Dusty Chalk

No he can't (see "comfortable" requirement).

That's, like, your opinion, dude. And having a vested interest doesn't necessarily mean ulterior motives -- it could be they're vested because they believe in the technology. And at that level, I suspect that to be the case.

Nothing wrong with that. And yeah, feeling out your room(s) acoustically is a good idea as well. I also agree with the advice of not being in any kind of rush, and auditioning as many speakers and as many different kinds of speakers as possible. That's always good advice.

I realize this is a moot point, but I think this still needs to be pointed out: I'm confused -- you're thinking about spending 10K on amps, but you can't afford 10K speakers? You should probably rethink your budget distribution.

You obviously don't own any cats. That's hilarious to cat owners.

I humbly disagree. I know of at least two high-end upconverters that convert 16/44.1 PCM to DSD, and they're both considered desirable (Meitner, dCS).

I'm not sure what reason you're trying to imply here, but the reason most of them convert is to cut costs.

EDIT: Damnit, boomana, you beat me to it. I do think that "hella powerful" is not necessarily a good match with all speakers. But based on your description of what you say you like, and based on my understanding of things, I'd say go hella powerful. I like hella powerful, myself (got a Musical Fidelity A308, myself). I would also add "monoblocks" to your thinking, especially if you're into soundstage/separation. (Both my MF and my Manley Stingray are "dual monoblock" designs.) What I don't understand is why you're going custom. There are some mighty fine amps out there that will suit your needs (I think), well within the <US$10K mark. I'm not saying "don't", I'm just trying to understand better. Oh, and ... tubes? SS? Digital?

Yeah, there's a lot of high-frequency hash on SACD output, but it's much higher in the case of DSD than it is in, for example, a filterless DAC at 16/44.1. The bright side is that it's more phase-correct, which is why SACD's are still so pleasant to listen to. That said, unless you've heard a filterless DAC, you'll never know which you prefer. Some people prefer filterless DACs even at 16/44.1.

It's not so much that it doesn't matter, as the engineering is much more important than the resultant efficiency. I would answer your other questions, but the first page I ran across when I googled SET vs. push-pull didn't jive with my understanding, so I'm just going to shut up. Try audiokarma.org, sh.tv or one of them other audio forums.

Sony MDR-V6/-7506 -- a little bright, but nice bass. ~<US$100 Also meets most all of your other criteria -- not sure how your head is shaped -- specifically, your ears -- but this is circumaural on about 50% of the human race. See if you can find a pair to try on, for instance at a local Guitar Center. Relatively light. Can be made extra comfortable with the "Beyer pad mod".

Agreed.

I'm using Quad 12L actives -- I intend to eventually get a subwoofer to fill out the bottom octave or so.

If you blur your eyes, it almost looks like a bunch of ASCII text in a scrollable code window.

Cheezburger cheezburger (chewing right this very second, not typing one-handed this time)

Actually, I have used a Sony MDR-V6/-7506 straight out of a laptop's soundcard -- it sounded a little bright and rough around the edges, but not that much different than it would out of an amp. (I.E. I don't think it scales much at all -- the roughness would go away with a different source, but that's about it.) Also, I've used a pair of Etymotic ER-6i's directly out of a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3, and it sounded surprisingly good for portable audio -- I've stated before that if you're not going to use an amp, then that's the way to go for entry level IEM's and portable audio. So I guess I was arguing with the general statement, since that's the direction you took this debate, and not specifically with the Denons, whose scaling I have little experience with.

Do you really think that having a HD600 or HD650 scaling well is a good thing if all you had was a cheap MP3 player with a miserable headphone out -- no amp, nothing else? If you do, fine, but I disagree -- I think there's a threshold below which you may not want to go. I do not think that having an "upper-mid-fi" rig would be bad with Senns -- I recently recommended exactly that with an AudioValve RKV here recently, but I specified the circumstances that I thought it would not work well, both in this post and in the post when I initially made the statement.

That's why I added the qualifier "necessarily". Meh, I guess -- mine needs new pads, and I bent/broke the 1/8" pin. I guess I like it enough to keep it so far. Do you still have yours?

Fascist. Pfff. And: meh.

Can we make this: ...into a smiley, please? , perhaps?

Yup.

It's not what you stated, it's what you assumed/implied -- that the HD650 is just better, and whether or not I agree with you is a function of upstream equipment. I disagree, let's leave it at that. (Just so that what I am assuming/implying is clear -- I think it's just a matter of taste. I value a straightforward delivery more than anything, and to me, the Senns are just too laid back in the same way that Grados are too forward. To me. ) Oh, and "scaling" isn't necessarily a good thing -- if you can't afford the high-level upstream equipment, then what you're saying is, you're hearing an inferior phone (to itself even).

I would hardly call Hirsch's rig "mid-fi".