Hey guys,   I'm currently using the headphone out on my Macbook Air to drive a set of AKG Q701 headphones. The AKGs are a step up from my Grado SR80is, but I'm pretty sure that improvements can be made and I think it's time to upgrade further. All of my music is lossless and I'm interested...

Can anyone offer a comparison between the Arcam rPac and the Fostex HP-A3?

Does anyone know why Arcam's rPac only supports sample rates up to 96KHz? Is this a driver problem? Cambridge Audio's DACMagic Plus will support rates up to 192KHz but only with a special driver and without the driver, it'll only accept a 92KHz stream. It certainly doesn't seem to be a problem...

I was considering pairing the rPac with a set of AKG Q701s. Does the rPac lack the power to drive these particular headphones? I'm not interested in listening at very high volumes, but I would like my music to be clearly audible.

I'm thinking about upgrading from my current setup (which consists of a Macbook Air and a pair of Grado SR80i's) to a dedicated DAC/Headphone amp (probably integrated) and a better set of headphones. At the moment, I'm considering buying an Arcam rPac DAC/Amp and a set of AKG Q701 headphones...

Thanks for the advice! Sorry for my noob-ish comments about burn-in...

I'm trying to justify buying a DAC to replace the headphone out socket on my MacBook. I'm listening through a pair of Grado SR80i's, all of my music is lossless (at at least 16/44.1) and most of it should have been well recorded.   I've really got two questions:   (i) Will I notice any...