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Headphone Amps and Portable/Personal Stereo???

I've ordered the top-line Grado RS1i Headphones for $535 brand new. I'm a very poor audiophile so I'm never going to be able to afford the audio system I really want. I thought maybe I could put togeter the most amazing personal stereo system to enjoy music.

I'm considering the Musical Fidelity X-CAN v8 for a head amp but it's a little too expensive ($499 on sale). Also, I don't know what source to use...mp3 player?, portable cd player?, standard cd player...??? I know very little about mp3 or their quality, or how they interface etc. Anybody have any ideas? I'd be mightly appreciable for your help.
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rello
311 posts
 
I would not recommned the MF for your phones and think it would sound bright. Impedance matching is very important and the grado has a low impedance at 32 ohms. Actually I would listen to the RA-1. I use an RA-1 battery unit with Ultrasone 2500 with great results. Very natural, organic sound. As a bonus the Ra-1 will give some level of portablility as well. I would recommend a std cd source although it is not clear about your portability needs.
frogman
7,473 posts
 
You should decide wether you want a portable system or not. The MF is not portable. I think you can get substantially better performance if you don't require portability. Personally, I would look for a used Stax SRM-1 with Lambda Pro combo in the $500 range. Add a good and inexpensive cdp, and you will have amazing headphone listening.

Good luck.
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swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
I would not recommend mp3 files but if you get a big enough digital player and use a lossless codec you should be fine. If you do some research at head-fi.com, you will get tons of info on headphones.
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Get a Benchamrk DAC1 - it has an excellent headphone amp and you can feed it any old digital and it should clean up the jitter pretty good. If you like precision, clarity and dynamic sound then the Benchmark is great value - just no bragging rights as it is pretty much a standard for many people who prefer value.
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