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Recommendation for £1,000 amp/dac combination

post #1 of 5
2/26/11 at 3:43am
Thread Starter 

Hi

 

I lurk a lot on this forum but I don't spend much money on my hifi so I don't post...'till now!

 

I recently bought a Corda Stepdance to use with my Ipod/IEMs, but was shocked how it also woke up my semi-redundant HD580s. I'm so surprised and impressed that I've decided to invest in a better headphone rig for my office, using my iMac as a source.

 

I read so much on this forum but, frankly, I get pretty confused by all the options. I'm in the UK, so I'll get better value if I buy in the EU, but the dollar rate is currently okay, although I'd have to factor in tax and import duty into the equation.

 

I'm torn between one box solutions such as the Burson HA-160D and the Lehmann Black Cube Linear USB, or two box rigs like the Corda Concerto/Stage. I'm a bit reluctant to embrace tubes and figure a good tube rig is probably out of my price range at the moment.

 

I listen to quite a lot of classical music, but also rock. Reading headphone reviews, I really like what people are saying about the sound of the Audeze LCD 2s, so I could see a pair of those in the future too.

 

Any advice would be really welcome, particularly if you've heard/compared the options above, but I'd welcome suggestions on other options too.

 

Thanks!

 

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post #2 of 5
2/26/11 at 7:18am

Lehmann is a very fine amplifier, however it's integrated DAC is entry level at most, because it's based on the cheapest PCM2702 DAC chip.

My recomendation goes to Burson 160D: finest parts available, fully discrete, dual PSU, stepped atenuator, Preamp function too and most importand thing it sounds very fine and musical. I'm using one with a HD800 with best results, actually never heard HD800 sounding this alive and punchy and with great bass extension. 

Used Meiers in the past but will not come back to them, op-amps are op-amps...

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post #3 of 5
2/26/11 at 8:02am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the reply. I'm leaning towards the Burson, which also happens to be a little cheaper. I get the impression that it will work well with my Senns and Mike on Headfonia seemed to like it with the LCD 2.

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post #4 of 5
2/26/11 at 8:12am

NFB-10ES is another good fully balanced Amp/DAC combo that is under £1000. Its based on the ES9018 Sabre dac. Check out the NFB-10 thread for more info.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/519166/audio-gd-nfb-10

 

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post #5 of 5
2/26/11 at 11:03am
Thread Starter 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

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