[kazaakas]

If you dare to mod some to save yourself some money I'd vote for the M-Stage,
Purrin has some posts about modding it to an in his (insightful) opinion $700 worth amp.

 

[fuzzybaffy]

^ Also... if he considers an M-Stage, Matrix Electronics also has a separate DAC to go with the amp (not the crummy DAC that's added onto the M-Stage USB version). That goes for around $300, so if he gets the Matrix M-Stage amp for roughly $300, and the separate Matrix M-Stage DAC (again, not the one that's included in the M-Stage USB), for $300, that would round out his $700 budget quite nicely.

 

[kazaakas]

Quote:

^ Also... if he considers an M-Stage, Matrix Electronics also has a separate DAC to go with the amp (not the crummy DAC that's added onto the M-Stage USB version). That goes for around $300, so if he gets the Matrix M-Stage amp for roughly $300, and the separate Matrix M-Stage DAC (again, not the one that's included in the M-Stage USB), for $300, that would round out his $700 budget quite nicely.

That DAC is not nearly as popular as their amp though, many rivals on this forum that are recommended way more.
(I'm not judging or saying they aren't any good for their money, as I haven't heard it)

 

[paceee]

anyone got suggestions for a < $700 AMP?  I have the NuForce HD Icon (Amp/DAC) which I plan to use purely as a DAC.