Those are some very helpful comments and great review of the Ananda Nano thanks @skeeb23

Anyone here with the Nano that can share any thoughts? Looking at upgrading from my HE400i.

How would you compare the Ananda Stealth to the 400i? Do you mean the headband on the Ananda is more comfortable the HE400i style headband?

Just looking for anybody who has owned the HE400i and found what models in the Hifiman line of Planar's offered the most noticeable upgrade? I'm interested in the Anando Nano.

Having read some very positive reviews about Lake People phone amps I'm considering purchasing. I was just wondering if anyone is familiar with differences between the G111, G105 MKII and G103 MKII models? Is the G111 the better out of the bunch? I can't find any reviews of the G105 MKII.

Gave it a clean so we will see.

The right headphone on my HE400i is losing it's connection. A wiggle of the headphone cable normally gets it back but it seems to be getting worse. Is this normally an indication of a bad cable or a problem with the headphone?

In this scenario wouldn't the AE5's DAC be permanently overridden for both gaming and music? If this is the most hassle free setup that is fine, I only need the AE5 for the DSP. The AE5 does have a direct mode (all audio effects disabled). Are there any other DAC/HPAmp combos with SPDIF you...

I would only need a HAMP with SPDIF if I want to send the AE5's processed audio through another DAC is that correct? If the AE5's processed audio is just going straight into a HAMP and using the AE5's DAC does it work with phono cables? I'm probably not too concerned which DAC is being used for...

What about for non surround from the AE-5 i.e. pure listening? Can an output be sent from the AE-5 to the Asgard and use a DAC in the Asgard?

Sorry does the Asgard 3 have a built in DAC?

@ProtegeManiac Do you think I would be better off getting a DAC/HPAmp combo with a better DAC? I only want to use the surround features from the AE5 for gaming.

If I take line out from my SoundBlaster X-AE5 does the X-AE5 still function as the DAC? Is the DAC in the X-AE5 worthy to pair with a headphone amp? The idea here is that any headphone amp I buy will be superior in sound quality to the SB X-AE5. Are the Shciit going to be on another level of...

Does anyone know anything about xDuoo?

I'm in NZ. Looking around the $600 NZD mark. This looks to be a popular store in NZ: https://addictedtoaudio.co.nz/collections/schiit-audio

Meier Jazz FF and WA6 look a little expensive for me. Zen Can and Schiit range look more modest...

Are there any tube or hybrid amps that pair well with planars? Are you missing out on anything not going tube with planars or do planars actually sound better with solid state?

Thanks InvisibleInk. Are there any other amps to consider?

I'm looking for a desktop amp to pair with my Hifiman HE400i planars. I plan to run a line out from my SoundBlaster X-AE5 PCIe soundcard to the headphone amplifier. In this case I assume the X-AE5 will continue to work as the DAC. I had liked the idea of a tube amp but after doing some research...

Regarding the card not seating properly when screwed back to the chassis is that an issue with the cards alignment or is the chassis misaligned? Something is out considerably.

I tried another slot (fully seated) and it's no different. I tried my on-board sound but it just can't drive my Hifiman HE400i. I'm basically getting pops in Windows like in this video: Is that normal with a Sound Blaster card or do I have an issue? Edit: Scrolling through the comments in...

Well Windows managed to install their Creative drivers again but I decided I wanted the official Creative ones. So I uninstalled the Windows ones from Device Manager rebooted and installed the Creative ones before Windows got to it. Shortly after Sound Blaster Command notified me of an even...

On-board audio disabled = yes. I appear to be getting the audio pops in a complete default state as well, no OC's and default BIOS settings. I'm running the Unigine Superposition benchmark in full screen and consistently get around 3-4 audio pops during each run. I have the AE5 on the PCIEX_1...

I'm experiencing audio pops and blips with my SB X-AE5. I'm getting them while gaming, skipping through Youtube videos and itunes music playback. I seem to be having trouble with the drivers but don't know if it's a direct cause. I have both the new Sound Blaster Command installed as well as the...

Have changed my mind and will probably mount the GPU normally. Not in a position to spend lots on a new case, case fans (011 Dynamic needs lots), additional water cooling gear + a new sound card. A good point about Asus Xonar though and my question is how does Xonar compare to SoundBlasters DSP?