[LG24]

Hey everybody,
 
3 years ago I started my descent down the rabbit hole with the purchase of a pair of Shure 535's.  That was shortly followed by a pair of AKG 271 MkII's, and an Apogee duet to power them out of my MBP.
 
While I love the sound I get out of both headphones, the time has come for me to invest in a nice bedroom speaker set-up. I went to an audio / video store this weekend and fell in love with a pair of Paradigm Atom speakers, but am hopelessly lost when it comes to what amp and DAC I should be looking into.  
 
Would like to keep the budget around $500, but as we've all unfortunately found out on our own, that number is flexible...
 
I listen to mostly rock, folk, a bit of classic, and a bit of R & B / electronic.  Bass not a priority but would like a little punch.
 
Any ideas out there for me?? Music would be coming from my MBP
 
Thanks!
Grant

 

[RAZRr1275]

I'd go for the ODAC and Project Ember. Both swing above their price point and sound great .

 

[LG24]

Thanks for the recommendation!!
 
Where would I find those 2 products?  Who makes them?

 

[RAZRr1275]

You can get an odac from jdslabs here http://www.jdslabs.com/item.php?fetchitem=46&gclid=CMD6-pPft7gCFSVgMgod7SoAvQ
 
And a project ember from Garage1217 here http://www.garage1217.com/graphic_design_004.htm
 
If you have any questions about the ember, Jeremy who assembles/designed the non electrical parts of the amp has a head-fi account that he answers pms on. 

 

[LG24]

The Ember looks like great product but the prospects of home assembly scare me a bit.
 
Any other suggestions out there?
 
Thanks!

 

[RAZRr1275]

You can buy it pre assembled
http://www.garage1217.com/graphic_design_006.htm

 

[HeatFan12]

Well under your budget and sounds delicious.  Come join the fun!
 
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB11.32/NFB11.32EN.htm
 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/624517/audio-gd-nfb-11-32-delivery-impression-thread

 

[kingoftown1]

I've been very impressed with my TP60 over the past few months.  That would slot right into your budget

 

[LG24]

Thanks for all the recommendations.
 
The amp will be used 90% of the time to power speakers, not headphones.  Should I be concerned that the majority of these are designed as headphone amps, or is that just me reading too much into the name of the products?
 
My other idea was just to buy a DAC and then get a pair of Audioengine A5+'s.  Will the sound quality from those be substantially worse than the combo's listed above?

 

[Sir Tmotts III]

Then you'll need a power amp to go with this whole setup, on top of the dac and the headohone/preamp.

 

[kingoftown1]

Or, considering the budget it may be more reasonable to go with a standalone dac and an integrated amp.  The earlier posters who were recommending headphone amps most likely neglected or misunderstood the first post.