I would also recommend looking for a vintage R2R dac if you don't want to wait for the Yggy or trickle down tech. They'll have traits that really play to the hd800's strengths without any of the treble harshness or thinness. I don't recommend the gungnir for the hd800s (though I haven't tried it with the V2). A few people here use the gungnir with the hd800s though. Soup comes to mind with his gungnir and V2. USB gen 2 and Wyrd highly recommended if you decide to go gungnir.

Many of us here have heard vintage dacs or own one or multiple dacs. I think it would be a great idea to compile a list of vintage dacs that we have heard/owned here. I own a parasound d/ac-1100 and a Transdac and they're both fantastic dacs but with different traits.

I guess I should ask what you're really looking for over the Anedio D2. You mentioned lackluster treble, but I'm not sure in what way you mean that. Too dull? Tired of the Sabre timbre?

I guess I should ask what you're really looking for over the Anedio D2. You mentioned lackluster treble, but I'm not sure in what way you mean that. Too dull? Tired of the Sabre timbre?

Well, to be honest, 50% is upgraditis that hit me after I got positively surprised getting along with the Valhalla 2.
The D2 is a very good Sabre DAC actually with a well-crafted amp section that drives my TH-900 pretty good and is dead silent on everything sensitive. The only things that can annoy me are the treble glare (even when it's one of the best Sabre implementations) and to a lesser degree the kinda lean character on bass which sometimes also leads to a lesser perception of notes. The latter is kinda hard to describe. Its as if the bass corpus doesn't represent all the details. Maybe it's the very low distortion that leads to a lesser impact and results in that perception.

Hey all!
I need some help. I want to improve my current budget set up with some new budget components. I just haven't been loving music as much recently and my gut feeling is that it may be my Fiio gear. I've got a E07K, E09K and Fiio X3. What got me started thinking it may be my problem was doing some ABing with my Sansa Clip+ with the X3 on my HD558. The mids are so much cleaner on the Clip. Since the E07K and X3 have the same Dac, I thought it might be the problem at work too with my HD600. On the other hand, I'm finding my ER4S just too trebly on the E07K and X3, too...

So my current set up:
Work (60% Of listening): Fiio E07K > E09K > HD600
Coffee Shop (30% of Listening): X3/E07K > ER4S (I almost always have my laptop when listening). Sometimes I'll swith to the meh SE215 after ER4S treble fatigue.
Home (Maybe 10% of listening): X3/E07K/Clip+ > HD558

If I get rid of the Fiio gear, what would you guys recommond to replace other budget gear with?