[DenverDude]

Would love to hear your thoughts on a solid headphone amp + dac that I can use with my MacBook Pro when I'm out and about as well as use on my desktop with the dac coaxial line-out to plug into a Bottlehead Crack. Looking for something $300 or under.
 
The phones it will be powering are:
Sennheiser HD650 cans
Sennheiser HD360 Pro cans
Monster Pro Turbine Copper IEM
Klipsch Image X10 IEM
 
Thanks for your help

 

[billybob_jcv]

Wait - I'm confused - coax out is usually a digital out, not an analog lineout - does your crackhead really have a digital coax input? Or do you mean RCA jacks? Or is it the desktop that has the digital coax output, so you want a DAC with both USB and coax digital inputs?

If I am understanding, then I think you could use a Fiio E10 - it runs off the USB power, and is a DAC/amp so you could use it with your Mac Book Pro, and it also has a digital coax input and a 3.5mm lineout for the desktop and Crack amp.

I think that's the sort of device you need - I don't know too many devices that have both USB *and* Coax inputs, headphone *and* lineout outputs *AND* can also be portable.

Edit: How about the iBasso D12?
http://www.ibasso.com/en/products/show.asp?ID=63

 

[DenverDude]

My apolgies billybob_jcv ... my I meant RCA jacks as an analog line out to plug into my Bottlehead Crack. I basically want to use the amp/dac as both an integrated amp/dac with a headphone as well as a standalone dac that has an RCA out that plugs into the RCA input on my Bottlehead crack. I don't really care all that much for a digital coax input, but it would be a nice addition to have.
 
So it would look like this:
MacBook Pro ---> dac/amp ---> headphones
 
... or like this ...
 
MacBook Pro ---> dac ---> Bottlehead Crack ---> headphones
 
Both the Fiio E10 and iBasso D12 look like perfect candidates ... thanks for those recommendations. It is much appreciated.

 

[billybob_jcv]