Well, my budget was very small, and before this I was going to get the NuForce uDAC-2, so I think I'll be okay. I'd be shocked if a DAC right at the top of the list at head-fi didn't sound great to an audiophile-newbie like myself. Never even heard music through a DAC before.  

Well, I went with the Maverick TubeMagic D1 DAC. Above what I wanted to spend, but given all the great reviews, I doubt I'll regret it. I'm about to enter the world of high fidelity!

This will only take a sec!   I'm looking into headphone amps, but don't know whether I need a desktop amp or a portable. I guess what I'm asking is: are all portable amps battery-driven, and wouldn't that be a pain recharging them all the time? As a video editor who also does a fair amount...