[epoq]

Hey guys,
 
I'm looking for some recommendations on either an integrated amp or a receiver to drive both my speakers and my headphones.  I might be picking up a pair of floorstanding speakers to use with my PC setup and I am  tossing ideas around on which amp/receiver to go with.
 
 
Basically I need an amp/receiver that is capable of higher end output.  I've seen people recommend the Onkyo A5-VL but I believe the max output per speaker is 40w and I would like something that goes a bit higher  than that but also works very well with headphones.  I am currently using an Onkyo M-282 integrated amp that goes through my X-Fi Titanium sound card.  If I pick something up receiver/amp wise that has an excellent DAC I have no issues routing the optical from the receiver/amp to my sound card and bypassing its DAC, but if it's a ****ty DAC but good otherwise then I can just continue using my sound card, not a big deal.
 
The reason I would like a good headphone output on the amp/receiver is because I would prefer to not have to additionally buy a headphone amp and end up having to disconnect things on the back of my computer/amp when I want to switch between the two.  Most receivers with headphone inputs mute the speakers when something is plugged into the headphone jack.  Makes it a lot easier for me.
 
SO -- what's the best bang for my buck receiver/amp wise?  I do not own a pair of high-end headphones currently, but they would be my next purchase.  I am looking at Denon D600's and Sennheiser HD650's potentially, so the amp would have to match well with one of those.  Music is mostly metal/electronic/dubstep, lots of bass.  My budget for the amp or receiver is realistically around $600.

 

[derbigpr]

Onkyo A-5VL is a good solution, don't worry, 40W per channel is plenty of power, unless you will run some huge floorstanding speakers in a big room. I have mine in combo with Kef Q300 which is one of the biggest bookshelfs and pretty hard to run, and they work perfectly fine, definitely not underpowered.  You might also wanna check out the Rotel RA-10, 11 and 12. They have better DAC's than the A-5VL and sound better overall, but they're more expensive. Also, NAD C356 has a DAC inside, but imho the whole thing sounds a bit muffled.  One thing you don't have to worry about is the quality of the integrated DAC and the power for headphones.  I actually prefer the DAC inside the A-5VL to Asus Xonar Essence ST, it just sounds nicer somehow, and apart from slightly lesser bass performance and slightly less detail in the midrange, it almost matches the Musical Fidelity m1dac.