Headphone amp + DAC + Volume + ROON READY

I was thinking about your Mytek Brooklyn Bridge  suggestion and it was starting to make more sense to. The fact that it is a neutral sounding DAC would work best with the warm sounding Empy. It is also a 1 box solution.

Looked at some DAC ad's here on A'gon and this ad was for the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge + Meze Empy combo deal. So this must be a good pairing. This DAC actually does everything I asked for in the OP except the XLR headphone connector, which is not a big deal.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9e2ai-mytek-digital-brooklyn-bridge-brookyln-amp-black-bundle-da-converters

@yyzsantabarbara  Since you were looking at the Chord Mojo, I was going to suggest that you also checkout iF Micro DSD Black Label. But to be honest, anything less than a thousand will not do proper justice to the Empyreans. 

The Mytek definitely ticks a lot of boxes, but you should also checkout the iFi Pro DSD. I was seriously considering it for my headphone listening, but ended up buying the Quicksilver Headphone amps -- by far one of my most satisfying audio purchases to date.

BTW, I am looking for a streamer+DAC for my 2 channel rig. I have narrowed my choices down to either Brooklyn Bridge, or Innuos Zen Mini (with a future DAC update). Just need to make up my mind and pull the trigger in a week or two.

The tubes on the Quicksilver would not work too well with the Empy. On a scale of 0 - 100, with 100 being very warm. I would say the Empy is about 65-70. So a neutral amp like my current HPA4 works very well. I think I am limited in my amp choices with this headphone, though the sound with a neutral amp is perfect for my long listening sessions. I have yet to have a headache or fatigue. I am really shocked by this.

Another option for you is a Lumin T2 which is supposed to be slightly warm and a very good DAC + streamer.

For my main rig, I stick with the Sonore xxxRendu’s. I think they are great and I can use any quality computer (ROON) with these Ethernet-2-USB converters.

For my main rig, the AudioByte stack is also very intriguing as a future purchase. It uses RJ45 Ethernet for streaming into the DAC.

The DACs and amps I have been discussing on this thread are things for a bedroom which will only get used when I sleep. So I am not interested in spending too much money. For the main rig, I am willing to open up the wallet a bit more. At the moment I am very happy with the Benchmark DAC3B paired with the HPA4 on my main rig.

Thanks, @yyzsantabarbara . I'm actually leaning heavily towards the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge. It offers a lot at a reasonable price. Lumin T2 is a bit outside my comfort zone price-wise. I was not aware of Sonore xxxRendu. Need to do some research before making the final call. Thanks for the suggestion.