Thank you for your suggestion. Tempting.   Would you say the Rega is better sounding than a comparably priced DAC plus a generic transport? Is it so much more detailed than the Marantz?

Thanks for the suggestion, but I like listening to physical CDs. Collecting and listening to CDs is a more rewarding experience than immaterial files.

I've been busy so I never got around to purchasing either the Marantz or a DAC.   Anyone have further advice still?   It'd be greatly appreciated.

How about the BDA-1 + BHA-1? If one is going to spend that much on a pair of headphones, one might as well do this right.   Regarding the CD player, I'd rather get one that didn't much or, ideally, anything besides playing CDs. I wouldn't use bluray or any other functions. I know of CD...

   

  I have a shipping address in the U.S. so delivery wouldn't be a problem. The issue for me is I can not sample any gear before buying it, so I must make the decision blindfolded so to speak, and can not afford to make the wrong one. This is quite an expensive hobby.   Tube sound I'm not...

  I've looked at the Sennheiser amp/DAC but oddly enough have not encountered too many references. One could expect it to suit these headphones particularly well. Anyone here actually uses it?

Thanks for all your recommendations. I gather these headphones work best with tubes, which is something I wanted to avoid but now am not sure I should.   It is difficult to make a decision without the opportunity of listening to the gear first -which is impossible here- and at the prices...

      What about solid state?

I'm torn between these and the LCD-2. Is there a $1,500 amplifier + DAC combination that would do justice to the HD800? For the LCD-2 there is the Mjolnir + Gungnir combo.

"Collecting" music on a computer is simply meaningless and joyless.   The appeal of course is that most of those who prefer this medium do so because they can steal their music. Individuals with taste and musical education however would find it impossible to find select music with acceptable...

I have been away from music for several years now, but again am listening and buying CDs. Looking at some of the EMI recordings I wish to get though, I see many of them are out of print, and upon further investigation it seems the EMI catalog has been embroiled in a takeover and merger morass...

  That's why I like them too, but all this talk about it being a "universal" amplifier has me worried.     I don't see how anyone who loves music and isn't homeless or in some other analogous situation would not own and use a disc collection, either vinyl or CDs.

  I have lots of Bruckner, Celibidache, Karajan... but will give this one a try. Thanks for the recommendation.

Hammerfall, Glory to the Brave Bruckner, Symphony No. 5, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy Soundgarden, Down on the Upside Tchaikovsky, Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny Mravinsky   CDs, naturally.