[Ian Balisy]

I took some time recently to pick out my next set of cans and decided on the Denon D2ks. I'm mainly into high-end home audio, so I don't get pulled into the head-fi end of audiophile grade equipment very much and I spend enough on home audio to not want to put too much money into headphones and equipment. But I do want a solid, neutral sounding setup for private listening.
 
My question is this: what DAC should I get with a budget of about $50-150? I'm pretty much set on the Schiit Asgard for an amp since I've read great things about it and a lot of people on head-fi talk about it being the best match for the D2ks.
 
My source is a Macbook Air and almost everything is in lossless or another high quality format, so the quality is there.
Suggestions?

 

[NA Blur]

Why not go with a Total Bithead and have both a DAC and Amp into one.  This is a very respectable piece of equipment that I have used for years and its slightly bright signature will compliment the D2000 well.

 

[Pelotonjon]

FiiO E10 or FiiO E17.

 

[Ian Balisy]

So FiiO E10 or Total Bithead? These will certainly not break the bank, and I have heard good things about the Total Bithead. My question is, will either have enough power to drive the D2000s? Some people say they're easy to drive, but many more seem to say they're relatively hard to drive for low impedance headphones.
 
Second question: If I felt inclined to throw a little more money at the setup, would the Yulong U100 outperform the Total Bithead enough to justify the $75 price difference? I've been interested in the U100 since it seems to get nothing but positive feedback.

 

[Ian Balisy]

bump

 

[Deutscher]

I'm also very interested in this if people have other suggestions.
 
I am looking into purchasing either the D5000 or the D2000's and I'm told that it would be best to get a DAC/AMP to power these.
 
Thanks.

 

[Ian Balisy]

Been reading about the Audio-gd NFB-12, seems to get quite a bit of praise. Also looks like it has quite a few options and is about the same price point as the Yulong U100. Comments on these and how they would compare to the Total Bithead or lower priced DAC/Amp combos?