Best headphone amp for Musical Fidelity system

[vasilli]

Good day headfiers. I've been a lurker for a year and while not having posted anything, I got infected by this site and and will soon be the owner of K701s (after much thought choosing b/w them and the HD650s). I am also picking up a Shure ES530 (for which I will need a good portable amp but it's another topic).

Now to my question. I'm looking for a good amp(s) to power K701s from my home system AND my work system. I will mostly (90%) be listening to them at work but I want to be able to enjoy them at home as well. So, seems like I need two amps. :/ Damn you, audiophilia. Or maybe, by magic, I can get something good for work that I can bring home once in a while. Not sure how good of an idea is hauling hifi equipment back and forth.

Home:
Computer -> MF TriVista 21 DAC -> MF TriVista 300 integrated amp -> Apogee Duetta Signature speakers.

I'm looking for just a headphone amp that would allow me to take advantage of my (pretty decent) DAC with the new 701's. I was thinking $300 to $500. I want something to be in line w/ my current system such that it is not the bottleneck of the quality. MF X-Can headphone amp seems nice, but from what I read it's an entry level amp. Benchmark DAC1 could be nice but I'd be wasting the DAC part b/c I already have one. In another thread a DarkVoice was recommended.


Work:
Computer -> blank -> K701s.

I need a USB DAC included w/ the amp to take full advantage of the phones. I can spend another $300ish for this. Keces 152 and 171 seem like good choices. I could also potentially bring them home and use the bypass feature to plug in w/ my home DAC.

Some advice or direction would be great. The amount of resources on this site (as well as potential candidates) is overwhelming for a noob. I don't mind dropping some cash but I would hate to be throwing it out (by making an uneducated purchase).

Can't wait to get all the toys! I'm really excited about this.

[Edit]
I decided to build one system at a time. I'm going to get a headphone amp w/ a USB DAC. I have narrowed down my choices. Please comment.

1. Yulong DAH1, $330 shipped
2. Keces 152, $495 shipped (this is getting expensive!)

or portable (cheaper is good) choices that I can also use for travel w/ Shure ES530 (but I'm afraid that they may not be good enough for K701s)

3. XM5 Bufdac, $287 shipped (tons of features!)
4. C&C XO plus, $220 shipped (I like the sleek design and it's the cheapest)

 

[achristilaw]

The Dac-1 is out! You claim to not need it's Dac feature..and that's the only thing going for it. It's amp is lacking!

The lowish impedance and low sensitivity of the 701 means you need current and a lot of it. If you like Musical Fidelity the new V-Can is solid-state and potent and at a good price.

You could use the money you save and re-cable the 701.

 

[tintin47]

Your home setup is easy. I would say look into a Heed Canamp. It is known to have awesome synergy with the 701. You really kind of need to go SS, or hybrid to take a hold of the 701 and drive the bass well. I am just going to list off a bunch. I would search bar them, and amping the 701s. There are a lot of threads on the subject. Here we go (All reputed to be good with the 701, though I haven't heard all of them.)

Heed Canamp
Musical Fidelity X-Can V8
Eddie Current EC/SS
AMB CK2III (I love mine)
AMB M^3 (nice bass boost if you feel the need)
Cayin HA-1A (though a bit out of your price range. Used?)
Woo Audio 6

I would spend all 800 on your office set up, though, if that is where the listening will occur. Most of the amps I mentioned, especially the SS ones, are small(ish) rectangular boxes--not at all hard to move, so you could take them home no problem. I would spend about 600 on the amp (or less, but assuming $800 budget) and 200 on a small office-only DAC.

 

[Godkin]

The DARKVOICE amps work really well with MUSICAL FIDELITY systems. I have an MF A3.5 and X-DAC V3 front-end and its sounds fabulous. My only reservation would be the K701s which have a rather low impedance, although preliminary reports say that the new DV 3322 works well with low impedance headphones. The 3322 would also be very much a home amp: I would not fancy carting about 6.5kg of an amp to-and-from work everyday.

 

[vasilli]

Thank you for your suggestion, guys. I'm going to make it a little easier. I have narrowed down my choices. (See edit). Please comment.