[rafael999]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I would like to have some advice.
I did some extensive reading on all of the DAC/AMP combos listed above, but I just can't get to a final decision, it seems that everyone of them has a different feature that would be more appealing than the other. My main use would be out of a Macbook and ipod classic using my recently purchased Sennheiser HD650.
Example: Fiio E7 has good portability, great reviews, all needed connections, but do no upsample to 24bit/96kHz
HiFi-Man EF2A appeals to me for having a tube, although I don't know how good it would pair with the HD650.
Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 is not as portable, however it lets me connect to my receiver/turntable to use as a tube pre-amp, but I read in another post that it has some problems upsampling to 24bit/96KHz through USB.
NuForce Icon uDAC-2 does the upsampling but I was a little scared away from this one after reading a test that was performed by another member.
 
Is upsampling really important when listening from flacs and such? Will tubes make it for a much warmer sound than the other choices? Any other options in the $100-$200 range?
 
I appreciate any help I can get. I know I may have got some mis conceptions somewhere, but it was a lot of learning for 4 days and I didn't quite assimilate all of the parts yet.

 

[hrbballman]

I was just in your position! but now i've decided to save my money for a little longer and just get a seperate Dac and headphone amp.  I'm not an audiophile like some of the guys here but I will say that i'd stay away from the e7. especially if its gonna be for your computer.  its a good choice if your doing line-out from an ipod though.  with the e7 i think you'd get upgraditis really quickly.  As for the others i didn't do as much of research.  I considered the maverick but didnt do enough research to give my opinion. hope i've helped a little

 

[brendon]

^^ Good point. I too would say, save up and spend on something better. The HD650 is one headphone that scales noticeably with better equipment and I have heard the EF2A, Tubemagic D1 and the uDAC 2 and none of them can do justice to the HD650.

 

[rafael999]

Thanks for the advices. However, I do need to get something by the end of the week (I'm leaving the country in 2 weeks, so it will be another good 6-8 months before I can invest some money in audio equipment again).
hrbballman suggested the E7 was good with the portable, perhaps the E7 + E9 would do a better justice with my desktop?
I still want some opinions the HiFi man though. Thanks