[biatche]

Deciding between TK2050 vs WM8740 vs AKM4396 (MUSE DT-50A vs AUDINST HUD-MX1 vs AUDIOENGINE D1 PREMIUM)
 
to pair with my old Logitech Z5300 (5.1->stereo, ill wait for extra dough for fine active speakers) to:
1. Music (mostly classical, orchestral)
2. Movies (stereo only.. don't need 5.1)
3. Games (stereo only, don't need 5.1)
 
I'm trying to decide between the 3. They all seem highly recommended. I can't work out which to take though. I like clear, lively sound. To understand that better, I dislike flat sound, like music without EQ. Just flat. I like to up low freq and high freq sounds a little bit inside the EQ.
 
Which of the 3 is for me?

 

[Snag1e]

The dac chip that a device uses really doesn't matter all that much. Implementation is much more important. I haven't heard any of the dacs that you mentioned, but I have heard bad things about several "ebay" dacs / amps measuring horribly. I feel that the Audio Engine D1 would probably be the safest / best bet out of the three that you mentioned.

 

[trog]

Your 1st order of the day before considering those is to move out of those Logitechs if u love your music IMO 

 Also the TK2050 is a tripath based amp used to drive passive speakers....

 

[iaudio]

The Audinst seems to be the preferred option in this range. If you dont need a hp out, you can go something which has just purely dac functionality.