first of all, hello everyone! 
another 18yo wannabe audiophile!
okay, so far i've built 12v hybrid 12au7/irf510 headphone amp for my beloved hd25, and another ebay 6n3p buffer kit for yamaha htr6030 and i'm loving the tube sound so far! currently using either yamaha's burr brown dac(kinda boxy and closed-in sounding) and/or USB creative live external soundcard which as far as i know uses cirrus/crystal chips and sounds a bit more open and musical but it could be due to circuit design rather than dacs. source pc w/ flac
i listen to tech house, rock and rnb mostly, and would prefer open, both wide and deep soundstage with dynamic and powerful sound! not so smooth, not so warm but extended yet live and playful sound as my wharfedales and hd25 are soft sounding butt amp is bright and a bit harsh sounding.
budget: 200$ for dac+ tube preamp/buffer - 100$/100$, 80/120...doesnt really matter....
so i'm taking suggestions for dac, i do not need usb reciever, just DAC- tda, ak, cs, wm, ad, pcm???
with a tube output stage, i was thinking lampucera kit on ebay as it's possible to upgrade as suggested, bypassing opamp as Vout is apparently high enough..... CD DAC Lampucera lampizator instead of opamp - tube preamp/buffer - aikido low voltage(48V ughhh dont know exact tubes), musical fidelity or those numerous marantz 7, mcintosh c22, grounded grid, jadis jp200 clones, but as i've read numerous times, those are old circuits, and much has been improved since....plus i would much much more prefer lower voltages!
btw is CS4397 interchangeable with WM8740? as then i'd do some dac rolling and then tube rolling and finally drool cleaning hahaha
thank you guys a lot!
another 18yo wannabe audiophile!
okay, so far i've built 12v hybrid 12au7/irf510 headphone amp for my beloved hd25, and another ebay 6n3p buffer kit for yamaha htr6030 and i'm loving the tube sound so far! currently using either yamaha's burr brown dac(kinda boxy and closed-in sounding) and/or USB creative live external soundcard which as far as i know uses cirrus/crystal chips and sounds a bit more open and musical but it could be due to circuit design rather than dacs. source pc w/ flac
i listen to tech house, rock and rnb mostly, and would prefer open, both wide and deep soundstage with dynamic and powerful sound! not so smooth, not so warm but extended yet live and playful sound as my wharfedales and hd25 are soft sounding butt amp is bright and a bit harsh sounding.
budget: 200$ for dac+ tube preamp/buffer - 100$/100$, 80/120...doesnt really matter....
so i'm taking suggestions for dac, i do not need usb reciever, just DAC- tda, ak, cs, wm, ad, pcm???
with a tube output stage, i was thinking lampucera kit on ebay as it's possible to upgrade as suggested, bypassing opamp as Vout is apparently high enough..... CD DAC Lampucera lampizator instead of opamp - tube preamp/buffer - aikido low voltage(48V ughhh dont know exact tubes), musical fidelity or those numerous marantz 7, mcintosh c22, grounded grid, jadis jp200 clones, but as i've read numerous times, those are old circuits, and much has been improved since....plus i would much much more prefer lower voltages!
btw is CS4397 interchangeable with WM8740? as then i'd do some dac rolling
and then tube rolling and finally drool cleaning hahaha thank you guys a lot!