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Greggo

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  1. @austinpop thanks for being cool about my comments on the HD800/S and not taking me to the woodshed. Nothing but respect for HD800 owners who know what they want and how to get it. I am still thinking about the HD800S for my own listening studio as the "pros" are still unique and hard to match. With the right dac and amp, and there are plenty of good pairings to be found out there, they have plenty to offer and as you mentioned, for some genres they are tough to beat. To be as light and comfortable as they are, to throw such a huge soundstage and offer such good resolution, it is a major achievement for Sennheiser and one that has been holding court for a number of years now.
  2. I would encourage the OP to not bother with this path of a do everything dac/amp, and then focus on the HD800. I would avoid the HD800 unless you know the pros and cons of that headphone, and there are plenty of cons, is absolutely what you want. If so, forget about specs and most certainly forget about the DC-1 headphone section driving the HD800 well (meaning good signature and synergy, forget the specs). Do you want to focus on one TOTL headphone as the primary requirement? Do you want an all in one DAC/amp or the cost effective separates you can upgrade individually over time? People used to rave about the Benchmark DAC/amp for headphones, had great specs, would drive just about anything and do it reasonably well, but I can't remember the last time someone thought it was an ideal match for anything, or even good value for a headphone centric system. Most headphone systems over the last few years have also been hyped up for folks that mistake brightness for detail, so headphones that were bass light and upper mid and/or treble forward found favor. That trend is reversing now as folks to seem to have burned out on that particular journey. Now Senn and Beyer are bringing new models into better balance, AQ nighthawk has been a breath of fresh air, ATH-R70x has fantastic tonal balance, Ether Flow, Elear, etc... many headphones now have a more full bodied sound, some more "fun" than neutral, but not as fatiguing. There are plenty of headphones I would gladly pair with a DC-1, but the HD800 is definitely not one of them, nor is the HD800S. To drive studio monitors and sound good with Beyer and Senn headphones, you should also look at the Parasound Zdac v.2
  3. I have the DC-1 Stealth and like it very much, great value. One very good option that has not been mentioned is the NAD D 1050. I found it to be a tad smoother and warmer overall with better bass, but I hated the touch power button and source selector, and it died on me a few months ago anyways... but that was after a lot of moving around with it and loose wall wart connection. Given your thus far stated issues, the Schiit Jot with built in DAC is the way to go. If you are like me and prefer a warmer signature, then I would go with the NAD D 1050, then upgrade it with a iFi Audio iPower for $50 down the road, and then grab a Cavalli Liquid Carbon on the used market and a pair of balanced interconnects, and then a year or two later upgrade to a super duper DAC of some kind... That was my own journey, with some forks in the road and then I just said the heck with it and grabbed a used Cavallli Liquid Crimson and running an Audio-GD NFB-1DAC for now. Good luck with your journey.
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