need reasonable preamp w/headphone

melos sha-1, ~$400 used; melos sha-gold/maestro, <$1k used - these are preamps w/what the industry generally recognizes as the best headfone amps out there. great preamps, too.

OK, now don't laugh toooo much, but the Music Fidelity X-Can V2 is an excellent pre-amp in it's own right. It's got high end written all over it and it's one of the few active pre-amps that I actually like. Looks funky with the cables coming out of the front front but it works GREAT. Great headphone amp as well. You can probably re-wire it to send the signal back to one of the RCA jack sets on the back now used for the tape moniter function. Cheap, cheap and did I say cheap. Check it out at Audio Advisor. You can always send it back to them if not happy. Good luck.

thanks to all for their input. I will try and give the Anthem a listen and then work my way up the scale.

I have an Audible Illusions L1 for sale if interested.

If you like a preamp that doesnt have a headphone jack there are headphones that come with their owm amp hat can be hooked up to any preamp.

may be an Audible Illusions L1 or a SonicFrontiers line-1?

The Anthem models made by Sonic Frontiers. The Athem Pre-1L and I assume the Pre-2L that is replacing it does not just have a headphone jack, it has a dedicated headphone amp system build in. Check it out. They are around $400/$800 used/new.

Don't know what you mean by "reasonable", but Sonic Frontiers Line 1 (and all Line series pre-amps) has an excellent headphone out, ie they have Headroom circuitry. The Line 1 can be had used for $12-1400. This pre-amp also has excellent full function remote, AND it's a great tube pre-amp too. Cheers. Craig.