I compared the V-DAC, Beresford, and HRT MS2 head to head and kept the V-DAC while returning the others.   I use it with my Mac via Toslink to feed both my headphone amps and my Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp.   If you can find dealers with 30-day return policies, there is...

The consensus on this forum seems to be the 225s are better than the 325s.   I found a dealer willing to loan me the 225s and 325s to try side-by-side for several days, at home on my amp with my music.   I found the 325s to be clearly superior.   Always trust your own ears and enjoy...

Quote: x2. Very happy with mine.

Glad you got it working.

Welcome Shane.   If you have a $200 budget I would give you the same advice I gave my son. Try a set of Etymotic HF5s and Grado SR60s or SR80s. The HF5s are in-ear and are good for taking out of the house or in the car and the Grados are good for when he is at home and can listen to open...

Burn them in before you make a decision on the sound. Mine changed for the better after a two day burn-in and I really like them now. You have plenty of time to return them to Amazon so you can demo them.

That pretty much reads like a description of how mine arrived from Amazon. Unsealed box and unsealed plastic bags inside.

Don't be intimidated opening the amp. Better safe than sorry and it will burn out the amp it the switches are not set correctly. Just unscrew the bottom 2 screws from the front and back plate and take a look.

I am an idiot.   I opened my amp yesterday and changed the switches to run 408As. I then got a phone call, got distracted, and started listening to the amp with the 6J1s tubes still installed.   Mmmmm...the smell of burning electronics.   Lesson learned, always remove the tubes...

I'm in. #4864.  

I got my first headphone setup.  

I just got the new Audioengine N22 amp for a very similar setup. It actually looks good and it has a line-out for a powered sub. Hook it up directly to your AX for now and add an inexpensive DAC later.

Background:   My home office is currently a basement bedroom. The room also functions as a two-channel listening room. The signal path is AirTunes to APX to V-DAC to Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp to ELT525s w/ Ninja x-overs. The room also has 2 corner bass traps and 3 HF panels. I...