The Best Audiophile Earphones headphones and Amp

Go to Headphone.com....all your answers are there.

I would look into Woo Audio

I am really pleasantly surprised at how much I like my Sennheiser HD650s. They are not the most highly resolving headphone on the market, however they are very pleasant to me. They have a nice warm sound that does not cause listener fatigue, even when listening for hours. I just got mine for under $350 brand new in the retail box.

Regarding the headphone amp: Do you just need an amp, or does it need any other features, like a built-in USB DAC? For a dedicated headphone amp, the Burson HA-160 is getting excellent reviews and the street price is $699. If you need/want a world class DAC built-in, then the Burson HA-160D is excellent at $1100.

For less money, but still good performance, the NuForce Icon HD or Icon HDP get excellent reviews when paired with the HD650s and many other headphones.

Just like with any audio system, you can spend a lot more and a lot less. The above recommendations are just some of the products that fill the sweet spot between price and value.

As stated before, HeadFi.org is a wealth of information. You can get lost for days reading forum posts and reviews.

Enjoy,

TIC

If you hunt around a bit on the Gon you might be able to score a Cary 300sei without breaking the bank. Stick in some proper capcitors in the output stage and it is hard to beat.

IMO, you won't find better than the Stax. I've owned many pairs of headphones so this is not just my ego talking. All
others feel and sound like headphones. Stax create an ambient
space over your ears but without the distractions that plague
loudspeakers. I use both the solid-state and tube driver units
and I highly recommend the tube units. My best advice is to buy them first and you'll never feel that there is something missing. Also, used units on Audiogon are safe bets. Stax
headphones are hard to damage-I've been using mine for about 20 years and they still sound GREAT!