All in one unit for headphones- help me decide


This is a follow up to a previous thread. I am looking for an all in one unit to run headphones (Sennheiser HD800S) at a newly acquired vacation home. I am looking for a Dac, headphone amp, streamer, ability to play files from a SSD (internal or external) and self contained software/app. Based upon my spending time at Axpona, I have the following 4 candidates:

Auralic Altair (g1.1 or 2.1)

Naim Atom headphone edition

Hifi Rose (250 or ?)

Cambridge eVO (150 or 75)

I can easily review the features ( so limit your comments), but I am interested if anyone has experience with the relative sonic performance through headphones of these units. I am not interested in the performance through speakers and their amp output, only headphones. I have a suspicion that since the HIFI rose and Cambridge focus more on display and bells and whistles, their sonic performance is a bit below the other two.

meiatflask

@freediver Pathos does make really nice stuff but the original post has more criteria for built in streamer and ability to play files from an SSD, either internal or external via USB. I was about to recommend the T+A HA200 as one of the best solutions out there, but it too is missing those features.

I haven't heard it myself but the Matrix Element X2 is supposedly really well rounded, and I think it checks all your boxes for features. 

@v-fi  thanks- I suspected as much.  I will delete them from my consideration list.  And thank you for the re-stating of my requirements.   

Your headphones deserve an amp that’ll get the best out of them and highly doubt you’ll find that in an all-in-one unit.  I’d find the right headphone amp and get a separate DAC/streamer to handle the rest.  Is it really worth the sonic compromise just to have one box instead of two?

@soix - point well taken.  I am treading a bit softly here as the last time I really lived with headphones was in college 40+ years ago (had stax electrostats back then).  So perhaps I view this in two steps, with the second more expensive step going the route you suggest after I have lived with a one box set up and confirmed my headphone life is here to stay.  I figure with my just purchased HD800S and the Naim or Auralic, my investment is in the 5-6k range, which is a pretty easy step to make before upgrading to something more serious and delegating the all in one to one of the kids or grandkids.