I wonder if there's any point in going up the headphone ladder further until I have serious dough to upgrade my source and/or buy a headphone amp. I currently have an entry-level Panasonic 5-speaker bookshelf system and a Panasonic RV32 DVD player with toslink connection. The headphone jack on the system is just a mini-pin, like you'd find on a PCDP.

I currently use the Senn HD280 Pro with this system, keeping a Senn 497 on hand as a backup/computer phone. It seems to be a pretty good fit, but I have a feeling that until I upgrade the system, there's not much point in headphoning-up. Am I right?

As long as you keep visiting this cursed place, you'll always find a reason to upgrade. And you'll be persuaded into upgrading your sources too.

RUN!

Give it some time. With more reading here the more stuff you're going to want. The cycle never ends until your credit card is finally denied

Probably not.

I've already got half of my tax return planned for a new portable and a set of eggo's... stupid school books take up the other half

I remember when i was getting bitched at spending $20 on a set of headphones. I wonder what everyone will say when my tally for the year is just shy of $400 (eggo's, hd-580's, hd-497's, portapro's and probably a pair of grado's).
Nevermind the additional $350 i plan to spend on a portable and stand alone cd player.

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You won't know until you try

whatever you don't get NOW, you can always collect later from eBay. Kind of nostalgic like.....

you will always want to upgrade, it's a law of nature

Well I have a D25S that I use on it's own or a Cmoy+Panasonic RV31. For headphones I use HD280's and Audio Technica W100's and there is a huge difference between the two headphones.

I don't know how good the headphone jack is in your system now but you could build or buy a new/used Cmoy or CHA47 for pretty cheap (I may have a Cmoy for sale soon, if your interested PM me.) The Panasonic is a surprisingly decent source, not top of the line or anything but it sounds pretty good for the price and most of it's sins are sins of omission.

I wouldn't discount getting a decent source and amp though, that is always a good thing just don't think that what you have now will not show you the differences.

If you're enjoying your system, why bother thinking of upgrading? Just enjoy your system.

Try to be pragmatic; try not to get excited about the latest and greatest headphone. Forget about trying to find an amp that will reveal a headphones' many failings. Just enjoy what you have.

If you really are set on a new amp, then just start saving all your pennies and dimes. There is no reason to get into hock.

Buy a few CDs, go to the movies, take in some nice fresh aire, and forget about willingly making yourself sick with worries about a better system. It'll come about naturally. If you want to get in on the cheap, just buy a nice $25 CD player and a Marantz 1060 amp on Ebay. But before you go that far, try your headphone on all of your friend's integrated amps. Listen to their music, listen to yours.

Eventually you'll outgrow your present setup. When that happens perhaps you'll have enough money to buy the best. And if not, there is plenty of information here to help you build either an entry level Meta or a full blown Meta. You could buy a few parts every week. A month or two later you can slap it all together. In the meantime you could have spent weeks reading every article on amplifiers. There's nothing better than being an informed consumer.

Probabaly not, as long as you come to these forums you will always find something more to spend your money on.
-Mag

I'm done upgrading, but that's only because I need lunch money and to save for this trip I'm taking in June. An amp is going to have to wait

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. . . .And then buy more headphones.

Seriously, why don't you try buying more music and enjoying it on what you already own? Once you feel you've taken your system as far as it can go, then think about making changes.

I guess I'm wondering whether I'm at a "threshhold" point or not. I do enjoy my current setup reasonably well, and I'm in no huge hurry to spend money, so my question is more general theory than anything else. Given an equally matched system, what generally is the next step in an overall upgrade chain -- amp, source, or phones?

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You're in the wrong place.

If you are satisfied with your current setup, leave it alone for a while.

Enjoy the music.

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cables ?