When it comes to the stand alone CD player, and DAC/AMP, discussion.. I'm in the same boat, I'm just not entirely sure which direction to head. I'm currently looking at a Marantz CD5004, as it appears to be a pretty good machine? And besides.. I'm getting a killer deal on a new one (Around the $200 mark). I'm still an individual that prefers to buy CD's over any sort of digital download.. Just something about the physical copy.
Though I own many CD's, and continue to buy, I just end up ripping them to my computer... where I was using my Mamba (D4) as the DAC/AMP (Now currently only the AMP portion works). My current headphones consist of the Beyerdynamic PRO 880 (250) and the Ultrasone PRO 750's. The setup seemed to work reasonably well.. though I did run into a lot of poor quality sound, more due to the music files/ source I'm assuming? As would have guessed, I notice this a lot more with the Beyer's.
I'm really leaning towards my deal with the CD5004.. as long as the headphone jack is worthy? From the sounds of it, the player seems to do the job pretty well.. and for around $200 new. Thinking about possibly picking up a pair of AKG 272HD or a possible Sennheiser...
Also wouldn't mind picking out a nice set of bookshelf speakers as well down the road.
I guess I'm just a little afraid to take the plunge.. in regards to my headphones being powered sufficiently through the Marantz.
Advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Greeink