This is an important question, but one that is almost impossible answer.  Everyone has his or her own personal preferences which make the question very subjective.  It is not just how much you value the amp, but also how much you value the money that you would use to purchase the amp.   In...

Are you serious?

My recommendation would be to use the headphone out. Later you can get a balanced amp and balanced cable. The balanced out on these DAC's are not designed to drive headphones, and I personally think the headphone out on my Dac-1 is better than using the XLR outs directly.

Great! That's super nice of you mrarroyo.

mrarroyo: PM sent. By the way, I sent the amp off to online site Headphonista. So, expect another review! In addition, Kingrex mentioned that there was another reviewer interested.

The question is really too broad. I think it depends on the specific manufacturer or seller. There are some good deals, some okay deals, and some junk -- probably like any other country!

Quote: Originally Posted by mrarroyo Great review but ... Thanks for the comment mrarroyo. I have enjoyed reading a lot of your reviews. In particular, your comments on the Solo contributed a lot to my decision to purchase one. In my first, very brief audition, I did not...

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the positive feedback. Quote: Skylab: Just one question from me - was the unit you reviewed the same one I reviewed, or was the one you reviewed updated in any way? This is a simple question with a somewhat complicated answer. Officially, only the...

*reserved*

The Kingrex Headquarters HQ-01 is a headphone amplifier unit that retails for about $895. It is single ended, solid state, and two case design. I have listened extensively to a review sample for the past three or so months. In my opinion, the unit compares well to the Graham Slee Solo and is...

The Dac-1 headamp is definitely good enough to use on its own, but you can also improve upon it with the stand alone amps. I would try the internal amp first, then upgrade later if you want to.

I don't know if this is on-topic or off-topic, but I am considering purchasing the JH-13. My number one concern is the insertion/removal process. I currently own the Ety-4S, which are universal iem's, and there is a bit of discomfort in putting them and taking them out. Plus, I find that when I...

The most disappointing headphone purchase is the one not made.

Please put me down for a bronze pico with DAC and 6 ft USB cord.

There's a lot of dishonesty in experiments and reporting statistical results. Even if cables did not make a difference, it would not be that hard to get a so-called statistically significant result. If you run an experiment a 100 separate times, you're going to have a pretty good chance that at...

And "Fail to reject the null hypothesis" does not mean "Accept the null hypothesis". It's a very simple logical statement that A implies B is not equivalent to not A implies not B. There are all sorts of reasons why one may not get statistical evidence to reject the null hypothesis when...

I have to agree with earwicker's sentiment that many people who claim to be proponents of the scientific method really aren't very scientific in their reasoning. A common mistake is to take the word of a scientist, thinking that amounts to the scientific method! But, actually, there's a...

This is already been suggested, but I'd kill for an all-in-one DAP with the quality of a micro-stack, that supports a lossless codec like FLAC. The current solution of a DVD player + desktop portable/micro stack is hardly portable, and a more portable DAP + amp, which is still a kludge, has...

Quote: Originally Posted by mkozlows I think the real lesson of this thread is that many people have no taste at all, when it comes to design. The old Headroom stuff is hideous and amateurish, and that gaudy Singlepower picture from earlier in the thread makes me avert my eyes. The...

I haven't bought an amp yet - still using (and enjoying) the internal amp on the dac-1. I've pretty much decided on the nx-33 -- I am just waiting to make sure this is the amp that I really want, and that I really think any amp is worth this amount of money. Interestingly enough, considering...

45 pennies, 1 quarter, 2 dimes, 2 nickels.

Thanks for the input guys. I'd like to stay away from tubes, due to warm-up issues, longevity of the tubes, etc. I'm looking for fast, detailed, accurate sound. I'm not really looking to change the sound signature, just to get more soundstage, detail, realism, etc. Applebook, your...

I currently own a recent version of the benchmark dac-1 and the hd-650, and was wondering whether its worthwhile for me to upgrade to a stand alone amp. I've mostly been using the dac-1 amp with stock cable. For a few months, I listened exclusively via a balanced headphile senn cable directly...

The amp must have been updated to employ stealth technology.

I'd also say that head-fi shouldn't have a ratings system. 1. Putting a numerical value on amps isn't that informative. People have different personal tastes of what sounds good, different values of various features, different tolerances of different types of flaws, and so on. The ratings for...