If portability and small size are not priorities in your setup, you should seriously consider the JDS Labs ODAC.  It's an affordable, dedicated DAC unit with performance and sonic signature comparable to (and sometimes better than) DACs many times its price.   ***Disclaimer:  I have not had...

Quote:     Sorry - noob mistake.  Won't happen again. ...and thanks for the heads-up about the star rating system.

@eke - thanks...     At 266 pages, that's one heck of a thread!  LOL   I'll check it out - gotta be some really good info in there somewhere.  

Not that I have any personal experience with them (yet) but the Fischer Audio FA-003 ought to get some love... It averages 4.7 stars here on Head-Fi...  ?!   According to many of the *subjective* reviews in the FA-003 appreciation thread(s), its signature is comparable to the HD600 and...

Quote: Thanks for the suggestions - I'll do some more research.     ...and FWIW - I think I did more derailing than you did.     Anybody else have feedback or suggestions?

Quote: Hey, Happy Camper...   I get the idea that *most* headphone amps don't have the juice to really feed the HE-500 properly.  A number of head-fiers have mentioned in their threads that they use speaker amps to run this HP, as well as the HE-6, with great results.     I notice...

Quote: If you have a pair of tin cans and some string, YouTube @ 240p will sound like the original 24bit studio master. Just sayin'...