quite the contrary, that would make a hell of a budget rig.

[grawk]

Before making any strong recommendations I'd like to know what your current source is and if you're saying that you're planning to make a couple of purchases spread out over a few months. If it is only going to be a month or so between ~$400 purchases it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference what order you buy things in and I'd rather treat it like you've got a budget of ~$800.

And that's not to say that Grawk's advice is bad, quite the contrary, that would make a hell of a budget rig.

Yup, it's early, and I missed the part about it being the first of several purchases.

[PFKMan23]

I think knowing what your source is fairly important. That said, if you've got a computer as source, IMO save up for however many months and just get that.

[Dusty Chalk]

Also, what is important to you, and what are you looking for, prat, smoothness, headstage, bass?

[indiefan]

Before making any strong recommendations I'd like to know what your current source is and if you're saying that you're planning to make a couple of purchases spread out over a few months. If it is only going to be a month or so between ~$400 purchases it probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference what order you buy things in and I'd rather treat it like you've got a budget of ~$800.

And that's not to say that Grawk's advice is bad, quite the contrary, that would make a hell of a budget rig.

thanks for the reply. The important stuff is lossless (flac, some apple lossless), a lot of stuff is VBR (i didn't really know any better...). It's being driven from my macbook as i said (from an external drive). If it's worthwhile to start with a decent cd player, let me know. I have ~$400 left to spend right now, then i could probably save/spend ~$200 a month towards it after that.

I think knowing what your source is fairly important. That said, if you've got a computer as source, IMO save up for however many months and just get that.

What do you mean by "that", the pico?

Also, what is important to you, and what are you looking for, prat, smoothness, headstage, bass?

Sorry, i don't really know what "prat" means. Smoothness would be nice for the jazz, headstage would be great (but i realize the sr225s are limited when it comes to that) and i'm not obsessive about bass. I do care about vocals a lot if that matters.

[Salt Peanuts]

Sorry, i don't really know what "prat" means.

PRaT = Pace, Rhythm, and Timing.

[indiefan]

PRaT = Pace, Rhythm, and Timing.

Ah, thanks. Yeah, Pace, Rhythm, and timing would also be important.

I thought about going with the gilmore lite and an external sound card until i can afford a decent DAC. That way i could spend $350 on the amp, maybe pull together like $100 for the sound card and then if i wanted to upgrade to the dedicated power supply on the amp, that would be available. And when i did eventually save enough for a good DAC, I wouldn't necessary have to upgrade the amp right away.

But i don't know if that logic makes any sense, plus i don't know enough about the equipment, like does the gilmore pair well with grados? What are some decent external sound cards and how much do they generally run? Will i hear more of a difference if i just start by getting a decent cd player? I'm not crazy about that option because a lot of my music i don't even know where the original discs are to begin with.

The pico looks great as far as having a dac and an amp in one, but if i want to upgrade from there i'm basically left where i am now and that worries me a little.

[Elephas]

The pico looks great as far as having a dac and an amp in one, but if i want to upgrade from there i'm basically left where i am now and that worries me a little.

You can always sell the Pico, or anything else, in order to fund upgrades. That's the good thing about audio gear in general, there's usually a resale value and they are not too difficult to sell.

I think an external DAC + a modest amp would do nicely with a Macbook. I also have a Macbook that I've used with various DACs, utilizing both USB and optical.

However, an external DAC + amp around the US$500 range might not necessarily be better than the Pico with DAC, and would definitely not be as compact and portable. I expect to receive my Pico with DAC sometime next week.

[Dusty Chalk]

Well...don't just say "that would be nice" to everything, that doesn't tell me anything. What is it you are trying to accomplish? Some of those are mutually exclusive. I mean, yes, it is perfectly legitimate to say, "I want a well-balanced rig that doesn't offend too offensively in any one direction, without excelling in any, either", I just want to make sure that's what you're saying.

For example, I am not a detail freak, quite the opposite -- it's almost to the point that I could care less about detail (at least, not until we get into the US$1K+ systems). I like prat, good extension in the frequency extremes with a flattish frequency response (no particularly onerous peaks or valleys), without loss of transient peaks.

[Killercrush]

'' I like prat, good extension in the frequency extremes with a flattish frequency response (no particularly onerous peaks or valleys), without loss of transient peaks.''

Talkin' about those HP2's ...