[Audio Jester]

As the title says, should I pull the pin on the Audio GD rig or is there something I am missing?
 
Proposed headphones:
Denon D7000
Senn HD650
LCD-2
 
Musical taste:
Bass Head
A little sensitive to highs
All Genres
 
Other points:
Single ended only
Solid State only
Runs on 230-240volts
Combo <$1500
 
Thanks for the assist.

 

[Currawong]

Can't commend on the gear as such, other than to say that I'd be surprised if you were anything other than pleased with either rig.  What I wanted to say though was, deal with any tonal sensitivity through your headphone choices.  Most mid- or better-range gear is either neutral or very slightly coloured on the warm side.  Sensitivity to highs is the result of distortion (so some gear tends to roll the highs a bit to compensate).  When you've used gear that has low distortion, even bright headphones aren't a problem.

 

[TheWuss]

flip a coin?
seriously.  the audio-gd vs. meier thing had me conflicted for a while.
the way to answer it is to think more about functionality.  cuz i feel either would sound great.

 

[oqvist]

As always you must listen with your own ears to know you made the right decision. I am happy with my DAC19 but it doesn´t prevent my Keces  131 mk 2 to make certain things better/different depending on how you look at it.

 

[Audio Jester]

Thanks for input!  Actually, these were the exact answers I was looking for.  I have listened to the Meier Rig, not the Audio GD.  Don't like the StageDAC much (only because of the number of switches on the front), but did like the neutrality.  This ACSS thing has got me intrigued.

 

[gevorg]

Neither!
 
Actually, IMHO, DAC19DSP > StageDAC, but Concerto > C2, so why not DAC19DSP+Concerto?

 

[nigeljames]

Or DAC19DSP+ROC

 

[Currawong]

There's no point in getting an SE DAC for a balanced amp.  gevorg's idea is one that came to my mind some time ago if you definitely didn't want to go balanced, and if the Concerto is as good as Skylab reckons it is.  The advantage of the C2 is you can use the ACSS connection, which is technically superior, as it connects the current gain stages of both devices together.

 

[nigeljames]

According to Kingwa there still should be a small SQ benefit using the ROC instead of the C2, although not enough to warrent the extra cost.
Although if the OP never intends to go balanced then you are right the ROC would be overkill.