I have a Headroom Desktop Amp. It is a combination headphone amplifier and DAC and can function as a pre-amplifier connected directly to an amp. As such it has digital inputs (coax, optical and USB), and analogue inputs. I'm not sure it's being made anymore or if Headroom is still in business...

I don't say I'm right, but I have a W4S DAC-2 and my experience is consistent with yours. And that is exactly what I expect to happen.   One of the features of the W4S as I read about it was how it handles a USB inputted signal. It stores the sound in a buffer and re-clocks it and then sends...

Doesn't the USB input buffer and re clock the signal to keep jitter down? I get audio delay with the USB input. But not with the others. I expect that.

Quote:   With USB the computer and the DAC are communicating all the time. The signal will lock immediately. The Bryston has a lock light. The W4S DAC-2 shows the Hz of the signal. The Schiit 'clicks'. No matter whether music is playing or not this communication is steady and the Schiit...

Well I can tell you the phones in your avatar are the Sennheiser HD-800.

AirPlay works perfectly. At least for 44.1 files which is all I know. You set up an Airport Express or two and then you run a Toslink cable from that to a DAC of your choice and from there to a headphone or speaker amplifier. The airport express has its own DAC and will output an analogue signal...

I'm subscribing. Seems to me it would be a comfort dream! Let us know.

I didn't. I took Obzilla's advice and bought cable in longer lengths. From Q.   One great thing about HE-6 is that it comes with a 4-pin XLR to 1/4" SE adapter that is around 3 feet in length. That could always work in a pinch.

I can answer your first question. The Mac keyboard has an Option key. If you had different iTunes libraries you could hold that Option key down and then click to open iTunes. Instead of seeing your familiar window, you'd see a dialogue box. And in that box there are Tabs to select. It allows you...

You mean Mjolnir? Gungnir is a DAC only.

Headroom. Their BUDA DAC uses the Sabre chip I believe.

The Apogee mini-DAC has analogue output in the form of a stereo mini jack. Is that what you meant?

I came here looking for the meaning of OTL. It's very frustrating seeing all these initials without a place to look them up. The ones in general Internet use seem easy to find. But people use shortcuts here for technical audio that is not mainstream Internet. It would be great if the official...

I stream music from a Hard Drive via AirPlay to three different rooms. A MacBook Pro in room 1 is an AirPlay target and outputs via USB to the DAC2 and on to a headphone setup. It works perfectly. The other two rooms are also AirPlay targets thanks to two Airport Expresses each leading to their...

Does the BHA-1 have enough power to drive the HE-6 easily? Has anyone tried it?

Well we all know from experience they will take care of you. So like you say, no worries.

Ray Samuels Dark Star (stepped)

Thank you for that. The w4s is really for the headphone setup but I can make it do double duty. My next question was going to be about impedance when both the balanced and RCA outputs are used; balanced to a DarkStar and RCA to a Mark Levinson preamp.   I live in Manhattan. Many Airport...

  Setup 1 is a MacBook Pro playing networked lossless CD files from USB to a w4s DAC-2 to the pre-amp of my speaker system.   Setup 2 is the same computer using AirPlay to a wired Airport Express with optical digital out to a Bryston BDA-1 to the same pre-amp and system.   My question...

Those appear to all be 3-pin XLR. I did a search for 4 - nothing came up.

There are listening times when I don't want to be tethered so closely to the headphone amplifier. And the length of the supplied LCD cables is fairly short. I have a phone jack extension I use sometimes. I sometimes think it compromises the sound quality.   Soon I will be able to use the...

Yes of course. I'm comparing them even now as both have headphone amps in them. It's difficult though. The Apogee has a brighter sound which I think is a better match for LCD-3. But the headphone amp is probably not as high quality as in the Ultra.   I thought it would be an interesting...

Tantalizing in its brevity.   What do you recommend?

In a month I will receive a DarkStar amp to drive my new LDC-3. 4-pin XLR cable included in the box.   To start off I have two DACs I can choose between and I'm looking for some informed guidance.   One is a Headroom Ultra Desktop Amp with their Desktop Power Supply. I'm assuming it's...

evanl, Allow me to buy you a drink! It's exactly right. You are my new hero.