I'm thinking of taking a risk and getting this:
http://www.ebay.ph/itm/Valab-WM8741-24bit-192k-USB-DAC-Dual-WM8741-Balanced-XLR-Output-Black-Face-/280936060112#ht_2442wt_902

Can't find feedback on it anywhere but the measurements seem great. I can't find jitter measurements though, and I don't know what type of USB implementation it has. The internals look pretty though. Any thoughts on the information provided?

Edit: more pictures http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=15057452905

An alternative might be the NFB-17: http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB17/NFB17EN.htm

Ive owned the basic valab before. Hard hitting and immediate sound but lacks some air. The noise was unnaceptable though. For the price and the moddable nature, they are pretty cool

Was it the NOS DAC with the 8 TD1543 (iirc) chips? I'd expect this new DAC to sound very different, but that basic DAC was how I found out about Valab.

I don't think any headphones are good enough for uber amps/dacs to matter.   

I used to say that, but to some degree have proven myself wrong, at least with the latest 'stats and orthos.

After reading all the reviews of the Calyx, followed by my experiences, I'm pretty disappointed (though not after adding $1k+ of low-jitter and all that digital front end to it). There is a lot of talk about DACs that sound like a good vinyl set-up. I think the problem is that these people who write the reviews accept the digital "glare" and other issues as being ok and normal, even in a high-end DAC. I find it totally unacceptable.

I can't multi-quote here (that I can see) so I'm just going to post some shotgun comments:

Metrum Octave: It does sound a bit mellow, so someone who would prefer something more in the direction of a Lavry or Benchmark wont like it. I'm picky about instruments sounding real and not "digital" so I like it. It is too mellow in some combinations. It is always possible to use a program to do high-quality up-sampling and feed the DAC with that for more clarity. I reckon the Hex will be a huge giant-killer.

NFB-17: I have the NFB-16 and it is excellent. I strongly suspect it is the new USB implementation that nails it. Best WM8741 implementation I've heard so far (though I haven't heard the PWD for more than a few minutes at a meet). That is it really just a low-end portable is crazy. Am taking it to Tokyo with me to compare to the ODAC etc. to to make sure I'm not crazy, but for something that basically sounds like a more musical Dragonfly I find it immensely satisfying.

TotalDAC: Best set-up I've ever heard was from a hidden DAC built in much the same way at the Bakoon table in Tokyo. TOTALLY ruined me for the rest of the meet. Couldn't switch to another track while listening it was so glorious. It doesn't surprise me that all the top players use similar tech.

Dave: Trying more obscure pro DACs would be interesting. My ULN-2 is AKM-based and sounds lovely, just lacking in detail and configuring it is a PITA, but it proves that pro DACs don't all sound like the Benchmark. My dream DAC for a while was a Lavry Gold.

Jitter: it's not just jitter, but S/PDIF implementation as well from what I have come to understand. I think USB may be going through the issues that S/PDIF did in the past.

Quote from: rhythmdevils on September 23, 2012, 10:12:05 PM

I don't think any headphones are good enough for uber amps/dacs to matter.   

I think DACs and amps probably matter more with headphones.  Most headphones suck in a lot of ways but they generally wipe the floor with speakers in non linear distortion.

Problem is speakers still wipe the floor with headphones with linear distortion and imaging

Problem is speakers still wipe the floor with headphones with linear distortion and imaging

But how often do DACs or amps have issues serious issues with either of those?

And decay. 

Well that can certainly be a deal breaker.  Nothing fixes that either way though.

With even TOTL speakers it doesn't take much more than entry level gear before the NLD and time domain issues from the speakers overwhelm that of the electronics.

Of course all that does assume that you believe all those numbers are good for something.