First of all, I’ll be honest – I’m the type of person who is happy with the headphones that came with my iPhone. I just planned on getting a more comfortable pair of headphones to use in my office, but ended up getting sucked into a whole different world.
After browsing around for a few weeks and trying, but failing in finding a local store that sold higher quality headphones I choose to go with Grado SR325is without being able to try them out first. I liked their look and the reviews were good (being made in NY helped too).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXHML59-CPk
While I was looking at different headphones, started to feel I should get an Amp. Immediately after that decided to go with something tube based. The Little Dot MKIII seemed perfect for what I wanted, and so far I’m more than impressed with how it preforms and love how it looks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U1KgXNO2Uk
I was planning on using the Amp with my iPhone/iPad’s line out connection so I ordered the FiiO L9 to provide line out audio to the Amp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZBS7rIF22k
Got a bit cumbersome using it this way so I started looking for a DAC that has an Optical input to connect to my Laptop. Opted for the then newly released Audioengine D1 as I found a return which marked down quite a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1qx87ZY94k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_fROhEw5t0
This worked great with my laptop, but while it wasnt as much a hassle as connecting the FiiO and an adapter to fit my iPhone’s case it took up a lot more space on my desk having to have the laptop there.
Then while looking for a small travel router I saw that the Apple Airport Express worked with iTunes AND had an Optical Output. Seemed to be the perfect match so I ordered one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBtjK3bnnco
So now I have all my CD’s ripped into Apple Lossless Format in iTunes on my main desktop, then using either that computer or any of my iOS devices as a remote I can start music and have it sent from iTunes wirelessly to the Airport Express, which sends it via a Toslink Optical Cable to the Audio Engine D1, which in turn has RCA output to the Little Dot MkIII which goes to my Headphones.
Here’s a video that likely explains it a lot better than the above paragraph. (the Power strip and Airport Express go under the desk so the setup looks clean)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55z98RXTKKU
I’ve been using this for a few months now and it’s fantastic. Have also made a small headphone stand to keep my desk tidy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT1Rz3DHYtI