I've lurked on this site for awhile, and signed up the other day. For my first forum post I have chosen something that may have been warmed over for a long time -- if I did, I apologize. But I'll ask anyway.
I have a modest 2 channel music listening system in my basement/man cave that consists of:
Denon 2000 ivr integrated amplifier
Denon 3910 (used for cd/sacd and dvd)
Technics SL1200MK2 turntable
Polk LSI9 bookshelf speakers
In terms of headphones, I have one pair of AKG 701s, a set of Grado 225i, and my gateway drug, the Grado SR60.
I also have a Headroom Total Bithead portable amp that I have used with both of the Grados. It was also a gateway drug of sorts, and I frequently use it with an iPod touch and with my iTunes over my MacBook Pro, which has about 115GB of music in lossy and lossless formats.
Depending on how taxes go this year, I've been thinking of getting a dedicated desktop amp, and maybe a DAC, although I'm more interested in the amp side.
My questions are: do you knowledgeable folks think that I would experience a good upgrade over the Denon 2000 ivr's headphone out if I used a separate headphone amp with the AKG 701 and Grado 225i? If so, can you recommend an amp that would complement both of these headphones? In terms of listening, I prefer rock and jazz. When listening over the system, I lean more on CD/SACD, but also listen to a fair amount of vinyl.
Any recommendations are appreciated!
