I've been going back and forth a lot on how I want to handle my headphone upgrade path. I currently have a pair of Shure SRH-940s, and have access to some Shure SE535 IEMs from time to time that a buddy owns. I own an iPod Classic and in the near future the Pure i20 dock. I would like to use my headphones both at home and at work. At home I have a growing collection of 24/96 downloads on my desktop PC. I was considering getting the Leckerton for the following uses:
1) At home in combination with a toslink cable from my PC into the Leckerton's DAC for my 24/96 and other files.
2) At work with the Pure i20 dock and toslink cable to feed the iPod into the Leckerton
3) On the go with a line out from the iPod into the analog input of the Leckerton
I am aware of the USB DAC capabilities as well for PC use, but it would be nice to experience the 24/96 files at full resolution. Maybe if I get an iDevice in the future with USB out capabilities that would be a good application...
Is it worth getting the Leckerton (or any other amp) for the uses described above, especially uses 1 and 2? If there's not much gain to be realized from tapping into the iPod digital signal via the Pure dock, maybe I should just get a separate USB DAC and headphone amplifier? I also didn't know if anyone here prefers using a dedicated USB DAC from a PC versus an SPDIF feed into the Leckerton.
Long story short, does the Leckerton seem like a good idea for my needs, or am I trying to accomplish too much with "one box"? Buying something like the O2 amplifier + ODAC would be around the same price as the Leckerton with the O2 being less portable. Portability isn't as much of a concern- primarily carrying it back and forth to work and home- but I am open to options and suggestions
Thanks for your help everyone!
-Tyler