Need some suggestions for a desktop amp.

My budget is < $2K give or take.

yyz - I’m sure the Benchmark is a great amplifier. It’s a little over my budget. Also it’s a balanced only amp so I would have to buy their dac and I’m up to almost $4k.

Mike - thank you so much for the heads up on the Nuprime. I was really close to pulling the trigger. I’ll wait and shop around to see what other options are available. It’s amazing to me how many headphone amps there are for desktop while not many regular amps. 

yogiboy - I’ve seen the Audiolab in my research but I’ll take another look. Thx.

ghd - you got me thinking about moving it all off to the side and many making space for something a little larger. That would open it up to a lot more options. I do have to think about the wife factor as well. But it may just put me in the same situation as before just with the mess in a different place.

i believe the harbeths are hard to drive, so i'd look at the peachtree nova 150, which is small and powerful

I had a thought for a different option. I have a fully restored Marantz 8B amp in my closet that I could use if I could find a table to fit over the REL sub so I could place it on over the sub on a table. Then find a smallish Pre/Dac to fit under my iMac. I'm trying to post a picture of my set up but it won't take my photo.

The Bel Canto C5i may well tick all your boxes and save you $$$ buying used, and there’s a nice one now on USAM for only $825 (retail $1895). It puts out 60Wpc into 8 Ohms and doubles into 4 Ohms that should be more than ample power for a desktop setup, and as BC makes some of the better DACs on the market it may well beat your DAC in which case you could sell your DAC to offset even more of the BC’s cost. There are several reviews you can read for more insights/info. Just another option FWIW, and best of luck.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649840775-bel-canto-c5i-dacintegrated/