Hi @HeadphoneNoob, I’m not an expert, but I am a few months ahead of you on this path, and I had all the same questions as you, so I felt that I would share some of the conclusions I came to, with the help of everyone here.
As you’ve found, this is a hobby that’s driven by opinions, so in a sense, everyone is right, even if they’re giving you completely opposite recommendations, because they’re telling you what’s worked for them. Your opinion is the best, based on listening to music, not to experts.
I’ve just read through all your posts, and it sounds like you’re trying to buy the best-sounding equipment within your budget that can handle any headphone you’re likely to buy in the future. Is that right? You’ve mentioned future-proofing a couple of times, and I’m guessing you came to the conclusion that “balanced equals future proofing”. Forgive me if that wasn’t the case, but assuming it was, maybe an alternative question for this forum would be “are there any amps within my budget that will drive and sound great with any headphone?”.
If you’re on a limited budget, there are a quite a few reviews on this forum that list amps that appear to be future proofed, meaning they can drive a lot of different headphones without a problem:
Torq’s review of the Magni 3+ and Magni Heresy ends with him saying the Magni 3+ provided “a generally more satisfying or involving experience while listening, and I liked the pairing with higher-end headphones even more”. He liked the Heresy too, but slightly less. And of course people with different tastes feel the opposite way. One important point that Torq makes is that he couldn’t tell the difference between some of the amps, and therefore the choice would come down to other factors, such as price, looks, or perhaps in your case, power.
Torq’s review of the magni 3 provides a more in depth view into the headphones that he uses for reviews. He really likes the combination of the Modi multibit DAC and the Magni. That multibit upgrade seems like a lot but Schiit’s multibit technology does have a lot of fans, including me (I have a Bifrost 2).
@lost33’s review of the Magnius says that he likes the amp and further down, states that he even prefers the SE output over balanced, and that the SE has plenty of power. He also sent back the Modius DAC because it didn’t have multibit.
@lost33’s review and @dncnexus’s review of the Asgard 3 say that they both like that amp and tested using a variety of headphones. Lost33 owns or has owned a lot of Schiit amps and is a really good resource for comparing them.
This was a long-winded way of saying that if you’re going to the Schitt store, listen to all of the above amps with the same DAC and see if you can tell the difference. If you can’t, then maybe just buy the cheapest, knowing that they all have tons of power, and will provide you with everything you need for several years, or until you get the itch to upgrade. If you can tell the difference, then buy the one that sounds the best within your budget. My humble opinion (and that’s all it is, an opinion) is not to worry about measurements, noise floor, whether it’s SE or balanced, as long as it sounds good to you. (I think that statement would get me flayed alive on other forums, but I’m hoping this is a nicer crowd!) I say this because based on what I read on other forums, I had to buy an all-balanced setup, and that I had to get the best measuring devices. Then I stumbled onto this forum and discovered that measurements aren’t the only thing that should influence my purchase. I still wanted balanced though, and I actually had the Bifrost 2 and Jotunheim in my cart, but before clicking on ‘Buy’, I paused, read a few more hundred posts on the forum, and realized that the sound of the Lyr 3 was probably more what I wanted, even though it was ‘just’ SE. But that’s my journey, not yours. If you end up with a balanced setup and you love it, then that’s great.
BTW, I just picked Schiit examples because they have a bunch of amps within your budget, and you said you were going to the Schiit store. You can apply what I said to any other amp manufacturer.