headphones-amp combination

woo WA-6SE grado gs-1000

I have been putting together a second system based around headphones for a few years now settling on the Yamamoto HA-02 and HA-03 tube amps rated at .35 & 1.4 watts each, really like the Audeze  LCD 2f but a little heavy to be portable, love my Hifiman HE560s but not efficient enough to be portable, so enter the Hifiman Edition XV2s, wow these are the cans I am turning to 90% of the time and they are light and can be driven with a flea watt amp like my Yamamoto HA-02, although using these for home use these cans should be hard to beat for your intended use. FYI, there is a guy selling these new on another site for $899.00/retail $1,300.00. Did I mention how comfortable these are? 

I find Fiio to be an excellent, reliable value for portables. The big issue I have is that I use hard to drive Sure E4C IEMs or AKG 7xx headphones so I can't skimp on overall drive power. They both benefit from a stiff amp. 

Recently got back into to headphones.   Picked up a pair of Grado RS2e along with a Massdrop Objective 2 headphone amp.  Great combination driven from my tablet or especially when driven by my NAD M51 DAC.    

Since my last comment in 2011, I have purchased a pair of Stax 009s. I can’t imagine anything better but I’m still looking for better amplification (like Blue Hawaii).  I’m happy for now. My other favorites are Fostex 900 and HifiMan 1000 V2, both of which I heard a few years ago at a hifi show in Orange County. The Audeze phones sound great but the pressure on my head was just too much.

For personal listening on my iPad, I use a pair of B&W phones.