Headphones only allowed

[admin_exported]

I listen to most of my music via headphones - what would be the best (and reasonably priced) choice of headphones and CD player, amplifier etc.- to obtain listening pleasure. I listen to Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, ELO, Roxy Music Bob Dillon, Eric Clapton and similar music.

 

[Anonymous]

Would you be happy with a headphone only amp...ie, no speakers?

 

[idc]

You have a similar taste in music to me, so for some ideas have a look at the stuff in my signature. When you say reasonably priced, what do you mean? Would you consider an ipod or computer as the source as opposed to a CDP?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies. Reasonable price - anything under £500 or thereabouts. I would prefer a CD player - one day I might get speakers

 

[idc]

Going purely by reviews the Graham Slee Novo headphone amp, Grado SR80i and a Cambridge 340 Azure CDP would come in budget, well a little over of you get some decent interconnects.

You can also consider the cheaper, smaller headphone amps such as the Graham Slee Voyager, iBasso and the Cute Beyond from Firestone Audio. Some are sold as portable but that does not mean they cannot fit in well to a headfi setup. That also means you can up your CDP and headphone budget.

 

[Anonymous]

Another option to consider, if you are prepared to use your PC as a transport would be:

PC + Apple Airport Express

to

DAC (Beresford or DacMagic £150 to £200)

to

Headphones Amp (say 2nd hand MF X-CAN v3 £150)

to

Headphones (say £100 Grados)

I would recommend buying amps 2nd hand from eBay and the v3 version of the MF is very good - I have one myself The Beresford DAC can also act as a preamp (new model) and a headphone amp however I myself find the MF X-Can v3 superior as an amp to the amp in the Beresford DAC.

I firmly believe that such a setup would destroy a CD player based solution in a similar price range.

 

[Anonymous]

Haven't heard too many headphone setups but I use the Beresford tc7520, with a little dot III headphone amp and it sounds sublime!

This would leave you with enough cash for a great pair of phones.

 

[crusaderlord]

while my kids were young i had to use headphones mostly myself - thankfully things are much more flexible now

i would recommend the Little Dot series of headphone amps - many others on the forum who bought them are very happy too - they are unique looking and amazing value and you can tube roll the valves to tweak the sound too - i have the Mark III but all budgets are catered for.

http://www.little-tube.com/forum/category-view.asp

headphones i have Sennheiser HD595 which i think are excellent value. I would personally like to buy some Grados as well but have always been happy with the ones i have.

 

[Anonymous]

Will this be something you might be interested in? They did make quite an impression on this guy for sure.