Scratch that last, I see that this is USB amp, and, most likely there's no difference with going optical or USB, meaning, soundcard doesn't make a difference.

Hey everyone! This question has perhaps been asked, but the topic is quite lenghty and I, unfortunately, don't have enough time to go through it all now. I'm purchasing these days Senns HD800, an AMP and perhaps a DAC (most likely Lehmanns Black Cube and M1DAC). If I get DAC and connect...

Thanks man. I will see with Ray what he suggests. I see B52 is way out of my current budget. Perhaps I should go for solid state (that's the 'normal', no-tube amp, if I understand correctly?) and go for tubes when I make a major upgrade, then get some really quality ones. Of course, I will be...

I just got an idea. What if I were to buy Asus Xonar Essence STX card, use it's DAC, spend all 1500e on the AMP, and later in the future, get DAC? Would it make more sense then spending the money on both the DAC and AMP?

Hey man, thanks for the response! I'm in the process of contacting every hi-fi store in the reasonable distance. I have found a store that has Senns, however they don't have any headphone amps. They do have a stereo amp Yamaha AS1000 which has built-in headamp, for 1175e. As for the DAC, they...

Hello everyone!   I recently discovered the joy of high quality music, and I am now in the process of setting up a nice system for my pleasure. I have around 2000-2500e to invest. Unfortunately, I am in no situation to tryout and see what works best for me, so I must rely on other peoples'...