Some Advice on Listening Setup

i dont have astute ear listen more , more im learning lot more listen for, differences, etc.

current setup digital out mac pro beresford dac , using built in headphone amp drive pair of akg k701s. more , more listen, feel amp not giving near enough power akg's , im not getting full sound can produce. said, tried plugging headphones yamaha mid range home theater receiver playing cd through ps3 , noticed interesting differences beresford apple lossles.

first thing noticed yamaha overall sound (soundstage?) more full , balanced , turned volume , didnt feel highs going blow ear drums out (sometimes feel way beresford). im guessing issue of providing more power although still felt akg's have more in them if there more power.

second thing noticed though beresford seemed produce cleaner highs , mids. im guessing because of higher quality signal/dac in beresford.

thing caught me here when comparing 2 systems "us , them" dark side of moon, hear few details yamaha harder hear beresford. example, there slight vibrato sound sax in intro trailing off right before vocals start (1:37 ish). didnt have trouble hearing yamaha (in fact never noticed other setup) beresford, muffled , had listen closely hear it.

sorry long post guess im wondering, causing these differences , need more out of these amazing headphones. keep in mind personal listening, not mixing, recording, etc.

thanks!

 

do diagnostics

have no experience devices describing, sounds surprising consumer yamaha outperforming dedicated dac. yamaha bit "enhanced" in quite pleasant way? anyway, sounds me trying isolate problem in signal path might start. can plug other device's digital out dac exclude mac? try external amp phones rule out dacs built in phone-amp (this may not device's strong point).

there long argument on forum 6 months ago itunes adulterating digital signal path. though no agreement reached, make sure enhancements, eq's etc off in itunes, , make sure sample-rate , depth same across system - i.e. if playing 44.1khz 16 bit audio cds, make these itunes settings , setting in audio-midi set (utilities) , dac there no up-sampling. convinced vcl player sounded better - give try.

long bow optical signal path. never used buy idea optical inferior other forms of data transmission - 1's , 0's after all. however, recent sound-on-sound article on digital audio made case "1" pulse waves degrading on instantaneous attack side, becoming more saw-toothish - leading fractional timing errors. figure happen on long cable runs if perceptible @ all.

else have clearer thoughts.

 

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