[captslow]

I apologize if a similar topic has been brought up, I searched and did not find any exact matches. 
 
I feel that this could make for an interesting topic. Basically the question comes down to how to divide a set amount of money in a headphone system?
 
For example, say an individual has $3000 to spend on an amp and headphones (assuming a source has already been established and not included in the budget), what would be a good split of the funds? For example, spend $1000 the cans and $2000 on the amp, or $2000 on the cans and $1000 on the amp.
 
I have included a poll to gauge the community's response. 
 
In my experience in the HIFi world, my experiences taught me that a 50/50 split usually works best. Of course there are exceptions, the odd low price amp that well outperforms its price point, but the majority of the time an equal split delivered the best performance. 
 
For me this question is important because I am debating my first headphone and amp purchase. I have budgeted the aforementioned $3000 for the setup.
 
One setup would be a pair of HD800s ($1100 refurbished) and a Woo Audio WA22
 
The other option would be a pair of Audeze LCD-3s (Full retail) with a $1000 amp (have yet to do alot of research on LCD-3 amp pairings).
 
What do you guys think? 

 

[Taowolf51]

It varies so much depending on the headphone I couldn't place a simple rule on it. Take my everyday cans the D7000, $999 MSRP (when they were sold), and the crowd favorite amp is the M-Stage, a $250 amp (1/4 the price). At the same time, you have headphones from other companies like Senn that really sound best with amps worth a much higher percentage than the Denons (3/4, same price, or even double).