Albumplayer, and by quite a margin. It is not the most flexible player - but in my opinion it's the best sounding one out there to date. This is my choice for critical listening via pc audio. http://albumplayer.ru/english.html The programmer of albumplayer is on this forum.

i "used" to have a mini disc player..

"Possibly (?)" this:   http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ELE-EL-D01-MINI-HIFI-USB-PCM2704-DAC-BOARD-CARD-ELNA-Capacitor-New-/110951398896?pt=AU_Electronics_Audio_Amplifiers&hash=item19d537fdf0   I wont be surprised if this sorta thing is just repackaged and on sold elsewhere for more money.

If comfort is high is of high priority, the sony mdr f1 (old headphone, if you can get them second hand) has a very comfortable design to it.  Comfortable enough to fall asleep with them on.

Its a brilliant sounding player! After quite abit of testing to setup pc audio, i have found Album player 2.9.5b to be a comfortable cut above the the rest.  It was a clear and immediate difference at headphone level and its playback sounded musical and engaging at speaker output.  My amp and...

A "musical" DAC as an input to your tube amp you should clean things up.

Get a well reviewed external DAC and headphone amp (or possibly a single item that does both). Run audio focused playback software and you're in business.