[Senpai3330]

Hello everyone, recent events have made me begin to seriously question my E7/E9 combo. I'm looking for an introduction into tube amps now with enough power to drive
DT880s
K701s
and a pair of high end orthodynamics in the future (HE-5LE maybe). ** This is actually a somewhat important criteria for me.

I'm hoping for an AMP/DAC combo so I don't have to look for source hardware (which is another field where my knowledge is completely lacking, and I don't think my wallet would be up for it). So since it'll be pairing with a couple headphones, I'm not looking for a niche pairing. And I'm hoping to stay in the budget category.

I am a starving student, less than $500 (which is still about half a year of saving) is my budget, so I've been looking at:

Maverick Audio Tubemagic A1 (has a DAC right...?)
Schiit Valhalla (Lyr is also a possibility if there's not enough "oommph" in the Valhalla, but I'd really hate to pay for more than I need)
Matrix M-Stage...actually no too crazy about this

Honestly I haven't done too much research into this. Some budget DAC recommendations while you're at it would be nice.

 

[Gatepc]

I don't think your going to find much that will drive orthos thats tube and cheap other then the LYR. I really liked the Eddie Current stuff but its out of your price range. I would say aim for the LYR.

 

[sizzlincok]

If you researched a bit more, you would see that the Maverick Audio A1, and D1 have their own very informative seperate A1 and D1 threads.
 
This is for the A1.
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/500259/maverick-audio-tubemagic-a1-hybrid-amp-condensed-faq-and-info-thread
 
I'm sure you'll find that the A1 has no DAC, and it takes analog inputs only.
Where as the D1, well go read up!
 
Since you only have $500, the A1 and D1 both cost $200 each from Maverick Audio.
That's $400 total. 
Get them both!

 

[Uncle Erik]

Don't get hung up on tubes. They're expensive to do right. For $500, you can get a good amp only if you build it yourself. Which isn't a bad idea and they're not as difficult to build as you might think.

But if you want a commercial system, consider the PreSonus Central Station. It runs around $500 new and has a DAC and two independent amps. I had one for awhile and really liked it. It also got good reviews a few years back. I only sold it because I moved from listening to the computer to vinyl/SACD and it was sitting unused.

 

[Senpai3330]

Thanks Erik, I took a look and it actually does seem like a fantastic value. So this does monitors too?

Also, I saw it had enough power to drive K1000s from a few old reviews, how do the more recent orthos compare to the K1000's requirements (basically will this drive them?)