[Happy Camper]

Yeah, the all in one boxes don't compete with dedicated headphone amps that have some investment put to them. By that, the Hilo has a pretty good amp but it's an opamp. I don't think it's as good as say the ZD, a well made SP, DNA, GSX, etc. But then those amps are more than the HIlo. The 800s, T-1 and HE-500 performed very well on it but I've heard them sound better on the better amps. Speaker amps do very well on those headphones. The USB on the Hilo is XMOS and while I've not really compared high dollar converters, it was better than my HiFace.

 

[Happy Camper]

FWIW, the investment in the power supply is everything in an amp. The gain stage, caps and transformer is the amp. The better components will shine.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Thanks for the very informative reply, actually matches to what I've heard about Hilo from other members here.

 

[DarKen23]

The amp in the da8 is very impressive. Im willing to bet that a person not wanting a dedicated amplifier for the da8 would be perfectly content with just the da8 alone. In fact, I dont know of any DAC/AMP unit with an amp as impressive as the da8. Project86 mentions that one would likely have to spend 400-500+ on a dedicated amp to rival the da8's amp. To my ears, the amp in the da8 is extremely clean and neutral with a enormous soundstage.

My only reason for a dedicated amp on the da8 was because I was looking for more bass slam and impact physicality. The A18 takes care of that in spades.

And this is the 2nd time you got my name wrong andrew . I dont know how much more I can take

 

[Andrew_WOT]

 
So far DA8 and perhaps Soloist down the road seems like a ticket.

Is there anything else in $2K range to consider?

 

[DarKen23]

So far DA8 and perhaps Soloist down the road seems like a ticket.
Is there anything else in $2K range to consider?

Sure, the d8