Well, I don't expect AK120 to be able to drive your HD650, because it is simply not designed to do that. I think AK120 has only optical out and no line out, so I don't recommend using it with portable amps to drive headphones like HD650. Maybe you can use it as a USB dac.

  I should have known that...

  interesting....mine resets to 255....i was almost deaf....

I am also interested in this dac. I am thinking about upgrading my system, and the m dac appears to be what i wanted.

you can try the hud-mx1 or mx2, or the odac by jds labs. they are all pretty good dacs at this price

Based on your requirements, I think creative is a pretty good option to consider. Although, I think asus xonar is also not bad.

I've been using foobar for many years, not because it sounds better, but simply because it's very convenient to use. But recently I just switched to jriver

I used to own the old creative sound card, and I kinda look forward to this

Well, you should let us know what are you using as your source, and a budget would be helpful too

I don't think you gonna need an amp for your ae2, i think it works pretty well with you ipod. You will probably be better off saving your money:)

Never get the chance to try it myself, but I've heard a dozen people recommending it to others.

they look pretty sharp, and kind remind me of k3003

Well, I think the process of searching the perfect match constitutes an important part of the fun I get from all these.