The touch and feel of the HA160D is fantastic. And it looks good. I wish all my audio components would be like that. The integrated DAC of the HA160D is great.
Better than the DAC in my CD-player. So I decided to get a transport for my iPod (Onkyo ND-S1), which brings the bits directly into the HA160D (via digital coax). As well works with my iPhone 4S and even Simfy works. Nice. I just sometimes have some jitter for lossless music via the Onkyo (which probably is a problem with the transport and not the Burson).
I as well used my iMac via USB and it sounds equally good. It has a great clarity, liveliness and depth. Far better than any other source I used so far for my AKG K240 Audio 55 Ohm headphones. It is just a pleasure listening. It is nearly absolutely quiet when no music is on. I can hear things I did not hear before in my favorite songs. And as well shows the flaws of not so good recordings, which is sometimes disappointing (fault of the recordings). I use the HA160D as well as an preamp and it does very well. For the headphones I have to set the volume control between 7 and max 9 o’clock (55Ohm headphones). For the main amplifier I can go higher.
With the combination of the high quality sound, the rock solid body, the amount of input connections, the build in DAC, the preamp, and two output jacks the Burson HA160D is one-of-a-kind.
Highly recommendable!
Rafael