Beefy

Its all fun and games until they are slapping you in the face.

Yep, that sounds like Perth. The only way to have fun is to get drunk and hurt other people.

Who the fuck is gatto? For that matter, who are all of you? Who am I? Why am I naked?

^ HEH! That's awesome...... And here is an all-too-real parody of my home town:

Happy birthday, old man!

Must be an operator error then.

Who was it built by? OPAMPS? Other parts? The smiley doesn't take away the silliness of that statement.

They know how to generate enough panic to get themselves their next research grant...?

I wouldn't bother with the Little Dot myself. If you want something relatively inexpensive for a play around with tubes, then I can confirm that the Millett Max variants are pretty damn good...... I've built 3, sold 2 of them to very happy buyers, and still use the 3rd almost every day at work. A well built/configured Millett certainly still rates above the Arietta/Cantate to my ears. But as much as I love the Millett and enjoyed building them, I do still think that the M3 is a better all-round amp. For starters, the M3 has a much lower noise floor. With the 12AE6 tubes the Millett can match the bass, but not the treble; with 12FK6 tubes the Millett can match the treble, but not the bass.

I gotta say, I'm a huge fan of Tim Horton's here in Canada. The donuts are a lighter and more bready texture, as opposed to the heavier donuts I am used to back in Australia. Only had Krispy Kreme a couple of times...... I find them far too greasy and sickly sweet in comparison.

The USB receiver seems to be a programmable chip (FPGA) that they implement with custom drivers. So it is the simple case that they have written Windows drivers, but not Mac drivers.

Neither did I. Good value indeed!

Then just ask MisterX what it would cost for him to build you one Yep, same thing electrically, no reason you couldn't use a BNC other than physical size of the connector. Pretty much all that...... but it isn't resistance that is different, but rather characteristic impedance - it all makes my brain hurt, so I will let someone smarter explain it. But if you have good gear and short cables runs I see no tangible advantage in specifically using BNC over RCA connectors, except where you have to with your existing gear.

Yeah, they look like handy little devices. I investigated those for the Buffalo, but there just wasn't enough info about them for me to make them a permanent fitting inside my DAC.

Along DIY lines, I would probably recommend a Gamma1 USB to SPDIF converter, then use an RCA to BNC coax cable (BJC can do these cables really cheaply). Should come out much cheaper than the TPA offering and fits nicely inside a bog-standard Hammond case. I'm planning a similar thing for my upcoming Buffalo re-build; the Gamma1 will be housed inside the case, and wired directly into a TPA SPDIF MUX. As for more expensive options like the Bel Canto...... well, I just am not nearly enough of a believer in audibility of jitter to pay anywhere near that much money for just a digital interface.

In this price range, it seems very much the case that tube amps are a specific tool for a specific purpose with specific phones. Not exactly the best suggestion for somebody who wants to get started with a single amp that will do well for many things. Depends on whether it is switching or linear regulated. Switching wallwarts have no problems with multi-voltage, but they aren't as good quality as a linear regulated one that needs a specific input voltage. You have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. Worst case scenario, you buy a new wallwart from Farnell or equivalent supplier. But you should only worry about that when you have actually found something you are specifically interested in.

As I said, I haven't heard them. Just something I thought you could consider if you were looking at the RS-1. And while I would definitely recommend Headphonic for an Australian, it makes a bit less sense for a New Zealander. So you can also buy direct from Alessandro for US$699. When you can build a virtually identical Cmoy for less than 1/10th the price, that idea flies out the window for me.

Despite not having heard either the Alessandro MS-Pro might be an alternative to the RS-1. Should be considerably cheaper to get in NZ than the equivalent Grado. Good god, don't buy a Rega...... or an RA-1

As I said, I listened to both the Arietta and Cantate, bought the Arietta, and much prefer the M3. Considering the Cantate is exactly the same design as the Opera, but the latter has an extra buffer stacked on each channel...... well that extra buffer would have to do some pretty magical things to my ears to make it sound good enough to justify the much higher price tag.

Unfortunately, I doubt even a Trevor Networks Dynahi would be within the budget

I'm guessing that viewing the image plants a cookie...? Subtle differences in personal taste and comparisons to much more expensive gear aside, it doesn't change the fact that the Cantate doesn't make good buying sense. The OP would be paying a hefty premium for a redundant PCM2702 USB DAC and little-to-no improvement over the Arietta/Swing. I'm highly skeptical that the Opera is that much better, but I haven't heard it either. Comparatively, the value offered by the M3 is phenomenal, and personal taste issues should be solved quite easily through careful OPAMP selection. The OP can pick essentially any high or low impedance phone they like and be guaranteed it will still do - at the absolute worst - a damn good job.

Just keep an eye on the Head-Fi for sale section. They come up with reasonable frequency. It will be purely a case of ignorance is bliss. If the only thing you've ever eaten is shit, then shit will taste good. ..... What? No. The Arietta/Swing will be fine for low impedance, high sensitivity phones (but not IEMs; too high a noise floor). Don't like your chances of getting optimal results with more difficult phones though. Hmmmmm, the M3 probably cost more than twice the Arietta. But it was my first DIY project, so I learned a lot and could do it much cheaper second time around. The idea of 'twice as good', or x% performance increase is just silly. You either appreciate the increase for the price, or you don't. But I am pretty confident that if you grab a decent M3 from Head-Fi just with an Elpac wallwart, it will be cheaper than a Swing (let alone a Cantate), and it will perform much better. Reliable by what standards? Post count? Proficiency of reviews? The number of fawning sycophant non-questioning followers on Head-Fi? Don't believe anything you read. Including everything I have just typed. But something you definitely should believe...... don't just buy a Cantate because it is convenient, and it doesn't sound truly heinous.

You should be able to find a very nice M3 for that price range that will trounce the Cantate. Background: I listened to both the Arietta and Cantate almost two years ago and bought the Arietta because the Cantate didn't sound that much better. But then I got into DIY and built myself an M3; needless to say, the Arietta was sold very soon after. The M3 was smoother across the entire frequency range, but at the same time still managed better bass impact and treble sparkle. I can honestly still see how the Arietta/Swing would be a good entry level amp if you have easy to drive phones, but the Cantate just really doesn't make good buying sense.

The ones Justin sells are no good? HeadAmp Audio Electronics (Order) - right down the bottom.

This bit is good for shits and giggles...... "First, USB sounds synthetic. Instruments are cardboard-flat, lack substance, and have a distinct