Building a setup...

[robfine]

I've got the Chord on my Christmas list but had planned on it for portable use. Besides, the nightstand system, a good portable setup is very important to me. I live in a house full of estrogen (wife and 2 daughters) so I end up in malls and other such places more than I might otherwise prefer. With a really good portable setup, and an open bench seat, the mall just becomes another listening session.

[Weirdcuba]

+ 1 on the auralic. I have this headphone amp plus the Altair, DAC/streamer, and find it to be a great combo. Liquid sounding without being rolled off. Perfect bedside stand combo, without breaking the bank. I listen to them with the sennheiser 800s (which you can find pretty cheap now) and they sound great. Not mind numbing great, but perfect for bed time listening at a reasonable price. I tried the headphones with just the headphone jack out of the Altair and it didn't cut it.

[scirica]

HDVA600 + Auralic Altair + Senn 800's on my nightstand. I'm very happy.

[ctsooner]

If 3k is your budget I'd personally get a couple of pieces that punch much higher than their price. The Ayre Codex DAC/amp is the best I've heard under 5k and I've heard plenty. It will be just as sweet as the chord in the kids and highs but will have deeper and tuneful bass that you will want. If you are open minded you can get a set of Noble CIEMs or IEMs. They have a 15% off sale today and tomorrow. I auditioned every Audeze can as well as the Focal Elear, Fostex, Beyer and HiFiman 1000 my 2 a couple of weeks ago. The 800 Mk 2 were on my ears and then off within a minute as it had no bass at all. To me it was the same with the Stax too. The Audeze 3 and 4 were the best sounding and way too heavy for comfort. If you can handle how heavy they are you can't go wrong. I liked the three much better than both the X models. I then put in my trusted Noble Savants that cost 500 or so and they were more neutral but with less bass. If I was putting together a system like yours I'd get a pair of the Noble IEMs in the 800 range with the Cidex and be very happy. Some traditionalists will say no way, but I listened and heard a great system.

[matt_zak]

Thank you everyone for your input. I've placed an order for the Audeze LCD-XC, deckard and a wireworld starlight USB. This should give me some great tunes and I can always upgrade the DAC and amp down the road. I don't mind the heavier headphones since the longest amount of time to listen I'll have is when I work nights. That would be about 2-3hrs max.

[matt_zak]

The toys arrived on Tuesday. Here are some pictures:





















I still need to rearrange some things on our computer desk and need to get a two prong adapter (the geniuses that built this villa installed 2 prong 110v outlets) before the Deckard gets hooked up. As of right now the headphones have about 1 hour on them. They sound amazing just straight out of the box connected to the computer with the 1/8" adapter. Once I get more time on them and get the amp up and running I hope to do a detailed review. One thing I can say is they don't seem too heavy to me. I guess I'm just used to wearing aviation headsets for extended periods.

Here's a quick taste of what I work with:

http://vid972.photobucket.com/albums.../VIDEO0002.mp4

Next time we fly I'll get a longer/better video. He taxied onto the runway while I was checking my video settings and you don't hear him until he's about 500ft away. Also, when we FCF a plane they are supposed to go vertical to 15k ft and roll over. This time because the pilot knew we were taking video he wanted to "fly into the sun"

[Randy Myers]

Congratz! Enjoy the new cans... I love listening to my speakers but there are many times when the only way I can listen is through headphones. Having a nice set it fantastic.

I am sure you will enjoy that wonderful setup!