My favorite sub-$1000 setup

Q: What's your personal all-time favorite setup under $1000?

This one.

From a price-performance perspective, the  combination of the Pro-ject Box DAC S FL -> Little Dot Mk 3 with NOS Mullard M8100s -> Sennheiser HD650 really shines. This setup projects an analog-ey gooey tube sound and affords a maximally euphoric listening experience for under $900. It makes every genre I am into sound good, and that is saying something. The best aspect of this combination is that almost anyone can afford this setup, and the only folks who will hate it are those who worship the gods of transparency.

To break the components down:

The Box dac DAC S FL is, in my opinion, the best price-performance NOS dac you can buy. It has a very different sound than typical sigma delta DACs. Its analog-ey distortion makes digital files sound like vinyl. Having said that, I would suggest NOT buying an NOS DAC as your very first DAC, though.

The Little Dot Mk 3 is probably the best price-performance OTL tube amp you can buy, especially ebcause your choice for the tube amp selection is determined to a considerable extent by the degree of synergy between amp + headphones.  I would suggest that you NOT get an OTL tube amp (or any tube amp, for that matter) as your first amp.

Mullard NOS M8100 tubes have a super warm profile with gooey tube distortion, and if I had to describe Mullard sound in one word I would say "treacle", to borrow a word from my friends across the pond. They are a wonderful representation of what tube sound is all about. I would suggest NOT getting reissue Mullards, they are not the same as the real deal.

The Sennheiser HD650 has a wonderfully dark and comfortable sound. They are not neutral, sure, but their forgiving nature sets them apart. They excel at representing instruments realistically, add intimacy to vocals, and work for every genre from EDM to classical. Some have described them as "laid back", but they are certainly not boring. Their pairing with OTL tube amps is magical. I would suggest that you NOT get them if you want a neutral or bright sound profile, or if you plan to run them off portable devices.

And did I mention, the best part of this combination is the sub $1k budget? That leaves plenty of change left over to subscribe to Spotify or Tidal.

 And that should make you smile for a long time.

Again, I do want to emphasize, a NOS DAC + tube amp combo probably isn't the best idea if you are new to the world of personal audio and just getting your toes wet with the hobby. You will probably be better off in the long run easing into tube sound / vintage DACs gradually rather than starting with them.

Some thoughts about the Fiio E18

The E18 Kunlun (whats with Fiio naming products after mountains, eh?) works as a headphone amp that pairs to android phones via USB using an OTG cable, a 24/96 USB DAC (it has a Tenor TE7022L chip to receive USB and a Burr Brown PCM1798 DAC chip), as a standalone headphone amp, as an external DAC for your computer, and even as a coax out source.

The coolest (if spotty) feature it offers is the ability to play/pause the song on your phone using a button on the E18.

Plus it has a volume potentiometer! And in a pinch it can charge your phone.

It's regular price of $150-160 is a bit steep, but when it's on sale at the $120-130 price point it looks very attractive from a price-performance perspective.

A criticism that has been leveled against the E18 on more than one occasion is that it exhibits electromagnetic interference (EMI) when paired with a GSM smartphone. GSM buzz is an issue with most electronic equipment. It is an unfortunate side effect of the frequencies GSM uses and fact that GSM phones use the TDMA channel access protocol to sync to towers. Usually EMI is worst when the phone uses the EDGE data system. Since newer GSM technologies are less prone to GSM buzz, it may be worth disabling EDGE service on your phone if possible. Of course your mileage maay vary because there are other causes for interference too.

Of course we could eliminate GSM buzz altogether if everyone switched to verizon, but that would be a pretty terrible solution too.

United we stand, divided we....stand?

Q: Should I buy a standalone headphone amplifier + a standalone DAC or an amp + DAC combination unit?

A: If you buy a amp+dac combo unit (a single enclosure holds both the ehadphone amplifier as well as the DAC) and think you will be using the amp alone or the DAC alone at some point, then the key is to buy a combo that allows DAC output as line out without involving the amplifier circuit (i.e. the DAC output from the combo can bypass the amp) so that you don't end up double amping. So for example if you have an amp/dac combo and want to buy a better standalone amp, you don't want to run the signal through two amplifier circuits in tandem, in this case the amp in the amp/DAC and then the standalone amp, since you will introduce additional distortion into the signal.

Some combos (e.g. the Audioengine D1) will not allow you to decouple the DAC output from the amp which makes them inferior as standalone DACs. If you are planning to own multiple amps and/or DACs, getting separate units (such as the O2 and ODAC individually) as opposed to a combo (such as the O2 and ODAC in a single unit) makes much more sense because you can swap out the DAC or amp to something different.

However if you have decided that your purchase will be endgame 9at least for a while) then getting a single unit makes more sense because it is more convenient + less clutter.

Veni's Three Laws Of Cheap (But Good) Personal Audio

Q: Whats the easiest way to improve my listening experience on a low budget?

A: There are three components that folks typically consider when they talk about personal audio -- [1] headphones, [2] amplifiers, and [3] DACs (digital to analog converters).

Veni's Three Laws Of Cheap (But Good) Personal Audio are:

Law 1: in general better headphones improves your sound the most, more than upgrading your amp, which in turn offers more enhancement than improving your dac.

Law 2: not all headphones need a dedicated amp or DAC.

And finally Law 3: if your amp or DAC costs more than your headphones, you are probably doing something wrong.