[mix4fix]

Denon High Resolution Audio USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier

http://usa.denon.com/us/product/hificomponents/usbdaconverters/da300usb

[DS-21]

Would be cool for $99. For $499 I can't fathom why anyone would choose it over, say, an NAD D3020. Same price, better name, ability to drive speakers and headphones.

[Noseyears]

It has connectivity options which is nice, but the headphone amp seems aimed for people who own headphones below the 100 ohm range. They paid more attention to the Dac part.

[Letitroll98]

The Teac AH01 is on sale for $299 on Amazon right now.  50 watts, 32/192DAC, headphone amp, nice connectivity.  Teac is making some nice gear, maybe Comand Performance would match price, they carry them.

[JLM]

I'm a speaker guy, but glad to see this development for those without decent rooms (where the headphone option make tons of sense) or those who have learned the innate advantages of active (even powered) speakers and don't need power amplification.  Just some of options out there for DAC/pre-amp/headphone amps:

ADL Esprit ($870, no DSD, RCA analog input, very compact, good sound)
Ami DS5 ($750, very compact, great sound, but crummy volume control)
Asus Xonar One Muse Edition ($900, no DSD, fully balanced design, great sound)
Audio-GD NFB 28 ($800 with TCXO option, DXD, includes BNC digital input, XLR analog inputs and headphone/line outputs, great sound, remote)
Benchmark (various models $1000-2000, with/without analog inputs, compact, truly the benchmark for this type of gear)
BMC Pure DAC ($1800, includes AES/EBU input, XLR analog input/outputs, well built/good value, great organic sound, remote)
Grand Fidelity TubeDac 11 ($390, includes 2 RCA analog inputs, 3 RCA outputs)
Mytek 192 ($1700, firewire input, compact, great sound)
Oppo HA-1 ($1200, 32/284, 256DSD, AES/EBU digital input, RCA/XLR analog inputs, XLR headphone/line outputs, spectacular sound, remote, NEW)
Peachtree NovaPre ($800, no DSD, RCA analog input, 2 RCS line outputs, good sound, remote)

[srb]

Of all of the DAC/pre-amp/headphone amps mentioned above, perhaps only the Grant Fidelity TubeDAC 11 at $390 actually qualifies for this Cheap and Cheerful HiFi circle.

Steve

[JLM]

Of all of the DAC/pre-amp/headphone amps mentioned above, perhaps only the Grant Fidelity TubeDAC 11 at $390 actually qualifies for this Cheap and Cheerful HiFi circle.

Steve

True, but just wanted to paint a picture of what's available out there and the interest in the product niche.  To summarize the reviews I've found, the Grant Fidelity TubeDAC 11 is very flexible and offers a black background, 3D soundstage, and natural/smooth sound, but unfortunately also suffers from an overly relaxed (non-dynamic) nature.

Of course there is many lower cost options, including all those tiny $100-300 USB input only pieces that rely on the computer to control the volume and use a 3.5 mm analog output jack for either headphone or powered/active speaker use.

[DS-21]

The Teac AH01 is on sale for $299 on Amazon right now.  50 watts, 32/192DAC, headphone amp, nice connectivity.  Teac is making some nice gear, maybe Comand Performance would match price, they carry them.

I had a Teac A-H01. FWIW, I wrote a review of it. Short form is that it works just fine but looks kinda cheap and has some puzzling ergonomic foibles that may or may not be an issue depending on the intended use.

IMO the NAD D3020 at MSRP is preferable to an A-H01 at $300, but that's something reasonable people can differ about. (I don't own a D3020; no place to use one.)

I wish I could recommend the Kanto Yaro as an alternative. It uses the same Icepower 50ASX2 amp module as the A-H01, is cheaper, and looks much classier. However, circuitry in front of the Icepower module is not worthy of it. Very noisy. A Kanto rep commented on an Amazon review that they were revising the product to fix the noise issues, but I don't know if they actually have yet.