pwrjam

OP here... Sorry, been away for a bit. All I can say is WOW!! Thanks for all the input everyone! Head-Fi only got one reply to my thread. For those that were commenting on my choice of HD800's... I was only using them as a example of "epic class" set of headphones I'm considering. I was also thinking about a set of Beyerdynamic Tesla. Though I don't think I'll get them anytime soon. More along the lines of "a few years from now I might upgrade". I guess to narrow things down... I need all in one DAC to work for me now as I'm on a bit of a budget. My price ceiling (MAX) is $650. Again, it needs to do two things: #1 - XLR Balanced out that will go to my powered studio monitors. The volume control on the front panel must be able to control volume on the XLR outputs. #2 - great headphone amp that will hold me over for a while and also power a set of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (80 ohm version).

So after some digging I've found the following results that tick the boxes that I need in a DAC... I need a DAC to not only do the usual DAC stuff but also several other things: -Must have balanced XLR outputs that can be controlled via the volume of the dac so that I can connect the DAC to my studio monitors. -Must have a very good built in headphone amp for my current headphones (DT770 Pro 80ohm) and future headphones. -Also up there as far as features that I would like to have is a optical input. Budget? $500 would be nice to stay under. I've been toying with the idea of cans such as the Sennheiser HD 800 or Tesla T1. So I'd be willing to drop a bit more money on the DAC/Headphone amp if it's really worth it. Products I've found so far that look far: Emotevia Stelth DC-1: https://emotiva.com/products/dacs/electronics/dacs/stealth-dc-1 Schiit Jotunheim: Schiit Audio, Headphone amps and DACs made in USA. Matrix Mini-i Pro 2: Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 2 Any others that I'm missing?