[Zashoomin]

Hello,
This will be my first time trying a DIY amp and DAC project, so I am not sure what to build.  I have about $300 to spend on both, and was wondering what would be a good project.  I would like to be able to purchase the PCB and would like the amp to be a hybrid amp.  
Thanks in advance 

 

[MrViolin]

what was I thinking... ah. You could easily do a cmoy and o2 and have a bunch of money left over. Both are good for beginners. <- what they told me when I asked this 

 

[wakibaki]

If you want a hybrid headphone amp, then the Millett 'Starving Student' is highly regarded. In fact it's so outstanding there isn't really anything else in the same league. The problem is, you can't get the tubes, and if you want to go with a variant, like the 12AU7 version, you can't get PCBs. That's to the best of my knowledge, somebody might know better
 
Fred_fred2004 made his own PCBs, you could ask his advice.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/503895/12au7-starving-student-finally-finished
 
As for a DAC, there are lots of kits on ebay, or do a search here.
 
I built one like this:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAC-2496-AK4393-DAC-KIT-With-CS8416-AK4393-5532-/221197997558?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item33806d95f6
 
...cost very little, no complaints.
 
Or from here, there's Cobaltmute's GrubDAC:- http://www.head-fi.org/t/495043/grubdac-step-by-step-build-guide
 
w
 
Of course you can build the Starving Student point-to-point...