In article , Rick Scott
says...
I would like to set up simple headphone only system: CD player, headphone
amp, and head phones. budget = $1200 to $1600. I am interested in a warm and
slightly laid back sound. What suggestions do any of you have?

I'm not sure if Musica Fidelity still makes their X-Can v2 but it's the
first this you should (IMHO) look up. It's a 1 watt tube headphone amp
and should cost around $200-300 IIRC.

'bout the headphones. Any higher end Grado's or Sennheisers will probably
do; something like Grado SR225 or SR325 or perhaps Sennheiser HD580 or
HD600.

You'll probably still have some spare $ for a X-PSU additional power
suply. Hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong, but I think it can be
used with X-Cans/Can v2.

Spend the rest on a good cd player and/or good cables.

--
"We still have much to learn about the art of sound reproduction;
ultimately, our responsibility is to our ears,not to established
precepts." - Martin Colloms, January 1998