Desktop Audio Reimagined 02Dec15

Once More Into The Audio (& Apple) Abyss... I sought an "entry level" desktop audio system for the Silverthorne study to accompany my Mac and standing desk. Oh yeah... who knew NorCal was reinventing audio as well as computing. I not only discovered that Mac has HD digital audio out via an optical TosLink connection hidden in the headphone connector but also that Schiit (yep, pronounced "shit") of NorCal has ultra-valued DACs and headphone amps built in America. I'll be comparing a sub-compact tube amp called the Vali against their solid state amp called the Magni 2, and I'll be driving them from the optical port of my MacBook Pro at 192KHz through a desktop DAC called the Modi 2 Ultra. All in, electronics and cabling will be <$300 and my transducers will be the venerable AKG K702s (~$270). My general rule in video/audiophile-ville is to pay the same for electronics as transducers as displays. Ultimately the two component stack will be only ~3"x4"x5". This won't rival my magneplaner Audeze headphones with the WooAudio WA7 tube amp/DAC driven from a dedicated Win 10 Surface (which I can listen to for many hours without fatigue) but it won't suck at all. I hope I prefer the "warmer" tube amp but output will be only ~.6w into my 60Ω headset vs 1w from the solid state. The stuff kindof matches the Mac and Thunderbolt display... America is so cool (I know, the headphones are Austrian).