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Originally Posted by minimus  Two thoughts on this: 1. headphone amps like the Zana Deux seem to hold their value in the used market much better than "traditional" two channel gear that is primarily designed for speaker rigs. I bet you could sell the Zana Deux in a few years at only a small haircut to current retail but would take a bigger hit when you sell a preamp/DAC on Audiogon. (Non-headphone stereo equipment just does not hold its value in the used market like headphone gear seems to. Just check out the yawning gap between retail and used prices on Audiogon compared to the For Sale forume on Head-fi.) 2. Do you really need a preamp? If you only are going to use a single source, you may be paying extra for the preamp functionality of the Isabella that you just won't need.
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The reason most headphone gear holds value at the moment is because the field is still pretty new. With speakers, you can buy a 40 year old McIntosh amp and still get great performance. But you can't buy a 40 year old headphone amp - the market hasn't been there long enough and it's still small. Give it another 10 or 20 years of growth, and you'll see bargain used headphone equipment. Headphones have only taken off in the last five years or so. It's not like speakers, where I got a deal on my Quads, which are about 20 years old.
That said, anything from Moth or Eddie Current tends to hold value quite well. It took a year of searching, negotiation and a few close calls to land the Si2A3. I'm also glad I picked up the Cicadas when I did - they're impossible to find.
