Smeggy

you fucker NoNoNoNoNoNo!! you always spot the good deals The opus looks pretty nice for the price and would fit the budget so I'll keep my eyes peeled

As it stands, to go balanced on the amp side will cost approx $130 so balancing the amp is affordable as I already have connectors and such and even then I'm not sure balancing will really make much of a difference as opinions very on this. Going cheap on the DAC is not something I want to do, I'm always buried in bills and toy money is limited. Balancing the amp is affordable, a good (expensive) DAC is not at this point but may be in the future so for now I need to cheapskate it to see if it'll be worth going up later. This is why I'm still considering modding the pico to balanced even though it would likely end up like this> No spare cash, that simple really. It took me nearly a month to scrape $250 together for another audio thingy Would prolly go for a opus dac if they were ever in stock

me = 3

can't a gamma 1 usb board do the job?

Considering how awesome the 2 channel EHHA amp is and how cheap the kits are I have been considering going balanced (if balanced actually sounds better, seems to be differing opines on this) what is a decent balanced USB (pc only) DAC that is cheap as dog poo? The Gamma 2 with mods will do it but we still don't have a price or date on that yet and the Buffalo is over what I can afford. Would a balanced opus with a USB receiver do well enough? I've never heard a balanced rig so I don't know if they're worth the extra or not.

not even really pretty tubes with lots of glowy things inside?

yah, well the look very close in design the the O2 pads which imo are the best pads I've found.

I'll be on a set of those Denon pads as soon as I have the cash. They look perfect for what I want.

why anyone would actually be thinking about a sprite at that moment?

Nice one Colin, those are spiffy! Yup, same as mine.

Ah, I see where you're coming from... yes, we need moar! Insist on 4oz copper, just to be safe.

That's sad

I just got a mail back telling me the 12au7 equivalent (E812CC) will be out in a few months. Cool

pfft, they weren't using audiophile matches, damn industrial n00bs!

headset?, oh, above her chest you mean...

Haven't used din in years. Not since my last piece of Naim gear.

I run all my gear from daisy chained staples power strips, works great and I can plug in my fridge and microwave too while still leaving one spare socket in the wall in case I want to run the vacuum cleaner. I don't bother with plugs in the signal line, I like to secure the wires in the sockets directly with match sticks for a purer signal.

the insides are a lot smaller than I imagined. Is that a European board design?

I'm still waiting for them to release transparent aluminum...

Cool, sounds great. Shame these get hidden inside cases

What are yours plugged into and where?

tap tap tap....

Hah, what a dumbass! I just flicked the tubes on my EHHA and nary a peep out of them

I refuse to believe that until you make me one exactly the same to test

marketing BS aside, all tubes ring and a tube damper is probably a good thing but it still look interesting.