dac/amp recommendation

[nxcess]

Before you guys tell me to go over to headfi, I've already been there. I've been doing some reading on dac/amp combo and pretty much narrowed it down to either an audi-gd fun or a matrix mini i. This will be paired with an audio technic ad-700. Do you guys have any experience with these? I'm still trying to get a grasp of the terminology they use to describe sound.

 

[timestretch]

I only have experience with the Nuforce Icon HD and Icon HDP. Both are phenomenal, but I doubt the ones you listed are too much different. Yeah, different products do sound different, but at some point, once you spend enough money to minimize the fuzzy noise floor and make things clear and crisp and strong, there isn't a whole lot of room for improvement. Just try not to spend more than a few hundred bucks on your dac/amp and you're probably fine.

 

[Solstice]

I'm still trying to get a grasp of the terminology they use to describe sound.

Yes you and me both, it is difficult for a man to grasp terminology masquerading as "science" that is void of any empirical value. The terminology used on Head-Fi is the emotional (placebo mostly $) or the arcane/metaphysical kind... like the deluded fools who talk about "wider more coherent soundstage presentation with greater depth and 3D imaging" or "stunning improvement in macro dynamics and high frequency timbre" when refering to the difference that a so-called cable upgrade made to their Sennheiser 650s, of course the cable costing more than the headphones did haha!

If you were already considering the Audio-GD I say go for it, look at the insides.. damn its a thing of beauty! Superb engineering and components throughout.

Anyway, past a low threshold the audible differences between well designed DACs are so vanishingly small that your ears aren't good enough for the task. I can't tell any real big difference between the line outs of a Little Dot DAC1 (€300) vs. the reference quality studio DAC by Benchmark (€1200) and I doubt you, or anyone else would either.
The other factors at work when it comes to reproducing sound are so much more significant, speakers.. headphones.. room acoustics.. your mood that day, anything almost!

Edit: I spoke only of the DAC, well if you look at the spec sheet for that dac/amp it says it can drive a 600 ohm headphone with meaningless levels of distortion, also with an ALPS volume pot + Neutrik socket (durability!).
So there you go, it can do its job great. Nothing magical to it, of course the ever obsessive compulsive, derranged and insane audiophile type would disagree completely.

 

[Spooony]

any soundcard-for 100$ For that pair of cans if you want the best and your serious and fuzzy about your sound get the Asus STX soundcard.

 

[nxcess]

Yes you and me both, it is difficult for a man to grasp terminology masquerading as "science" that is void of any empirical value. The terminology used on Head-Fi is the emotional (placebo mostly $) or the arcane/metaphysical kind... like the deluded fools who talk about "wider more coherent soundstage presentation with greater depth and 3D imaging" or "stunning improvement in macro dynamics and high frequency timbre" when refering to the difference that a so-called cable upgrade made to their Sennheiser 650s, of course the cable costing more than the headphones did haha!

If you were already considering the Audio-GD I say go for it, look at the insides.. damn its a thing of beauty! Superb engineering and components throughout.

Anyway, past a low threshold the audible differences between well designed DACs are so vanishingly small that your ears aren't good enough for the task. I can't tell any real big difference between the line outs of a Little Dot DAC1 (€300) vs. the reference quality studio DAC by Benchmark (€1200) and I doubt you, or anyone else would either.
The other factors at work when it comes to reproducing sound are so much more significant, speakers.. headphones.. room acoustics.. your mood that day, anything almost!

Edit: I spoke only of the DAC, well if you look at the spec sheet for that dac/amp it says it can drive a 600 ohm headphone with meaningless levels of distortion, also with an ALPS volume pot + Neutrik socket (durability!).
So there you go, it can do its job great. Nothing magical to it, of course the ever obsessive compulsive, derranged and insane audiophile type would disagree completely.

Yeah. The more I read on there, the more I get confused due to the overwhelming information. Most of what I read about the dac/amp combo is that the owners end up using only the dac or the amp part. It's kind of true that combining both into one unit you sacrifice some of each to make it all work and fit. I'm probably gonna end up getting a separate dac and amp. I've been eye'n the matrix m-stage amp but haven't decided what dac to get. HRT Streamer II has been pop'n up a lot but the downside is that it only has USB input. I want to be able to use it with other things besides a computer.

any soundcard-for 100$ For that pair of cans if you want the best and your serious and fuzzy about your sound get the Asus STX soundcard.

Go troll someone else's thread. If I wanted a sound card, I would have inquired about a azunetech x-fi forte or an asus xonar d2.