Here's a thought: Get a pair of Cakewalk (by Roland) powered monitors. They have RCA inputs, plus both coax and optical digital inputs for their built-in DAC. They also have a built-in headphone amp and headphone outputs. Lastly, they have tone controls so he can tone down the top end when listening to crappy compressed recordings.
These things are like a Swiss Army Knife of audio. They are a complete system (pre-amp, amp, dac and speakers) minus source devices.. You just need to attach the source components via either RCA analog connection and/or coax/toslink digital.
I think they are about $179 street price. I'm listening to mine right now. Oh, and I use them connected to my outdoor movie projector when we watch big screen movies in our back yard in the summer.
They are not full range as they are very small, but they have good resolution and good dynamics. If he's a headbanger, they are likely not going to have enough bass unless he uses the bass boost or bass tone control knob.
These things are like a Swiss Army Knife of audio. They are a complete system (pre-amp, amp, dac and speakers) minus source devices.. You just need to attach the source components via either RCA analog connection and/or coax/toslink digital.
I think they are about $179 street price. I'm listening to mine right now. Oh, and I use them connected to my outdoor movie projector when we watch big screen movies in our back yard in the summer.
They are not full range as they are very small, but they have good resolution and good dynamics. If he's a headbanger, they are likely not going to have enough bass unless he uses the bass boost or bass tone control knob.