I've always liked the hd600 much more than the dt880s but since you have the he-560, I don't see much of a reason for getting the hd600 unless you just want another pair of headphones with a different sound. As for the hd800, it's a big investment and there's a good chance that you might not like them.

Like Soup said, you don't need to go balanced in order to get the benefits of the Gungnir. I've never even used the balanced on my gungnir output. It seems like the odac is the weakest in your chain right now so the gungnir would be a sweet upgrade. If you're patient, just wait til someone sells one on head-fi for cheap or buy b-stock from schiit to save a little bit of money. I tried my friend's he-560 with my gungnir and virtue one.3 and we were both really impressed by how it sounded through my system. Way better than on his oppo ha-1. I said this in the shoutbox, but I'll say it again here: "If hard hitting bass, sweet vocals, lively but smooth treble, and high dynamics is what you're looking for, then the gungnir is the way to go."

I don't consider the jump from Uber Bifrost to Gungnir to be a small one. Having them both side by side right now makes it easy for me to hear the obvious differences between the two. Unless of course the highly dynamic nature of the Gungnir turns you off(which it seems to for many) I would say it's a no brainer.

For under $400, is there a better desktop amp for the HE-560 than the Vali?  If so, I'd appreciate recommendations.

Quote from: FlySweep on August 18, 2014, 04:36:03 PM

For under $400, is there a better desktop amp for the HE-560 than the Vali?  If so, I'd appreciate recommendations.

Do you want tubes or SS? For SS I think the Asgard2 is a hell of a value proposition at $250. I have not compared to Vali, but I have found it very capable for all of the ortho's I have tried (HE-560, HE-500, LCD-3).

I'm not partial to SS or tube/hybrid (I like both).. sorry, should've clarified.. anything out side of the Asgard 2/Schiit?  If people have tried many amps please list) and found the Vali (or A2) to be the best.. that's a valuable opinion to me, as well.