If you can find em, try out the W11JPN and W10VTG. They're the only 2 at's I've heard, but they're apparently different from the rest of the ATs. I find them very musical and enjoyable. Enough so that I sold my PS3000s and HP1s to stick with hhf1 and w10vtg.
An ipod is a good choice, and works reasonably well with ER4P. If that's your primarly listening environment, I wouldn't worry about an amp. If you plan on listening in other locations too, contact mexican dragon about his SuperMacro v1. It was built with the ER4P in mind, and I'm sure he could be talked into selling it fairly cheaply.
So how do you know the historians you're believing are more accurate than the historians he was using? I haven't seen the movie, but just because not everyone agrees on his facts doesn't mean he's wrong. It's not like we have great records from mayan times.
There are people who don't understand the difference between can and should. That's ok tho, we won't ban them, just disdain them.
We've mostly gotten beyond the stream of curse words just because they're not banned here. We still haven't gotten past some of the headfi bashing, but hopefully one day the fuel for that fire won't be so prevalent.
I'm sorry, vista won't make more developers switch to linux. Linux being used by people willing to pay for software is what will get developers writing for linux. In otherwords, some business software, but almost no games. And it will stay like that forever.
Think of it as a low bar to entry. If you can't pick a distribution, you probably won't be happy with linux at all. Because every choice is yours, none are made for you.
Woodied CD3000s with PS1 drivers are spectacular, as well...
the woodied headphile 770s when paired with the right amp sound better than they have any right to.
I use mac and pc, nothing particularly modern. I get my fast computer fix at work. I just open itunes and leave it open, so I don't really care that it takes a minute to load.
I like itunes precisely because I have a large library. It's simple, it works, I don't have to futz with it. I don't tweak my tags, I don't fiddle with EQ settings per track, I don't build playlists. I listen with party shuffle, and when I get in a mood for something, I drop it in the playlist.
Way more important than the quality of the DAC is that you're electrically isolating the dac from the computer. I've got a CEC DA53, which is a great dac and has USB in, but I still prefer to feed it from the airport instead, so that I eliminate possible interference. It's a growth path that doesn't leave you stuck with a piece of equipment you won't want later, unlike most compromise gear.