Originally Posted by lowmagnet
I've got a pair of HD650 ordered so I can put to bed people's concerns of the DAC1 USB driving them. It's a safe bet since I've done my research and I know the DAC1 can drive them.
Lowmagnet -- I will be very interested to hear your take on the HD 650s direct out of the DAC1 USB. I'm facing an imminent dilemma: I just ordered a HeadRoom Balanced Desktop with Home module/Home DAC and some balanced HD 650s, hoping that would be my big fat one-time, don't-bother-me-anymore, hifi purchase. The thing that's been bugging the hell out of me though is that they can't cram their Max DAC board in there, so I was having to make a tradeoff: giving up the AD1896 asynchronous chip (which my feeble mind hoped would reduce jitter) in favor of gaining a balanced headphone amp.
To my delight, the DAC1 USB looks to be everything I want in a DAC right here right now, including future ability to pair it with a balanced amplifier of my choice, perhaps such as the HeadRoom Desktop with Max module, which I think I will really like.
My big fat dilemma question for all you geniuses on this thread now is: can I run balanced HD 650s directly out of the DAC1 USB now in balanced mode, without purchasing a separate balanced amp? I can't afford both right now, but I really like the preserved upgrade path for the future if I can stick with just the DAC for now. What do you all think? And alternatively, if I can't drive a pair of balanced cans directly out of the DAC1 USB, will driving them unbalanced for the time being be as pleasing overall as the order I'm now thinking of canceling with HeadRoom? Many thanks for the advice!
(This thread has been deliciously entertaining -- god bless that masked Elias man, whoever he was!)