Hi,

I have about £1,000 to spend on some headphones and a headphone amp. My sources will be a Cyrus CD8x and a Rega Plannar 3 with Denon DL110 cartridge. I can get the Grado GS1000 and have about £400 left over for an amp, my concern is that this is going to be to great an expenditure as a proportion of the system and that given the sources I would not notice any improvements in sound over a far cheaper pair of headphones. Any thoughts?

Secondly, I use a pair of ProAc D15's as the speakers, through a Cyrus 8vs2 amp, my thinking is that headphones (in particular the Grado's) at £500 are going to offer far greater imaging and just generally far better sound than the speakers, now given that a lot of this is subjective I am interested in people's experience of this level of headphones and how you would compare them to speakers in the sort £2000 bracket.

I am aware that the most sensible thing to do would be to listen to some, but this may prove difficult for a number of uninteresting reasons, hence the soliciting of opinions.

Look forward to hearing responses.
Keith