Schiit Gungnir I own one and have compared the whole range while searching for a friend. We chose the Yggi for him. The Gungnir multibit gets you most of the Yggi for half price. The thing with Schiit products are they are generally really excellent value for the money. You have to pay a lot for smooth and natural amd detailed. I would not be surprised if this is the only DAC for this small amount of money that will get you there. I also have an Ayer $5K, and an Audio Reasearch $17K, before that a Sim $18K. The Gungnir.
oops, I read your description and forget your title...I thought you just wanted a DAC... until I saw Mr. Self Righteous’ comment below.
I still recommend Schiit. If your pretty sure you are one and done or have space requirements. Then a combined box is a great choice. But there are a lot of benefits to separates. You can change the character of amplification by swapping just the amp... tube / solid state. If you decide to keep upgrading you can do one at a time and learn. Anyway, Schiit are reslly good prices products. cost is a guide to sound quality there. Might also look at the Woo WA7... Woo makes wonderful detailed yet warm amps.
A major question you do have to keep in mind is the headphones impedance, the higher the impedance in ohms the more power (current) the amp needs. Another reason it can be good to have an option to swap out the amp... if your tastes changes, you buy headphones requiring more power.
