Hoping someone here can provide intelligent advice, based on their experiences, rather than their take on reviews and 3rd party accounts.

I'm near completing my 2nd setup and am considering the practical and dare I say audible advantages of a dedicated pc/streamer (Aurilati type, etc...). Each of my setups will include power conditioning (regenerative, BPT 3.5+ Sig) and Offramp 5's + external PSU. I have been using a lowly $99 laptop, with no moving parts, no fan and all bloatware removed + unneccesary services disabled. The one addition has been a JRiver copy, other efforts have all been towards substraction.

I can make neither heads or tails out of what I read. Some accounts hold that a dedicated pc is even more important than the dac in the ultimate equation. Others claim their uber powerful gaming desktops sounded substantially improved over their dedicated audio counterparts. Hell, other accounts claim Windows 2012 Server is an enormous upgrade and one yokel emphatically declares that restarting his pc improves the sound of his system (ram buffers or some such claim).

I tend to be a little more trusting of this place and so ask those who have heard both, or better who have owned both for a period of time. Have you found your dedicated audio pc's / streamers to improve upon your laptop. Specifically interested in those accounts which include a high end converter between laptop and DAC.

*dac's are a Spectral SDR-2000, Lampizator 5 with custom i2s in, and Levinson 30.5 -- in case anyone has experiences with these products

So, I'm looking to buy an amp to drive my K7XX and modded T50RP with better dynamics than the GO450, roughly in the ~300 bracket. I want the driver to punch me in the throat when the music calls for it.
So far my options are the Gustard H10, Modi 2 Uber, Asgard 2, Vali. Haven't listened to any of these. Any suggestions?

Do you mean Magni 2 Uber? Modi is the DAC.
I've tried the Vali and Asgard 2 with HE-560 before. I think the A2 performed better--a cleaner yet warmer sound, and the bass kick that I felt was missing with Vali was present. Also used Vali with a Mad Dog and thought it was just okay (sold the Mad Dog before I could try it out of A2).

I'd asked Marv something similar before; see this thread (http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1654.30.html) from reply #38 onwards. The main takeaway is that an all-tube amp is bad for planars.
I have a tube amp (a DIY build, called the Aikido) that I tried with either the Mad Dog or the HE-560--I'm afraid I can't recall which--but it was just pure distortion, zero music. So, no, based on my limited experience and what's been said round here, I would skip tubes if there's planars involved.

I'd asked Marv something similar before; see this thread (http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1654.30.html) from reply #38 onwards. The main takeaway is that an all-tube amp is bad for planars.
I have a tube amp (a DIY build, called the Aikido) that I tried with either the Mad Dog or the HE-560--I'm afraid I can't recall which--but it was just pure distortion, zero music. So, no, based on my limited experience and what's been said round here, I would skip tubes if there's planars involved.

Hybrids with tubes can work great like the Crimson. No prob with planars. Transformer coupled can be hit or miss depending on the ortho in question. My old S7 and Levi proto work very well with the HE5. If you are an orthohead I'd go hybrid or SS.

  So...as the Cavalli Liquid Carbon goes up tomorrow...any recommendations for small form factor balanced DACs with good USB implementation to pair with it?


Maybe the AMB y3 will be ready to go in four-ish months    (apparently that won't be small like the y2 though).