The HD600 is an excellent all-round choice for jazz, classical, or whatever.  It's an honest, neutral, detailed reproducer of whatever you feed them.  I  do a lot of hi-res LP ripping of all musical genres and these cans truly reveal the quality [or lack thereof] of the original vinyl -- I need...

Jude: Nice review - thank you!   BTW: How does the Lyr sound with the Senn's and Grados?

  Quote: I agree with kwkarth wholeheartedly -- the uDAC-2 is an amazing DAC/amp [don't be put-off by the low price] AND it handles HI-RES [96/24bit] audio via the USB port whereas the DacMagic does NOT [http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/specifications.php?PID=320&Title=Specifications]...

Quote: I use  uDAC2 > Asgard > HD600 and it sounds great.   The HD600's are very neutral cans and can sound a bit boring unless they are powered adequately - the Asgard provides more musical texture and soundstage than just the uDAC2 headphone outs [although these are superb for a...

Quote: Those 3 interfaces are A/D, D/A and firewire based. The Duet and 828mkII are 96/24bit and have their own proprietary drivers which are very solid while the FA66 uses the generic Core audio firewire driver which is also rock solid with this unit -- it also supports 192/24 bit...

Sorry, the second screen shot on my previous post [#658] didn't get thru - one more try:   "However in the latest version, which is part of MacOSX 10.6.x [Snow Leopard], we see the erroneously configurable input port:"  

Quote: That may indeed be the case [the receiver chip presenting it's 'calling card', so to speak, to the OS] but in the HDP [assuming the same USB chip is used] a different display in the AudioMidi utility shows the proper scenario: there is no INPUT to be configured as can be seen in...

@ JasolL:   "Our engineering staff mentioned that the problem could be USB speed can not handle duplex mode: with recording and playback both happening at 24/96."   I'm wondering why there is even a configurable entry for INPUT in the Mac's AudioMidi control utility in the first place...

Quote:     They must have changed DAC chips in the uDAC2 --> See post #126:   http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/456945/first-impressions-nuforce-udac-usb-dac-amp-with-line-out-and-s-pdif-out/120#post_6239103   Apparently NuForce WAS using an ESS9022 Sabre DAC in the previous...

Quote: When recording on a Mac, the AudioMIDI setup utility is used to set the sample rate & bit depth and for an audio interface which both records [A to D] and plays back [D to A] like the Apogee Duet or Motu 828, etc.  In this case, you normally have BOTH the input and output set to...

RE: the 'missing 96/24 bit output on the uDAC-2:   I've had the same problem intermittently for several weeks on several Mac's and reported this apparent problem with the USB driver to the NuForce help desk over a week ago.  In the meantime, [waiting for the Help Desk to return from CES]...

I've been using the uDAC-2 into a Schiit Asgard solid state amp [$250 US] with all of my phones [see my sig] and the combination has been superb - tight, authoritative bass, smooth detailed mids & high's.   Voice reproduction best I've heard so far.

You should be fine - just make sure that you turn OFF the power to the amp and the uDAC-2 before making any cable connections between them. It would be best [as with any system] to turn on the pre-amp [UDAC-2 in this case] first, followed by the amp to avoid any turn on transients.   I'm not...

The uDAC-2 using either the headphone output or DAC-only into Schitt Asgard makes the Grado GS 1000i's sing!   The headphone out is very transparent, spacious and detailed - makes familiar digital recordings sound new again and LP 'needle drops' sound beautifully warm and tonally rich.  ...

Quote:   I also brought a MacBookPro with a 1TB external drive full of hi-res music and an Apogee Duet 96/24 firewire interface which several folks stopped to listen to.  I've been buying hi-res files from the HDTracks and Linn web sites as well as digitizing my LP collection for several...

Quote: x2   I have used the HD600's [with Cardas cables] extensively for digitizing my LP collection with a high quality analog front-end [VPI turntable and Audio Research PH-2 phono preamp] for several years with a variety of audio interfaces [MOTU 828 mk2, Presonus FireBox and now...

Quote: X2   Been listening to the Asgard [with the HD600 and GS1000i] since I received it on 7/2 - unfortunately I don't have other head amps to compare to either other than the built-ins on my recording interfaces but this baby makes these phones SING!     I've been listening to...

Quote:   And that's exactly why it sounds great (to me) -- it lets the basic sound signature of the phone to come thru unadulterated.  If I'm using the HD 600 while recording it sounds squeaky-clean and neutral while if I'm listening for pleasure, it allows the GS1000i to sound 'warm &...

Quote:   Quote:   The Asgard is my first standalone headphone amp - been using amps built into digital recording interfaces for a long time but this one really brings out musical details that were previously hidden.  The mic preamps and A/D converters on the Duet are superb...

  Quote: Quote: Would really like to oblige -- but for some odd reason, I don't see any option for inputting/editing/showing a signature on the "My Profile" page. I had already put in all the gory eqpt details under the "Edit Community Profile" page but nothing seems to...

Quote: I've been listening to the Asgard for over 2 weeks (200+ hrs burn-in) using a variety of sources (analog & digital) with the GS1000i (and HD600) and I've never heard these cans sound better.  My sources are a mix of CD, LP and hi-res digital (HDTracks, Linn, LP hi-res rips). The...

My Asgard has almost 100 hrs so far and it's magnificent with HD600's [using an Apogee Duet as DAC.]   Ditto with the GS1000i   The sound of my LP conversions [using the Duet ADC] are amazing in their clarity and harmonic detail.  Since I'm a tube kind of guy, I'm looking forward to hearing...