anandpkumar Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) Given the current situation with lots of us folks working from home, I am wondering if there is a market for a combined headphone amp and DAC in a single unit. Clay already makes a headphone amp and excellent DACs - so will there be a market for a mid-level HP amp+DAC combo retailing somewhere below the $1000 mark? Say the HP amp and Klien DAC in a single unit? I sure would be interested. What do others think? Tagging Clay for his thoughts on this@Gieseler Audio Edited April 30, 2020 by anandpkumar 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gieseler Audio Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 Sounds like a great idea. OK I will do some R&D on it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rand129678 Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Gieseler Audio said: Sounds like a great idea. OK I will do some R&D on it. Possible to have an analogue volume control (not using DAC chip digital volume control) with a relay-switched stepped attenuator ? Avoids channel imbalance issues of analogue volume pots. Edited April 30, 2020 by rand129678 added more info 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gieseler Audio Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 Yes definitely possible. It will require a on-board microprocessor, code and some high-quality relays so that will add to the cost a bit. Actually I’ve just realised in the Konverter DAC/pre I used the analog muse volume control chip which is very transparent and I have that code worked out already. Anyway just another option. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rand129678 Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) 38 minutes ago, Gieseler Audio said: Yes definitely possible. It will require a on-board microprocessor, code and some high-quality relays so that will add to the cost a bit. Actually I’ve just realised in the Konverter DAC/pre I used the analog muse volume control chip which is very transparent and I have that code worked out already. Anyway just another option. Digital volume control is very transparent for sure but not possible to use digital volume control with the 'DSD Direct' option of the AKM chips. Using 'DSD Direct' mode with a nice analogue volume control (not pot though) would be a nice all-in-one headphone setup. I might be the only person interested though, so it might not be worth all the R&D time and effort. Edited April 30, 2020 by rand129678 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anandpkumar Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) And while we are in the realm of exploring possibilities - any thoughts on getting the DAC MQA enabled? No idea what this means in terms of additional cost - hardware/software. With so many of us using Tidal, the option to do MQA will definitely add value to the package Edited April 30, 2020 by anandpkumar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mac Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 19 minutes ago, anandpkumar said: And while we are in the realm of exploring possibilities - any thoughts on getting the DAC MQA enabled? I'm not sure if Clay is ready to drop his dacks, bend over and touch his toes. It certainly ain't cheap!! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anandpkumar Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 10 minutes ago, pete_mac said: I'm not sure if Clay is ready to drop his dacks, bend over and touch his toes. It certainly ain't cheap!! ha....ha - still worth dreaming about - as I said 'in the realm of possibilities'! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengineer Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) So many features you'd take over MQA first though. 100% would prefer any money spent on getting MQA support, to be spent on making the amp stage wonderful. Excellent volume pot. Range of outputs, both headphones and line out. 6.5mm, XLR and (maybe) 4.4mm output. Remote! Super black background. Built in USB treatment, or very least ground loop breaking. And comes with a good external power supply. The list, it grows! Edited April 30, 2020 by Bengineer 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raffinator Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Kind of like my two box solution. GroB DAC + Headamp. And the list keeps growing... needs to be a preamp for active speakers (I use Genelec). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarzan Posted September 3, 2020 Share Posted September 3, 2020 Don't forget VU meters That alone will sell a few 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengineer Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 VU meter with a headphone out, so we can listen to the little arm flick back and forth. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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