I do this too. Have a topping A90 when needed and I couldn’t imagine upgrading. I still kind of want the benchmark amp but mainly to say I have one. Similar to a McIntosh amp, they are nice to look at.

I use the element x with the LCD4S and it works great. No experience with the cans you mentioned.

Sorry I need longer

Excellent seller item as described trustworthy

Are these the wood appearing ones or carbon? Looks like it may be the carbon?

I’ve been using the Element X with Roon for two years now and it is excellent. Still very happy with the purchase and zero desire to upgrade. I demoed the Bartok and it is excellent but the law of diminishing returns certainly applies here.

It is excellent. Had a firmware issue one night and Arthur called me after hours to resolve it.

I just got the MA X-SPDIF 2 for use with my speakers. This is my second MA product and it seems like they make high quality stuff throughout all product lines.

Hope you like it, still like mine over a year later.

I haven’t tried the Mytek but heard it is excellent. I would imagine at this performance the only thing that matters is the headphones attached. At audio science review the matrix measured better, probably not audible.

The element X works great and the M is very similar. I use it with Roon and the integration is flawless.

If you plan on upgrading cans later I would get an amp/dac combo that would work with whatever you plan to get. That being said I always feel like there is certainly more bang for the buck upgrading the headphones or speakers than source/amp components past a certain performance point. If you...

What planars are you going to use?

Certainly not all, it does fine with my LCD-4s. You certainly aren't going to get away with RAAL requisite ear speakers, electrostatics etc but I would say it is fine for 99% of what is on the market.

Glad to hear you like it. I got mine last year and still love it. Easily best single box option in the price range.