DAC+active speakers or entry level tube amp + passive speakers

Your budgeting too much for the dac $300 max and put the extra $200 saved towards the speakers, you don't really need a tube amp the active speakers don't have tube amps built in.

 

For dac http://www.amazon.com/HRT-Music-Streamer-II-Resolution/dp/B0038O4UFQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325692246&sr=8-1 , http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Desktop-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B005C5IN98/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325692505&sr=8-2 , http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Fidelity-MFVDAC2-V-DAC/dp/B001P6FO5E/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1325692642&sr=8-14 .

 

There are good solid state amps, http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-DTA-100a-Class-T-Digital-Amplifier/dp/B004JK8BDK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325692886&sr=8-2 , http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-APA150-Power-Amplifier/dp/B000VKXLBO/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1325692886&sr=8-8

 

speakers, http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TSi200-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0018QROCC/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1325692952&sr=8-16 , http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Monitor-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0009YWCT4/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&qid=1325693002&sr=8-38  

Your hit dimishing returns with a dac very quickly good quality 1's are $100-$300 then your into dimishimg returms same with amps, look mainly for features you will need it is worth paying a bit more for useful features.
The speakers are the most important active and passive set-ups both have there advantages and disadvantages just choose which set-up is most suitable for you.

No but a shielded usb cable might help id recommend this 1 http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Gold-6-Foot-Cable-DSTP/dp/B00004Z5T2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325870212&sr=8-2 , it's $3 and it's shielded , also keep it short the shorter the better if you can keep the cable length under 6ft. Speaker cables aren't affected by RF it's just a case of getting the right gauge so just choose a large gauge cable thats suitable 18gauge for a 1 metre run and decrease the gauge number for every other metre , also you have the choice of connecters, bare wire , bannana plugs or speaker pins.

I was in your situation a while back but I've decided to go the Active route. I've always wanted tube flavours and warmth in my setup but investing a decent tube amp for passive speakers was quite pricely. I am now using the Swans M200 MKIII active speakers, with NFB-12 DAC + Yaqin CD3 Tube Buffer. Not only does is this a budget speaker setup but definitely sounds more than what its worth. Thinking about maybe upgrading the DAC to a tube dac, just love that tubey sound. JRG1990, there isn't really much point spending over 500 dollar for a DAC, i'll say something around the 300-400 spot will yield the best bang for buck sound.

Id avoid audio-gd stuff, there discrete op-amps peform poorly compared to standard op-amps and they write rubbish about op-amps colouring the sound and how feedback is evil clearly there knowledge of cicuits is poor.

 

Also the tube buffer performs poorly the Yaqin CD3 Tube Buffer mentioned in it's specs says S/N Ratio: >=60db(A) that means it can't handle 16bit audio it degrades it to around 12bit signal to noise of 96db is needed for 16bit audio.

Yeah the tube buffer is a good way to add that tube warmth into the system. Its cheap and decent, definitely sounds really good with my Swans. There are a few pretty popular tube dacs but they do get pricey. MHDT Havana, Eastern Electric are all upper end models. I chose a buffer because it was the cheapest option and I had no need for headphones or else I would have went the Woo Audio route. The DAC i was looking at is the Grant Fidelity Tube Dac 11, which is quite decent in price, around 325$ but its quite new so I'm still waiting a bit on reviews before if i want to take the plunge.
 

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really I didn't know that but from the buffer, I'm getting good results.. no degradation at all. As for audiogd products, there are plenty of happy users so I wouldn't think you recommend others to "avoid" it.
 

 

I said I would avoid it, because I've seen the measurements of there discrete op-amps here http://www.sg-acoustics.ch/analogue_audio/ic_opamps/index.html and they measure really poorly very high in THD they actually reach a audiable 1% @ 10khz with a 600ohm load, So I don't have any faith in there circuit design also they spout such non factual nonsense on there site "When the IC opamp is used for audio, the performance is less than satisfactory" despite these IC op-amps outperforming theres. There dacs do have loads of good subjective reviews but these are completly meaning less to me.