[peter braun]

Well in the next two weeks or so I am going to begin putting together a desktop hifi rig. With my main 2-channel setup in storage, this will be my primary source of music and I forsee duties being split 50/50 between speakers and headphones. Thus far I am leaning stronging toward a Nuforce Icon 2 and AudioEngine P4 combo. Any other suggestions for amp and speaker combos that I may be overlooking? I want to minimize clutter and like that the Icon 2 is combination headphone/speaker amp and DAC. Are there any other models that combine an all in one utility? Budget is rougly $600 and the headphones being used are Sennheiser HD600s. Thanks.

 

[06S2k07Si]

Great stuff here: http://www.theaudioinsider.com/index.php?loudspeakers=swan-active-desktop-sound&cPath=21_24
 
and more here:
http://www.swanspeaker.com/products/products.aspx?cid=5
 
Brian

 

[gregmli]

I've been looking for alternatives as well and so far the only alternatives I've seen are these:
 
Travagan Red/Green:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/travagans-red-headphone-power-amplifier
 
Glow Audio One:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/glow-audio-one
 
I think for my purposes though, the NuForce Icon has the right feature set