I haven't heard the Ember in particular, but my Bifrost Multibit (which is basically the same as the Modi Multibit other than the power supply) sounds great with every tube amp and hybrid I've used it with.

The Mimby + Eitr is only $429. Though I don't really see why people are so worried about the USB implementation on an entry-level DAC...the Mimby's a great value for the money, sure, but (I think) it's not like most $250 DACs have USB ins comparable to Schiit's Gen5.

I'd actually never tried...testing it out on a few random things from my music library, I did find one 24/48 recording that got about ~10% smaller with reencoding, but that was definitely an outlier...for the most part, for both 24-bit and 16-bit recordings, for both commercial downloads and...

FWIR, the Modi Multibit and the Bifrost Multibit basically sound the same. (I haven't heard a mimby to test it myself.) If you're talking about one of the delta-sigma versions of the Modi or Bifrost, there there very well could be a difference.

I know I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I felt like someone needed to point this out...you can use flac to reencode FLAC files without re-ripping. Since it's a lossless format, there's no quality loss in simply reencoding files, and the encoder will even carry over the original file's...

If you don't mind tubes, OTL amps work well with high-impedence 'phones, so something like the Schiit Valhalla 2 might do the trick (if you can find it used...it's ~$350 new, so a bit above your price range). If you can find a Bottlehead Crack pre-assembled, that'd probably also be a good...

Honestly, I can't really get worked up about it, since it doesn't affect me that much. I don't use my smartphone for audio, and I highly doubt audiophile DAPs are going to drop TRS outs any time soon. Even if laptops start dropping TRS outs, I can just use my Dragonfly DAC. It's bull and a...

(never mind)

I'd be very tempted if I didn't already have a DIY CTH. As it is, it seems like it'd be too similar to justify even if it is an improved design.

I'm fond of DeaDBeeF, personally...it's easy to configure it to bypass the ALSA & Pulseaudio mixers and use your DAC directly for bitperfect playback. The downside to that, of course, is that nothing else can use the soundcard while you're listening to music (I've had a lot of missed IMs because...

Eating breakfast in a coffee shop, just saw a guy with ATH-M50x's walk by. That's like the third or fourth person with those I've seen around here.

I have, and they're amazing! First headphone in a long time to give me a real "Wow!" moment. I was just saying that I can see where somebody might be initially dismissive, given that the GH1 is the first Grado (to my knowledge) that didn't come with G cushions to sound good with them.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of Grados sound best with the pads they're sold with (well, other than the comfies). The MS1 can sound good with the G pads if you glue on spacers (the MS1000 mod), but for the most part, the general consensus had always been that Grados other than the PS1000...

I'd contacted Lindsay through Etsy asking about a Pono-balanced HD600 cable. He'd never had anyone request a Pono-balanced cable, but he was willing to build one, and the results are stunning: (Using his pic, since my photography skills are negligible. :p) It's solidly built, sounds great...

Given that that's only a $36 difference, I'd tend towards the new one (less wear & tear, warranty, original packaging, &c). (That's assuming there isn't tax on the new one.)