Want to be an Audiophile?(FULL BUDGET SETUP GUIDE)

[SuicideAnomaly]

I watched Tek Syndicate does that make me a audiophile now? "As I listen to my M50x's on my O2DAC/AMP"

Absolutely! Welcome to the club! Your decoder ring is in the mail.

[SSL]

Absolutely! Welcome to the club! Your decoder ring is in the mail.

 

*DAD ring, or "digital to analog decoder" ring

[Donk Quixote]

I can finally be an audiophile!

Sorry, you don't get your official audiophile card until you do the subwoofer crawl.

[EndlessOyster]

Notice the opinion part

I chose the Schiit stack here because of the expansion ability.  You can get higher Ohm headphones as you move up. Now to address the ATH-M50X's, I put them in this list because they're more recognizable and mainstream.  Not a lot of people know Shure and I think that one of their closed backs deserved a place in this list. I left the list open for suggestions. Thanks for the feedback I'll fix it   The AMP/DAC will stay.

WHAT! Not many people know who Shure is, there a bigger company then audio technica for a reason. Shure the company which is well know for making one of the best microphones know to the planet.

[Marziman]

And my point about pairing the Magni 2 with a high sensitivity, low impedance headphone? Not addressed by swapping out the M50X for the MDRV6.

 

As for budget, what is "mid-range" supposed to mean exactly? You say that the HD8DJ is out of "mid-range" budget, but you recommend the $200 Schiit stack and $300 X2. Why not go for the HD8DJ and ... yeah, just that?

 

This is what I mean when I say that your guide doesn't properly address the allocation of funds. Anyone can put together a list of gear that isn't terrible; the real utility in such a list is telling people what to get given specific monetary constraints.

The X2's are 200$ USD(193$ USD to be exact).  My goal was to stay within the 200$ range without passing the 250$ threshold.

[Rmusic10891]

The X2's are 200$ USD(193$ USD to be exact).  My goal was to stay within the 200$ range without passing the 250$ threshold.

The X2's are $200 USD USED. So you can't reliably say they will be that price. New they're still $250+. And they still don't need an amp to be driven. So this is all pointless.

[spwath]

The X2's are $200 USD USED. So you can't reliably say they will be that price. New they're still $250+. And they still don't need an amp to be driven. So this is all pointless.

Actually on massdrop they are 200 now

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/philips-fidelio-x2

[Rmusic10891]

Actually on massdrop they are 200 now

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/philips-fidelio-x2

Fair enough. I still don't get the point of this post.

[spwath]

Fair enough. I still don't get the point of this post.

I agree completly.

[SSL]

The X2's are 200$ USD(193$ USD to be exact).  My goal was to stay within the 200$ range without passing the 250$ threshold.

 

And my point about the amp and DAC? Unnecessary for either the X2 or M50X. And either way, that's 50% of a $400 budget on something that is probably useless. Why not get the HE-400i at that point, or HD650. Plenty of competent headphones within reach of that budget.

[Marziman]

And my point about the amp and DAC? Unnecessary for either the X2 or M50X. And either way, that's 50% of a $400 budget on something that is probably useless. Why not get the HE-400i at that point, or HD650. Plenty of competent headphones within reach of that budget.

Because in my opinion(Owning the 400i's) Planar isn't my favorite sound.  

[SSL]

Because in my opinion(Owning the 400i's) Planar isn't my favorite sound.  

 

That isn't the point. Any number of headphones could be slotted into that budget, planar and otherwise. 50% of funds on amp and DAC for headphones that will be unable to utilize them?