Recommendations on low-budget amp or dac to complement the ATH-W5000

[soocha2]

So, I've just bought the ATH-W5000 online and it is to arrive at my front steps tomorrow which I am very eagerly looking forward to. I've read many reviews here that W5000 is one of the hardest or should I say pickiest headphones to match with. Unfortunately, my budgets are very limited and as much as I would like to go for the HA5000/W5000 combination, it just isn't gonna happen until maybe some few years later when I've got the bucks. So in the meantime, it would be great if anyone could recommend some cheap but good dacs or amps that I can mix up with W5000 to get the sound going. Please Help!

 

[mikop]

Never heard the W5000, but as far as general entry dac/amp, I would go with Audio-GD NFB-12.
 

 

[wind016]

I had the W5000 but didn't like it through rather neutral sounding equipment. It seems almost a requirement to have the matching HA5000... =/

 

[soocha2]

mikop, thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely look into the Audio-GD NFB-12. From reading the threads on the Audio-GD's, it seems like the dac+amp provides warmth to the sound which definitely could suit the W5000 which seems to have those qualities missing
 
wind016, as for the HA5000, that is actually my ultimate goal: the W5000/HA5000 combo however as a college student, spending several hundred bucks on a single headphone was already something my wallet could not handle. But definitely hoping to get that rig set up!