Pro-Ject (https://www.project-audio.com/) has a variety of small CD players and CD transports. Search for the Pro-Ject CD Box S2, for example. I've read that the CD Box S2 is noisy when it's spinning, though.

Are there any small dongle USB DAC/amps that have balanced output for headphones (either balanced 4.4mm or XLR) ? I'm looking for something small like the AudioQuestion Dragonfly units. I'm looking forward to subscribing to lossless Apple Music or lossless Spotify later this year.

The MHA-150 is not just a headphone amp. It's actually a 50wpc integrated amp and has a DAC section as well.

What would be a good DAC to pair with this headphone amp?

Does anyone know what's the best Bluetooth 5.0 AAC transmitter I can use with the Airpods Max? Ideally, it would be something with Toslink digital input and Bluetooth output.

I use gear to listen to music. I don't use music to listen to gear.

The Airpods Max obviously have fabric earpads. Nothing close to leather or faux leather. Feel free to use leather; I don't care. It's a trite material. I'm discussing the Airpods Max, not laptops. Where do you see the logo on the Airpods Max?

I've been listening to the Airpods Max for a week. The sound is great. They're super comfortable to wear. The industrial design is what you would expect from Apple: modern, understated, and high precision. All the material is modern with no cliche elements like leather pads or huge insignia...

The cable is analog, not digital. Someone correct me if this pathway is wrong: Digital source --> RME DAC/headphone amp --> amplified analog signal --> Apple cable analog input through 3.5mm --> Apple cable digital output through Lightning --> Airpods Max DAC and amp --> analog sound So the...

If you're using the wire to plug the AirPods Max into the headphone output of the RME DAC, then the other unit's amplifier is in the path. That's why it sounds better.

The Airpods Max are outstanding headphones. Super comfortable. Bass is good, definitely not overwhelming. I've been listening to more music than usual. Build quality is great. When you hold it in your hand, you can feel its heft. The steel arms on the headband are unlike anything I've used...

Ultrasone announced the Volcano, a new build-to-order $20K vacuum tube headphone amp with a lifetime warranty. It is a pure headphone amp with no digital section. From an Audioexpress.com article: The Bavaria-based headphone manufacturer just introduced a new high end product to...

I saw the recent news on The Absolute Sound that Luxman released their new $16K USD flagship D-10X SACD player. It has digital inputs so you can use it as a DAC. What's interesting is that it has a DAC chip that I've never heard of before, the ROHM Semiconductor MUS-IC BD34301EKV. I've...

The new Denon AH-D7200 look really nice and remind me of their older D7000 headphones.    For reference, here is their old AH-D5000 headphones. I have these.       Here is their AH-D7000 headphones       And here is their current AH-D7100 headphones. When I saw this unit, I was...

  When you say "the amp", are you referring to only the headphone amp? Do you realize that the UDA-1 also contains a 20W stereo class AB amp for driving speakers? Maybe that's why it costs more.

Denon announced a new mini-sized CD player / transport, the DCD-50, that pairs well with their other mini-sized integrated amp, the PMA-50, that was announced a few months ago around December. What Hi-Fi has a report on this pair of components.   The new DCD-50 has a 32-bit/192-kHz DAC, but I...

What Hi-Fi in the UK has a review of the Pioneer U-05. Looks like a beautiful piece of gear.    Does anyone know if it's going to be sold in the USA?  

New review of the Marantz HD-DAC1 by Andre Marc at Audio Video Revolution, dated 1/9/2015. His opinion of the unit is extremely positive, although he mainly used it as a DAC preamp in his stereo system (rather than as a headphone amp). He loved the DSD sound.  ...

  Wait for the specs to be finalized and see what ships in the final product.

What Hi-Fi has a short writeup on the NWZ-ZX2. Improvements include the SD card slot, native DSD playback, and a more efficient Bluetooth audio streaming codec.        

This is really upsetting news for those of us in the USA. From: http://us.marantz.com/us/news/pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=95    The Marantz HD-DAC1 is expected to be available in black from October 2014.       It looks like Marantz is not bringing the silver color to the USA, only the...

That's a beautiful piece of equipment. The Marantz UK site has better pictures.   The only negative I see is that it doesn't have XLR balanced outputs, which others units like the Oppo HA-1 do have.      

It looks like Technics (part of Panasonic) is getting back into the high-end audio component game. At IFA 2014 this week, they announced two lineups: a Reference Class R1 and a Premium Class C700. Pricing and availability are not known, but What Hi Fi says that the R1 complete line is 40,000...

monoandstereo.com reports on McIntosh's new MCH1000 headphones revealed at the Munich High End Show going on this week. The headphones had previously been shown at CES 2014.   http://www.monoandstereo.com/2014/05/mcintosh-mch1000-headphones-new.html   NEW McIntosh MCH1000 headphones...

This month's Stereophile has a great review of the Sony HAP-Z1ES, which is their hi-resolution digital file player with 1TB of hard drive space. It's not a DAC, though, so there is no digital input.   http://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-hap-z1es-high-resolution-file-player