405line

oops, just trying to get it right...i'll leave it...CHEERS

Yeah, I hope you went for it, it uses good quality parts as far as I can tell and is the DAC only part to this well known headphone/DAC>>> http://shop2.hifidiy.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10_24&products_id=103 I use one of these very DACS with my krell/bryston/kef 104-2 set-up in conjunction with an Indeed class A valve buffer stage using an e188cc dual triode, usb hiface/foobar etc...I am willing to pay "big money" for "analogue engineering" but not for digital stuff,(not after my experience with one of those horrible sounding up-sampling 384Khz CD/DAC things for £800-English, which ironically used the same cheap-but-decent Burr Brown opa2134 dual op-amp as does the stock $35 DAC) if you look at the innards of much of this hi-end stuff what are you are you paying for?..either hot air or "digital confusion" in my opinion and personal experience. Mine is used with 2 Burr-Brown opa627BP mono opamps operating in class A using 4.7ma CRD and 3.3k resistor, I also use a float charged >> http://www.harborfreight.com/automatic-battery-float-charger-42292.html 5ah 12v lead-acid battery http://www.maplin.co.uk/200w-portable-power-pack-225153 for the 12v PSU (13.3v on permanent float) as this has all the requisite safety fuses and 12v connections etc built in and of course is electrically very quiet.I DO NOT use the mains/inverter part of the said PSU. I set out to "ignore" most of the digital,blah,blah,blah and deliberately kept the DAC simple,and concentrate on the analogue side of things, despite this analogue "view" I would say the USB hiface digital interface does improve the "digital" sound as well and has given the DAC a further performance boost...I urge you buy one, it will remove much of the "digital confusion" from the sound for one reason and another..Oops, I am beginning to digress. It also appears works up to 24/176.4kHz...personally I stick to x2 (sox) upsampling. Not sure of how all this would compare to the high end and I know its all sounds a bit "nuts" but I reckon it's pretty damn good, it's also been good fun rolling valves etc...and fairly cheap.