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I think you are confusing DAC with headphone amp. What Purepiper was talking about was building a headphone amp as they already have one DAC (the one they sent me for review) and they are working on a higher end model. DACs should not be specific to a type of cans.

But, it is a different story for headphone amps where amp-headphone matching is more critical. I believe they are going to voice their first headphone amp to target the hd600/650 as it one of the most popular among the headphones that absolutely require an amp to sound good.

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Yes, I was planning to write a review of the dac19dsp once I receive it. But that would be on another thread

My setup:
laptop --> no DAC --> little dot mk3 --> HD650.

How does the purepiper sound with my setup? I am afraid the mid/upper will be too profound.
If I am right your review says that this is only the case with an expensive (unforgiving) amp.

Hope to hear from you soon.

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In my opinion, the Purepiper + Little Dot MKIII is an excellent combination.

The LD MKIII is not revealing enough to show any flaw with the purepiper DAC A-1 and according to my experience the end result will be dependant on the tubes you are using on the LD MKIII.

By the way, even the FUN headphone amp doesn't reveal any brightness on the upper mids/low treble. It was only when I used the C2C headphone (with a stepped attenuator) that I noticed that.

My opinion is that on most entry level systems, the Purepiper DAC A-1 won't be the weakest link. It is once you have upgrade your amp, interconnects and headphone cable that you might be able to detect its limitations.

What are the competing DACs in this pricerange?
I am about to order the purepiper, just need one more quick check on the competing DACs.

Thank you for the fast response.

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There are a few DACs around the price of the Purepiper: EMU 0404 usb, Maverick DAC, ... But most of them have a lot of functions (headphone amp, preamp, ...) that won't be much useful since you already have an external amp.
Also, at around $200, most of them are opamp based and use external switch mode power supplies.

When you are buying equipment at this price point, i admit that there is always the risk that something else might be significantly better. However, I am not personally aware of another DAC that is significantly better built or better sounding close to this price.

At a similar price, you might probably have similar performing DACs with different sound flavors/coloring.
The only DAC that I have found to perform significantly better than the Purepiper dac A-1 was the audio-gd dac19mk3 (which use to cost $500).

Sorry that I didn't have any other specific recommendations at that price range. I hope my answer was helpful.

I think I will look no further. It is a cheap DAC so I can live with the fact that some other DAC may be better.

Thanks again mate.

If you ever get the purepiper, let us know what you think about it.
As far as I know, godluvsxs was the first one here on head-fi to try it. He liked it a lot and suggested to Purepiper to send a unit for me to review.

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There are tons of budget amps out there works fine with hd650. But none for akg k701-702. As a k702 owner I am searching an amp from 3 months by now, but couldn't find any satisfied product under 400usd. There is an empty price range for k70x. If I was be a headamp manufacturer I definitely focus that area

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That is not a bad idea actually As you said most mannufacturers voice their amps with the more common hd-650 and there is already a lot of competition on that segment of the market.
It could be a good strategic decision to make an amp specifically for the akg701/702.

I havent ordered the purepiper yet. I find it odd that I cant find any info about possible warranty. Does it come with warranty?
(My little dot mk3 failed on me after 2 months, luckily I could sent it back for repairs.)

sorry i dont know very well for here rule, make one mistake....

Purepiper DAC A-1 mods:
 
I was contacted by Purepiper a few days ago as they came up with a "mod" to improve the performance of the DAC. Below are the mods they are suggesting:
1. move area A 2 Capacity
2. replace area C 2 Resistance from original 180 ohm change to 68 ohm
3. increase area B 2 Capacity same as us 3.3uf 100v , if you can find in france.
4. move area D 2 capacity.
 

 
I will have to source both the 3.3uf capacitors (output capacitors) as well as the 68ohms resistors. I was thinking about getting : Audyn Cap Plus capacitors (see here: http://www.riviera-acoustics.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=46_35_57_50&products_id=206) and perhaps some Vishay/Dale resistors.
Any suggestions on the capacitors/resistors?

Vishay Dale RN55 resistors are excellent.
 
As far as output caps go I think there is a big margin for personal taste there because they impart o specific signature to the sound.
Audyn are very good caps in general and a good choice.
Other people rave about Mundorf caps or paper in oil or Black Gates non-polar.
 
A safe option would be to try Audyn first and see if the differences made are significant and, if so, in which direction.
 
As a side note: it may be worth pursuing a mod to the digital section capacitors with Sanyo Oscons.
 

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audiofil said:

Vishay Dale RN55 resistors are excellent.
 
As far as output caps go I think there is a big margin for personal taste there because they impart o specific signature to the sound.
Audyn are very good caps in general and a good choice.
Other people rave about Mundorf caps or paper in oil or Black Gates non-polar.
 
A safe option would be to try Audyn first and see if the differences made are significant and, if so, in which direction.
 
As a side note: it may be worth pursuing a mod to the digital section capacitors with Sanyo Oscons.
 

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice audiofil! I will go then for the Audyn and Vishay Dale RN55 and see how it goes from there.

I have read great things about the Mundorf caps but they are expensive and might be overkill (?) for the purepiper.

slim.a :
Our designer Dr. zhou told me, can not mix area B with different brand capacitors, so for your convient and also can real show our products, we will send you all parts by TNT today, after 3,4 days will reach you, please check.