ah found others too - thanks
but not in the UK 
You can get them from Audiophonics in France but for some reason they don’t sell them via their UK website only US. The Monolith THX 887 is the top one of this bunch, then the MassDrop 789 you can get this in the UK Drop will delivery it if in stock from Europe normally and SMSL SP200 THX 888 you can get off Amazon on offer right now to for Prime Day.
any thoughts on the MONOLITH THX AAA-788 with integrated DAC - is the DAC any good?
This is true in two parts: it’s bloody amazing, and it’s good value for the money. I feed mine straight up with RoPieee on an RPi4. Positive you can get something better if you do desire, but doubt you will feel shortchanged if you pursue this path. Difficult to do side-by-side comparisons against, say Benchmark or Violectric yourself. I found the Headphoneer comparison to be well written and useful. https://www.headphoneer.com/rme-adi-2-dac-review/
Best wishes and fingers crossed for a nice sale (I have seen a limited time offer at 20% off on one Canadian site a month or so ago; otherwise straight MRSP here). Have fun, exciting times!
Regards alan
I got mine at a discount as it was damaged packaging DAC had never been touched. Then today’s I just saw the Matrix Audio 3 I Pro which is all in one and is getting Roon Ready and cheaper than the Element and balanced headphone out to. Too many choices really.
I agree Hi Fi lounge has a very good selection of headphones all in one place to try in very pleasant surroundings. A colleague and I drove there from Bristol, it was worth it just to be able to access such a range.
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Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro3 DAC looks very nicely designed and a good all in one bedside table box solution. Pity it won’t connect via wifi tho.
I would listen / audition carefully. As I have said before, high end phones are very revealing of DAC limitations… so you need to system match. (In my experience of course).
I guess the gold standard for me is the Chord DAVE driving Meze Empyreans (sliver plated leads) … it is a hard one to beat… I am told the DAVE into the HPA4 into Empyreans driven balanced is amazing with live 4 track recordings with a great stereo field … I have yet to hear that combo… I suspect we are in very diminished returns.
I think if you go for mid range Sennheisers or Planars… they are more accepting of a larger range of amps and DACs… the HD650 can work with a wide range of amps and DACs for example, it just hasn’t that stark reality experience, but can sound very enjoyable.
In the mid range there is some very good kit for the money.
It does, the non pro version has no WiFi
yes it’s interesting. Without listening, (which I would do) it’s clear what the top end kit is… or at least the short list. It’s in the mid-range that the voice becomes somewhat overwhelming…
As is often the case 
mmm
HD650’s and Grado sr325e are currently on top of my not-yet-listened to list…
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The 650s are good, I tend to give a bit of high end eq around 6 to 8 kHz to them, to open them out a bit .
Very much enjoying my Focal Elears right now and the RME a touch of EQ in Roon thanks to AutoEQ. This has never sounded so good to me.
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I own a Sen 650 and it’s a good headphone but you should try something like the Fostex TH610, I found them much better and easy to drive (the Senn are 300 Ohms).
Ps. I don’t’ use a dedicated headphone amp.
More browsing tonight and spreadsheet out. Shiit combo of Heresy amp and Modi DAC at ~£250 is nice but out of stock cos of C-19; Drop closed UK warehouse so longer wait for their amp (and not sure what dac would work well with that), monolith from Audiophonics France but getting pricier and still need a DAC, Matrix Audio mini I pro 3 looks a step up for a step up in money. Like the sound (not literally, yet) of the RME and Violectric, but latter only s/h and former ~£1k, which for an intro to headphone listening (albeit seriously) is perhaps too much - maybe I’ll same those to go next to the 552…
So for simple bedside unit, am still vacillating, but mini 3 (maybe pro, maybe not - don’t need MQA but better clock will probably help) is possibly top.
But need to chat to hifilounge too…
Oh, one more q - if I get an ok bedside system but then decide I’;d rather not strangle myself if I fall asleep and so want to move to bluetooth (aptX, but I know quality might suffer somewhat) is there a reasonable bluetooth transmitter recommended?
Given Bluetooth uses a range of lossy compression codecs for audio (ok there are a few obscure proprietary exceptions) I don’t think you need to be too fussy. I find the Apple products work well (iPad, iPhone etc)… and Denon, Sennheiser etc all have dedicated Bluetooth transmitters.
Though I would try and use something that supports either aptX HD or aptX Adaptive if using a dedicated transmitter for the best performance on Bluetooth… and yes your phones need to support too.
I think that journey starts with first selecting a top portable source. I would suggest to look at the top of the line Sony Walkman or Astell & Kern Ultima.
From the perspective of headphones. I have always got excellent sound out of premier in Ears. My current Sony IER 1Z are a great match with my Walkman. But also Ultrasone Sapphire, or Shures on a bit lower price level are good options. Over ears closed ones would be otherwise recommended, unless you are listening in your own area. Focus Stella’s would be top recommendation for that.
idea is to find one that connects to the headphone amp output, not driven from the phone - but I’ve now found a couple on Amazon so can explore…