I've been to three audio-specialist shops today and was given quite an education in quality audio and this is where I currently stand...
It wasn't the usual sales-fluff but useful advice in getting the most from high-end headset such as the HD800s - could be more spending however by using an amplifier with the Phoebus - didn't cross my mind to use one but does makes sense. Bear in mind I'm not too technical with audio but with time I'll learn a lot.
Amp will provide much better audio than the Phoebus could offer for my lossless music through the HD800s (well being a dedicated unit it would as the Phoebus is simply the audio processor) by using the digital or analogue outputs. Then picking the right amp will be hard so I headed back over to head-fi and have been digging around for hours on that excellent site and so far the Burson Audio HA-160D stands out to me.
Initially did think that it had optical out but does S/PDIF count and is it good enough for a £800 AMP (only for stereo playback rather than multichannel which becomes compressed on the Phoebus)?
Problem comes with finding the balance of amp to maximise the HD800s in combo with the Phoebus, and I'm not sure if I'll need a DAC or just pass straight through the Phoebus into the amp. Looking at things again, I could re-consider the suggested AKG Q701 by using it through a £300+ amp and see how close it comes to the HD800 without an amp.
I listened intently to the HD800s (custom-cables silver cable from a Swedish company) on a £500 Onkyo CD player that provided very rich-detailed audio with just enough bass... no complaints at all! Going back down the HD800-routre: There is a new AMP (maybe combined DAC too) coming out and will check that out next week. Apparently, the usual amplifiers don't push the HD800s to it's true potential. From the one's I've seen it was those sub-£700 and this new one may cost slightly more, blowing my upgrade budget for the rest of the year if it touches £2k :eek:
edit: to add I've been trying to find what that could be and hope it isn't the Sennheiser HDVD800 Headphone Amplifier due next month - cost £2k!!
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