Weighing my options (again)

[elnero]

Alright, so I'm still debating my next source upgrade, I had pretty much decided on a Storm Digital D02 (or baby D02 depending on whether I feel my shelf can handle the over 20 lbs of the regular D02) to be paired up with my Headamp GS-1 but in the past couple of days I've been reading more about people using the balanced outputs of the Lavry DA10 and I've also been reading more about the benefits of recabled, balanced headphones which has brought the DA10 back into consideration.

I expect the D02 + GS-1 combo would give me a similar but improved sound over what I have now and because of the GS-1's versatility it would give me a very flexible system that can easily be used in my speaker system and give me some flexibility in that system as well.

The Lavry on the other hand seems like a nifty all-in-one solution that I expect will sound even better when considering usage with balanced RS-1's but there are a couple problems I see with going this route. First is quite a bit less flexibility because I would have to sell the GS-1 in order to afford the DA10. The DA10 can still be used as a preamp but if I use the balanced outputs for my headphones then I would have to look into some sort of switchbox idea if I wanted to use the DAC in my speaker system as well. The other problem I see, and maybe it's not really a problem, is it seems almost like an end of the road solution. By recabling the RS-1's I'm pretty much locked into balanced operation but considering most of my audio money would be sunk into that one piece of gear and my wife and I are on a very tight budget it's unlikely I would be able to save up enough for a seperate balanced amp anytime soon. This is where the D02 + GS-1 solution is again more flexible, I can change things up fairly simply by swapping things like cables and component upgrades themselves would be easier because I can sell the old component to help finance the new one whereas if I wanted to add on a seperate balanced amp to the Lavry I would have to start saving from scratch which would be a very daunting task for me to do at this point but then the Lavry on it's own does seem to offer a fairly reasonably priced (considering what other balanced systems seem to go for) way of getting into the balanced headphones game.

If I knew how much better the Lavry would sound, especially running balanced, it might make the decision easier but I don't so I'm left weighing pro's and con's on paper and asking advice from more experienced users. So have at it, any thoughts, advise, recommendations, etc. are appreciated.

[panda]

rega planet 2000 is one of the best matches with rs-1, but i'm guessing you're looking for something more 'hi-fi'. i went from cary cd-303/200 to krell kav-300cd. the krell and rs1 with gilmore played together real nice. cary is better suited for senn hd600. i will be selling the krell later if you are interested, i'm making a switch to computer based transport so i need a dac.

linn ikemi is another good one. i'd like to audition a naim source one of these days...

[elnero]

rega planet 2000 is one of the best matches with rs-1, but i'm guessing you're looking for something more 'hi-fi'. i went from cary cd-303/200 to krell kav-300cd. the krell and rs1 with gilmore played together real nice. cary is better suited for senn hd600. i will be selling the krell later if you are interested, i'm making a switch to computer based transport so i need a dac.

linn ikemi is another good one. i'd like to audition a naim source one of these days...

I owned a Planet 2K awhile back, it was an ok source that wass fairly listenable but did have it's issues. The 2K is also top loading which due to some serious space considerations wouldn't be feasible for me.

My budget for a straight DAC is in the $500 range but for an all-in-one source/headamp solution like the Lavry would be more along the lines of $1100.