I bought a Holo May DAC for my headphones, but then changed it so that it will work with either my headphones or my 2-channel speaker setup, depending on how I set the switch that I bought for that purpose. I liked the Holo May better than DAVE + M Scaler in both headphone and 2-channel systems....
DAC Reviews - Headphones v Speakers
Whenever we read a stranger’s impressions of a DAC, there are countless limitations. Different ears, different system, different taste -- all of that. To make things even more complicated, because why not, what do folks think of listener impressions of a DAC used on a headphone system, when you intend to use the DAC in a traditional two-channel speaker system?
There are various forums whose focus is headphone listening, and plenty of DAC reviews there. How meaningful, or not, do folks think those head-fi DAC impressions are for those of us who do not use headphones? My gut feeling is there must be *some* value in those impressions, but I’m not a headphone listener so I don’t have a good sense for how much to discount or otherwise translate head-fi impressions when my use-case would be a speaker system....