Just a second of your time please....

You may have to look hard/buy used or stretch your budget, but I'd like to mention Beta 22 + Buffalo II.

The cool part about the Baffalo II dac is that it has enough output to drive most head phones directly, no amp required, and its fully balanced.  So its a great way to begin, just your headphones, a digital source, and the Dac/Pre combo.

 

You can build a very basic Baffalo II Dac/Pre-amp for about $700 and up, depending on options, inputs, connectors, and casing.  And the main board comes prebuilt and tested, you just build the power supplies and assemble everything.  And you can pick whatever inputs you actually need or want.

 

That is what I am curently doing, a simple Buffalo II with BNC SPDIF input only, balanced and SE speaker and balanced headphone outputs.  You can always try an amp, or several, of your choice later.

 

Mark

I had been interested in this, but don't trust myself to build, and can't seem to find any builders!
 

100% absolutely, positively, completely and to all finality must recommend going with separate DAC and amplifiers.  Enough adjectives? :)  In all seriousness though, it'll give you a lot more wiggle room to pick parts for now and be able to upgrade later.

     Quote:

Since the previous posts brought up DIY stuff (Buffalo II), my favorite combo in the mid price range is:

 

SDPIF > Gamma2 + YJPS  > DynaHi + S22

 

Easily below $1500 if you can DIY or shop used with patience. Probably over $1500 if you can't though. $1500 budget should get you some exceptional sound if you make the right picks. In your budget, I'd be especially careful with the DAC money. It's really easy to blow too much of the budget on a DAC with negligible or even negative returns, but the DAC will make or break the chain.

Gamma2+Dynahi would be pretty awesome.  The only thing is, the Dynahi isn't an easy build.

If you are not interested in DIY, then you might look at the Audio-GD combos.  A Dac19DSP + C2 headphone amp is under your budget at $990 + shipping, and the fully balanced Ref5 dac + Roc amp are a little over the budget, at $1740 for the DSP combo + shipping, but might be worth the stretch, though I have not heard this combo personally.  Both combos have gotten very good reviews here, and Kingwa has very good customer service.

 

They are also offering a special price right now on these combos, but you have to E-mail for the combo price.  Might make the Ref 5 + Roc closer to you budget.

 

See: http://www.audio-gd.com/PriceList.htm

 

Mark

 

Also recommend going with separate components. The reason being that the DAC market turns over every 18-24 months with entirely new products. Amps don't move anywhere as fast - you should be able to get at least ten years from one, possibly longer. If you buy an all-in-one, it probably won't sell in a few years because most will think the DAC section is too old. Just look at even the most expensive system - the Sennheiser Orpheus. It has an internal DAC that no one takes seriously.

Be sure to take a look at used gear, too. There are great deals on used DACs and amps. Your money will go a lot further, too.