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HD800s' sound best with tube amps rather than SS amps. A combo will be difficult to find that will get best results. Also it is advisable to go for separate DAC & amp for performance purposes. I have listened HD800 with Bottlehead Crack amp and the sound was very nice. They are also in your budget limits. If you can increase your bugdet you can reach nirvana with Zana Deux amp. Crack OTL Headphone Amplifier Kit Zana Deux SE

Every HDD vendor has a software to control various things in the USB HDD. Check the company website. Also disable screen, windows, internal HDD etc. hybernating..

Make sure you have no other software running while using the drivers. Use a dedicated PC.. I own a M2Tech Young and had a problem with Foobar. Foobar freezes while playing and when I terminate the player I get bluescreen. The reason was the USB HDD hybernating. When drivers get no timely responce from the HDD they crash. Since I have disabled the HDD hybernating, it didn't happen again. Maybe this will help you. Good luck..

I've got my M2Tech Young DAC as part of my Head-Fi system few weeks ago. So far I am very happy with it. Looks nice and sounds nice. No complaints. First class D/A conversion, automatically recognizes sample rate changes and adjusts accordingly, nice soundstage. The driver glitch has been solved with the new software release last year. No apparent problems in hardware and software side. Excellent value for money, highly recommended..

Do you mean that when using Win7 and wasapi you can get auto-sample rates even if the DAC doesn't have proprietory drivers? I am still using XP Pro and ASIO, works flawlessly. Regarding to ASIO4All, I have tried it 2 yrs ago but I found the real ASIO drivers better. But may be latest generations perform better, I have to try. Yes, WASABI is the Japaneese horseradish. Tastes nice.

I am looking for a new generation DAC upgrade that will work with WIN OS. It has to do auto-sample rate change. To my knowledge this is only possible when the DAC has proprietary drivers using ASIO/WASABI. Apart from the Pro-Audio DACs', Weiss is the only one that is ASIO compatible. (means auto-sample rate change). What about the new generation DACs' like NorthStar, M2Tech, Wyred4Sound DAC2 etc? In their manuals it is not clearly stated. They don't have ASIO drivers but may be (I hope) they can do auto-sample rate. Anybody has info?

This could be a solution. http://www.tcelectronic.com/levelpilot.asp

With DAC202, Weiss has an analog volume controlled DAC for the first time. Most probably next generation Weiss devices will also have analog volume control.

Thanks Juergen, Barry. I have talked to a friend of mine who has a Weiss Minerva. He said he has tried Dithered Digital Volume control but ended up disabling it. He says it is sounds much better using his pre-amplifier as volume control.

Lot of new generation DACs' come with "dithered volume control" function. Weiss and new Northstar DAC, M2Tech DAC for example. Has anybody compared "Dithered digital" vs "analoque" volume controls? If the differences are not audible, it will enable us to new system setups.

I have 3 1TB disks. 2 of them are USB and one inside the computer. One USB disk is always connected and using "Karens Replicator" (freeware but a very good software) automatic backsups were made everyday. Second USB disk is not connected and I use it once a week and keep it outside. In case something happens at home. http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

I heard the greatest improvement, when I feed my DAC directly from a 12V DC battery. The differences were huge. Even if your DAC needs a (lets say) 5V DC input, you can have a very simple circuit that reduces the 12V DC to 5V DC. Very cheap and very effective.

Any news about the auto sample rate capabilities for Windows OS?

Bob, I have auditioned a Chordette with a 12V DC battery. (NP7 12V-7AH type) It is much better than the power supply delivered by Chord. I would say have a try.

Hi Marcel, Thank you for the explanations. As we have found an expert, I have two quick questions: 1. Is Zodiac+ an upsampling DAC or does it take the file and converts it without altering the sample rate or bit debt. 2. When listening from a playlist (lets say from Foobar with USB) with mixed sample rate, does it recognize the change and automatically adjust the DAC sample rate. Thanks