The Best Audiophile Earphones headphones and Amp

Word to the wise...take it slow. I,too, have a pretty decent 2 channel system and thought that I'd like to enter into the headphone arena. I started by doing a little research on Head-fi.org and there's really quite a bit of information available. The Sennheiser 650's are a "good" pair of headphones and can be bought reasonably for around $500. A decent entry level headphone amp to drive them will run around $700 new. Start there and see how much you really like headphones. Sure you can buy a $1500 set of "cans" and spend 2 grand for a superior headphone amp and get a much better setup, but sometimes the journey getting there is better than the final destination. From your initial comments about your high-end hi-fi system, you probably built up your current system by steps so why not do the same with a headphone/headphone amp system because there will always be something better to move up to.

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.