Need to build a headphone system

Thank you all!  This is is all really helpful.  I'm in New York.  Does anyone have experience with Audio46?  Although I expect there will be lots of home trials, a good store would be helpful.  (And FWIW if I find what I want in a store, I'll buy it in a store - it's hard enough being in business without being a showroom for the internet.)  I am partial to tubes, so I'll be checking out Woo and the VM-1A for sure.  This is going to be fun! 

The best place for RAAL info is head-fi.com, where Danny and Alex the 2 principles of RAAL-Requiste help out.

Raal Ribbon Headphones - SRH1A | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

RAAL-requisite CA-1a Circum-Aural Ribbon Headphone is here! @HeadAmp | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

I’ve been to Audio46.  It’s pretty small — not surprising being in NYC — but they have good stuff and the people are nice and accommodating if you wanna listen to stuff.  And their prices are competitive if u wanna buy.  Great HeadFi resource to have and you should definitely go.  Just make sure they have something you’d like to listen to available to demo if there’s something specific you’re looking for.  Of course street parking is a challenge so be prepared to pay for garage parking.  

I visited JS Audio in Bethesda, MD and they had a RAAL system. I live in the Washington DC area. I have not explored elsewhere. To bad you did not go to CanJam NY couple months back.

After my posting last night, I believe the RAAL system may be what you are looking for. It’s basically putting 2 ribbon monitors on your head. Coming from a 2 channel environment its an easy transition. Keep us posted.

I bought some Kennerton headphones a couple of years ago from Audio 46 and the transaction went well with no issues.  They do have a pretty impressive list of headphones from modest offerings to some of the most expensive, so it might be a good place to try some on your target list.