Portable headphone amp suggestion?

In a couple of days, my father is going to New York for some time and he asked me if I want something from there. I thought a portable amp will not be such a bad idea. Since I live in Vienna, Austria, such things like a portable headphone amplifier is very hard to get by through retail.

I've tried the FiiO E5 (I didn't quite like the sound though) and I had the FiiO E11 (for a tiny amount of time) but maybe I want something with a bit better.

I'm looking for recommendations, the budget is around $150 (can be more, let's say a maximum of $200) and it needs to be available at the shop without ordering online if possible (in NYC). 

I listen music with my iPod Touch 1G (occasionally with my Nokia N900) with a pair of Shure SE425.

The genres I mainly listen to varies from Rock (e.g: Nine Inch Nails), Trip-Hop (e.g: Massive Attack), Electronic (e.g: Ladytron), Instrumental (e.g: Mogwai), Movie Scores and a few others. A lot of them are Apple Lossless .m4a files, some of the are 320kbps MP3s and some are below that though I'll try to change it.

Thanks.

Ok, I think I might be too overconfident to find a needle in a haystack where there is no needle.

There's a couple of reasons why I'm not able to order online:

1. My father is completely scared of ordering something online, even a cash on delivery style makes him quite nervous although I did bought something with cash on delivery and it works like a charm.

2. Everything is cheaper in the US but since it's better to order online, well I guess I need to find a friend that lives in NYC that can order the item for me and then pay him afterwards.

3. It takes quite a long time to ship something in the US to Europe.

Supposedly, let's say that I can order it online. What portable amp would you suggest? In the near future, I might be upgrading to some Beyerdynamics (I haven't decided yet) so it need to be able to drive it as well. 

If everything fails and I can't get it online, well in the B&H store, they do sell the FiiO E11.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cogsand gears 

Fiio E11 is pretty good bang for your buck IMO. I had one for about 6 months and was impressed with it.

Yes I know but I wasn't quite pleased with the build quality. The FiiO E11 is just a last option if I can't get any other amps. I was looking at the iBasso amps. I'm quite interested on the T5. It fits the budget but is it worth the $169?

I've finally decided on the brand that I'll choose. I'm going to stick with FiiO for the mean time until I have the necessary means to order something more expensive in the near future. Because FiiO is affordable, I can spend the rest on something else.

What amp would you think that is best suited for me?

The E7? Or the E11?

Also I might upgrade into cans in the future, maybe some Beyerdynamics or Ultrasones or even a Hifiman HE-300/400/500