Its way too early to be talking about buying a "used" MB Gungnir aka Gumby methinks.  It was announced last month. Second, I have no idea of a product where the cost increase equals a proportionate improvement in SQ. One gets 80-90% in fairly good DACs and then spends like crazy to get a 3-5% increase from there. Speaking from my own experience, I got the Bifrost, upgraded it to Uber, then the Gungnir Gen 2 and now the Yggy. I am stopping here and have no desire to buy another DAC since all my boxes are checked. I will upgrade to Gumby to have a second system (that's just me).

But if you need further convincing, go to a few Changstar meetings. There's a cornucopia of information among the pyrates that you should tap into. And, no, its not that town in Wisconsin

I have both Gen 2 and Gumby. Gumby is a significant jump to me. It may not be for you and it also depends on the rest of your chain. If you are using Magni 2 and a Fidelio X2 headphone, I wouldn't bother making the jump from Gen 2 to Gumby.

newdude, I admire your tenacity, but your quest to have all of changstar tell you what to own will invariably not work. Notwithstanding the major problems you will have getting a true consensus, there is the fundamental issue of everone else != you.

But anyway, having very recently upgraded from the Gungnir Gen 2 to the MB Gungnir, I can say conclusively that the MB Gungnir is "a lot" better. I can't say its "more full in the midrange and bass and treble and stuff" or "less veiled"; for me it is fundamentally more real sounding. I am not a headphone wordsmith so I can't articulate perfectly what that means. No, one thing that did get zomg better is the bass; bass is a hard thing to reproduce reliably realistically, and the MB Gungnir does it insanely well.

If it were me making the purchase decision I would absolutely spend the money to get the MB Gungnir up front. Why? Well, when I bought the Gungnir Gen 2, I read a bunch, determined what I wanted from DAC: good value for money, generally well reviewed sound from non-professional reviewers, NOT only usable with one certain headphone/speaker, balanced output for eventual amp upgrades and speakers, reputable company with decent warranty. Then I took the risk, and rather liked the Gungnir Gen 2. When the MB upgrade was released, it was a no brainer for me, based primarily on what I had read from people I trust. My ears have now confirmed the value of my risk, which is a happy ending for me.

As yet another aside regarding your listening journey:
I must admit I am concerned that you are saying the HD800 is both not a problem in the treble region, and that the HD800 sounds veiled in the mids. Those are not necessarily impossible or exclusive experiences, but they tell me that maybe a) you haven't let your brain get accustomed to the HD800 yet, or b) you aren't listening very loud (which again is fine if that is how you listen), or c) you simply don't like the HD800. Its ok not to like the HD800. If you are still keen on giving them a true and honest effort (which I recommend, the HD800 is fucking fantastic) then you owe it to NOT try to find gear that compensates for its only shortcoming: the fucking treble. Instead get the most resolving gear you can stomach paying for (which probably includes the VERY reasonably priced MB Gungnir), and then do the anax mod. The thing the HD800 does better than any other headphone I have heard is detail. Holy shit, detail. That is what separates good gear from great gear for the HD800 (and a lot of other headphones too).

Schiit gear typically holds good resale value. I've had some stuff that I could barely sell for half of the original price.

I'll take your words guys. I try the MB Gungnir.
I'll have to sell all my amps & DACs to fund it & will be stuck with using my Fiio E5 amp to drive my HD800 for the time being.


Besides the shipping & (ugh) taxes, if I do decide to sell the Gumny down the road, I would probably lose out on maybe two hundred from the asking price.

Fiio E5 amp? WTF is that? 

So, you're gonna be selling some stuff (that you've probably quite recently bought?) and then using this 'thing' to connect a good (maybe great) dac to what are possibly the most revealing transducers on the planet?!?

Are you going to be doing some assessments and making final judgements, on the Gumby and hd800, whilst using the Fiio? 
Or are you just winding us up?

I'm sorry for the tone of this post, but I can't help feeling that you'll do just that; you'll decide that you don't like your expensive dac and headphones, and sell them, before you've even tried them with a proper amp. And then you'll be asking questions about amps! The internet is full of people with opinions about popular equipment that they've tried with unsuitable or mis-matched ancillaries.

The moral of the story is:
1. Synergy; you've got to have similar quality (not necessarily price) between components, and those components have to work well together. Synergy between headphone and amp, being the most important.
2. Do your research, before you spend your money; learn from the mistakes, observations and successes of others. The trick is understanding which opinions to regard the most.

Call me a snob, but I wouldn't put much trust in the opinion of someone who uses a 'pocket amp' with high-end desktop equipment. Once you get a suitable amp, and are feeding the dac with a good source (preferably a dedicated transport) solution, only then will you know what's good and what's not to your taste, and I'll be interested to read your thoughts.