Alpha Design Labs A1Price: $599

Website: www.adl-av.com

Hans said: The A1 headphone amplifier-DAC is pretty much faultless in terms of sound quality; add in its flexibility and DSD capabilities, and I could happily live with one for a long while.

Read the SoundStage! Xperience review.

The gist: Stylish, full-featured, great-sounding headphone amp.