[eac3]

This is a followup post to the "$500 budget for Mag Dogs" thread someone else posted. They settled on a Schiit Bitfrost and Asgard 2.
 
I currently have the Mad Dog's with the Schiit stack and probably will get the Alpha Dog's once reviews start coming in (and possible offered in another colour other than red) but I am looking for the best separates under $1k.
 
I have read many times that the Mad Dogs do scale well in terms of performance when given more power. I am really not looking at DIY or tube amps, and I have read that Audio-gd provides a much better product for the dollar compared to others.
 
I do not know whether I like a warm sound. I listen to a lot of ambient/house/deep house/chillstep music. I have only listened to my Mad dog's through an FiiO E10 and the Schiit M/M stack. 
 
DACs
+ Audio-gd NFB-17.32 - $500  (Supposedly neutral DAC) - Link
+ Schiit Bifrost Uber - $525   (Seems like the goto suggestion) - Link
 
 
Amps (Solid state only please)
+ Audio-gd SA31SE - $575 (Can set level of "warmth" and provides lots of power) - Link
 
 
Thank you.

 

[puskuruk]

Can Matrix m stage drive mad dogs or paradox?And you can think schiit majolnr+dac port lx combo.

 

[eac3]

Thanks for the reply. I am having some difficulty trying to find info on what and where I can learn more about the paradox. Do you really think the m stage would be able to drive the mad dogs as well as what I have listed?
 
Any other suggestions?

 

[burnspbesq]

Concero and Gilmore Lite (out of production, but frequently offered for sale here).  Or Concero HP.

 

[petervenkman]

Anyone have first hand experience with the mad dog and gilmore lite?

 

[WickedChicken]

Does it have to be separates?  The Wyred4Sound MPre looks very appealing to me and seems to be a very nice PreAMP/DAC with a very capable on headphone amp on board.  
Of course i have no first hand experience with them but it is on my short list as my next desktop solution. 
It does go a bit over that $1k target ($1099) but it still seems like a great all in one solution.  

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  Anyone have first hand experience with the mad dog and gilmore lite?

I have GLite with DPS and it drives Mad Dog just fine, with gobs of headroom to spare.
I did some quick comparison against Burson Conductor amp/dac, driving Conductor DAC output to GLite and to my ears GLite did a better job delivering all the details without any glare or harshness in a more relaxed, not much into your face fashion.
Kind of surprised me as GLite is like tiny fraction of Conductor's size. Sounded like Burson tuned their amp a bit too aggressively, a-la Grado style.

 

[eac3]

  Does it have to be separates?  The Wyred4Sound MPre looks very appealing to me and seems to be a very nice PreAMP/DAC with a very capable on headphone amp on board.  
Of course i have no first hand experience with them but it is on my short list as my next desktop solution. 
It does go a bit over that $1k target ($1099) but it still seems like a great all in one solution.  

 
Thanks WickedChicken for your suggestion. No, it doesn't have to be separates and I am actually considering the Audio-gd NFB28