Quote: Sorry for sounding ignorant, but how would you choose between using the uDAC-2's volume pot vs. your headphone amp's volume pot? I'm currently feeding the uDAC-2 to an M-Stage via the RCA out jacks. I originally thought that the uDAC-2's RCA output was straight line out, but I...

Quote:   :-) Fine fine, I may have overdone it. Although you have to admit that as you get sucked into this world, you're going to inevitably blow hours of your free time researching, so you can't really factor that in. Good catch though, headroom overhead would be additional :-) .  ...

I'm in the process of ordering all the materials to build some cables (both to check if there is a difference and just so I can have some extra cables of different lengths, like a really long one to use in bed and a short one to travel with, etc.) and some interconnects. I really believe that...

I'd also check out the Matrix M-Stage. It's been getting fantastic reviews, and I just picked one up (lightly used) for $210 shipped.   NOTE: All of the following is presented as my own summary of many, many threads that I have read here on Head-Fi over the past month or so. Being a fellow...

Quote: They're coming out with a new DAC? Successor to the Mini-i?

Quote: Ah, gotcha. So a good looking, but sort of overpriced digital passthrough for use with other DACs. I just think it's strange someone would buy a uDac simply to feed the digital signal to a more expensive DAC, but I suppose it makes upgrading convinient for those without digital...

I'm a bit confused... What's the point of an S/PDIF passthrough? The whole purpose of a DAC is to convert from digital signals (like S/PDIF) to analog signals (carried by RCA), right? Is it so you can hook the S/PDIF to a home theater receiver and use the receiver's DAC when the uDac is off...

Quote:   x3   I'm in the exact same boat. I want to pull the trigger on a used M-Stage (for ~$75 cheaper than an Asgard when factoring in taxes and shipping), but can't decide whether it'd be prudent to wait for the Asgard or not. My new cans (HD650s) are arriving soon, as well as a...

Hey Jason, if I were to order a Valhalla in the next couple of days, realistically when do you think it'd be shipped out?   Thanks again for making yourself available to the users of head-fi. It's always helpful when you can directly talk to the manufacturers :-).  

I would go through the FS/T forums and look for a cheap CMOY build (or maybe build it yourself if you want to experiment with some DIY). Also, check ebay for some CMOYs They're about the cheapest OK amp to get (from what I hear).