Ben: You're right. It is boring when members constantly endorse and re-endorse their own choices.
With that said: Get a GamuT CD-1 like I did! Its relaxed, detailed musicality would be particularly suited for a headphone system. The CD-1 is ALL about extracting the best music out of redbook.
I was also impressed with the Ayre player.
I have heard the A308, Nova, 508.24 and the FMJ. They all have their strong points (well, the first two/three do), but none were close to the GamuT in my experience for sheer listenability and musical fervor. (No, that doesn't mean it has some really creative frequency response.)
Oh. The GamuT also puts out 4 volts. So your headamp will be doing even less work. You could even run passive--who knows; the best headamp could be none at all! There is actually a lot of discussion on that point at headfi.org, here:
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32785&highlight=direct+path
Anyway, the 4 volts alone should put the CD-1 on your list.
Regards,
With that said: Get a GamuT CD-1 like I did! Its relaxed, detailed musicality would be particularly suited for a headphone system. The CD-1 is ALL about extracting the best music out of redbook.
I was also impressed with the Ayre player.
I have heard the A308, Nova, 508.24 and the FMJ. They all have their strong points (well, the first two/three do), but none were close to the GamuT in my experience for sheer listenability and musical fervor. (No, that doesn't mean it has some really creative frequency response.)
Oh. The GamuT also puts out 4 volts. So your headamp will be doing even less work. You could even run passive--who knows; the best headamp could be none at all! There is actually a lot of discussion on that point at headfi.org, here:
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32785&highlight=direct+path
Anyway, the 4 volts alone should put the CD-1 on your list.
Regards,