Headphone Amps and Portable/Personal Stereo???

I would not recommend mp3 files but if you get a big enough digital player and use a lossless codec you should be fine. If you do some research at head-fi.com, you will get tons of info on headphones.

Get a Benchamrk DAC1 - it has an excellent headphone amp and you can feed it any old digital and it should clean up the jitter pretty good. If you like precision, clarity and dynamic sound then the Benchmark is great value - just no bragging rights as it is pretty much a standard for many people who prefer value.

Keep it coming folks. Your advise is helping me!

I don't know about portability yet. I would not want to sacrifice too much in sound. I'd settle for semi-portable so I could share with some friends or listen WITH my wife (2 sets of phones simultaneously...maybe). I don't need walk-man like portabiltiy (or else I'd get a Walkman).

The battery powered has appeal because you don't have to worry about AC grunge but it wouldn't be portable with a standard CD player so it's seems portability might be a mute point if I go for quality.

Is there a mini-cd player or an excellent portable? How about a portable with a DAC? What lossless codec and what mp3 player? What software for cd transfer?

The main thing I'm looking for is world class sound at a bargin$$$...sitting in my lazyboy. That's why I spent as much as I did on the Grado phones. I really don't want to spend another $1000 though.

I just bought an Audio-Gd C-2C headphone amp following research though the Head-Fi site. Price was $335 plus delivery (from China). I'm utterly stunned by the sound quality through a pair of AKG 702s - significantly better than the Benchmark DAC which I tested for a fortnight. Audio-Gd have another model, the Compass, which has been designed in conjunction with 18 Head-Fiers who received test units. The Compass is a DAC, a headphone amp plus a pre-amp, so extremely versatile - has received rave reviews and could be another very good option at a promotion price of $258 plus delivery.

Eastern electric CD player can be had for about $650 used. That's all you will need. It has headphone jack and volume control.
Something else to consider for the future is an inexpensive vintage direct drive table and a Bellari VP-129 - same story of headphone jack and volume control. Chances are good you could put all of that together for under $1000.
Third, and possibly best, option is an old NAD preamp for $125. It will have a headphone jack, a multitude of inputs, a phono section, and you can run your computer straight into it. I did this for both my boys with Grado SR 325 cans and they love it. Great bang for the buck.