Battery consumption is definitely an issue. Sound quality should be very good with the headroom amps. They have a very high incoming impedance--so those lousy op amps aren't really doing anything--sure they do degrade a little bit, but let's face it the CD transport is not exactly high end either. I wouldn't worry about the sound degredation from going through the board amps.
I do quite a bit of travelling, and music while travelling (good quality) is very important to me. I use the Etomatic ER-4S headphones, the Airhead amplifier (the special edition) and recently purchased a PJB-100, which is an MP-3 jukebox with 6.4 gigs of hard disk storage. Headroom recommended this MP-3 player--and they weren't even selling it. I've gotten good advice from them before so I bought it. I love it. The sound is better than most portable CD players and I can store about 70 CDs and a high bit rate that preserves good sound quality. Also, I can't say enough about the ER-4S headphones. They reduce noise by 22-25 dB. On a plane--that is great. Well happy listening--hope it makes the travel go easier.
I do quite a bit of travelling, and music while travelling (good quality) is very important to me. I use the Etomatic ER-4S headphones, the Airhead amplifier (the special edition) and recently purchased a PJB-100, which is an MP-3 jukebox with 6.4 gigs of hard disk storage. Headroom recommended this MP-3 player--and they weren't even selling it. I've gotten good advice from them before so I bought it. I love it. The sound is better than most portable CD players and I can store about 70 CDs and a high bit rate that preserves good sound quality. Also, I can't say enough about the ER-4S headphones. They reduce noise by 22-25 dB. On a plane--that is great. Well happy listening--hope it makes the travel go easier.