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Alternatives to the Sennheiser GSX 1000

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As the title says, I'm looking for an alternative to the Sennheiser GSX 1000, an dac/amp combo with 7.1 surround sound support, since it likely wont be good enough to drive my headphones (HD660s), or atleast only up to 103 db spl. Im not interested in sound cards and it's also not important to me wether the dac would have a microphone input. Any recommandations?

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Shouldnt be too much more expensive as the gsx, but Im willing to stretch my budget for a good product

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I'm a big fan of the gsx 1000. Intuitive controls and a well written manual go a long way, in addition to the good quality of the 7.1 to binaural conversion imo.

 

I think you probably can get away with just 1v for the hd 660. In general, people greatly overestimate how much power they need for headphones.

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5 minutes ago, an actual squirrel said:

I'm a big fan of the gsx 1000. Intuitive controls and a well written manual go a long way, in addition to the good quality of the 7.1 to binaural conversion imo.

 

I think you might be able to get away with just 1v for the hd 660. In general, people greatly overestimate how much power they need for headphones.

It can drive the Hd 660s to 103 db spl. According to Nwavguy's guide, for pop music you *might* be fine with a peak of just 105 db spl, for audiophile music your headphones should atleast peak at 110. Ive actually asked an owner of the gsx 1000 and the hd 660s on reddit and he said if im gonna go for the gsx 1000 I should use it as a dac and connect it to an actual amp

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3 hours ago, OddGreyFox211 said:

It can drive the Hd 660s to 103 db spl. According to Nwavguy's guide, for pop music you *might* be fine with a peak of just 105 db spl, for audiophile music your headphones should atleast peak at 110. Ive actually asked an owner of the gsx 1000 and the hd 660s on reddit and he said if im gonna go for the gsx 1000 I should use it as a dac and connect it to an actual amp

Nwavguy's estimates are incredibly generous compared to real world usage. I have an hd 650 and a 2v dac. I run 1x gain on my amp and never go above half volume, which with my alps volume taper, is -15db iirc. So that means I never use more than 400mv. And this is with 300 ohm headphones.

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13 hours ago, OddGreyFox211 said:

As the title says, I'm looking for an alternative to the Sennheiser GSX 1000, an dac/amp combo with 7.1 surround sound support, since it likely wont be good enough to drive my headphones (HD660s), or atleast only up to 103 db spl. Im not interested in sound cards and it's also not important to me wether the dac would have a microphone input. Any recommandations?

The 660 and it's little brother the 58x really don't need much power you should be fine in this case. My 58x runs great off a Q1 mk2 . You could go cheaper for say like a fiio k5 pro. Or.more expensive with a schiit heresy and a topping d10 but you wouldiss out on virtual surround.

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20 hours ago, OddGreyFox211 said:

It can drive the Hd 660s to 103 db spl. According to Nwavguy's guide, for pop music you *might* be fine with a peak of just 105 db spl, for audiophile music your headphones should atleast peak at 110. Ive actually asked an owner of the gsx 1000 and the hd 660s on reddit and he said if im gonna go for the gsx 1000 I should use it as a dac and connect it to an actual amp

Do you have a good idea of just how loud 100dB+ actually is?

 

 

100dB will cause irreversible hearing damage after roughly 15 minutes of exposure. You want to be at roughly 85dB maximum for headphones, or less if you can.

 

 

Quick chart I threw together to explain how quickly your hearing can be damaged for different SPL's:

 

 

dB SPL - Time taken before irreversible damage caused.

85dB - 8 Hours
88dB - 4 Hours
91dB - 2 Hours
94dB - 1 Hour
97dB - 30 Minutes
100dB - 15 Minutes
103dB - 7.5 Minutes
106dB - 3.75 Minutes
109dB - 2 Minutes
112dB - 1 Minute
115dB - 30 Seconds
118dB - 15 Seconds
121dB - 7.5 Seconds
124dB - 3.75 Seconds
127dB - 1.875 Seconds
130dB - 0.9375 Seconds
133dB - 0.46 Seconds
136dB - 0.23 Seconds
139dB - 0.115 Seconds
142dB - 0.0575 Seconds

 

 

I've been outside my listening room with my line arrays at roughly 142dB, and even then it is uncomfortable and very easy to damage your hearing, at 110dB you will get discomfort.

 

 

Please do not aim for 100dB+, you will ruin your hearing.

LTT's Resident Porsche fanboy and nutjob Audiophile.

 

Main speaker setup is now;

 

Mini DSP SHD Studio -> 2x Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC's (fed by AES/EBU, one feeds the left sub and main, the other feeds the right side) -> 2x Neumann KH420 + 2x Neumann KH870

 

(Having a totally seperate DAC for each channel is game changing for sound quality)

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