This is one of the reasons I love Schiit audio. They are relatively more affordable, more compact, and still sound great.
For example, I’m renovating my basement into a listening / hangout / gaming room. My main rig is in a pile waiting for this to be done. In the meantime I just have my living room system for watching movies and shows, playing video games, and listening to music. I’ve been swapping my components in and out for fun and currently have a Schiit Modi Multibit dac, a Saga + tube preamp, and Gjallerhorn stereo amplifier. I have a small living room so I don’t need a ton of power. This “system” totals at $1k. My speakers are a pair of X-SLS. No sub although I could add one if I really wanted to.
Long story short: It sounds really good! I wasn’t sure if the 10 watt/ch Gjallerhorn would be enough power but it’s been fine. It won’t shake the walls but it sounds better than I expected. The Saga preamp has a very transparent volume control made up of precision matched resistors and you have the option of using it passively or with the buffer. I have my Apple TV and video games plugged directly into my tv and the tv’s optical output going into the Modi dac.
Ok, so this isn’t high end but it sounds great for the money and is reasonably priced. Perfect for young broke audiophiles.
