What music is best for life in a tiny box?

I'm in a similar situation, but only for 5 months. I purchased a Cambridge Audio DACmagic from Audio Advisor, and paired it up with my 90's vintage Headroom Supreme amp and pair of Sennheiser HD600s. I've been very pleased with the audio quality of digital music played from my MacBook (but if you are new to hard-drive based audio, make sure you import music at a respectable bit-rate).

The new DAC has made a huge difference in listening to music from the computer...I found myself listening for hours, with no fatigue.

I also purchased a pair of Audio Engine model 2 self-powered speakers, for casual listening when I don't want to be tied to headphones. Just got them yesterday; very impressed with build quality, and they are nice and compact. Initial impression is very favorable, but I'll need to break them in to make an accurate assessment. But if you are in the market for an inexpensive ($200) compact speaker, check 'em out. The model 5s mentioned in Arni's post also get rave reviews, but they may take up a little too much desk-top real estate for ship-board living.

Good luck on your tour in Japan.

I'm no expert on dedicated DACs...the DACMagic is my first....but Cambridge Audio claims that jitter reduction is one of it's advantages. And that might explain the big improvement I hear.

What ship? It's gotta be more spacious than a sub!

Not sure about other DACs, but the DACmagic has both a USB input and TOSlink and coaxial digital inputs, switchable on the front panel. That at least provides the option of comparing the sound you get from a CD transport with what you get from USB.

If you haven't already, check out the Headroom website (www.headphone.com) for lots of great info on headphones and amps. In-ear 'phones like the Eytomic are great if you expect noisy surroundings, which seems pretty likely.