Headphone Amplification

Only US$37,950 at your friendly MSB purveyor of fine products. Roll up, roll up, get yours now. http://www.msbtech.com/products/headphone.php?Page=../index

Because of a thread on Head-Fi (see link) it got me wondering, only I wanted to add a poll. I know that a poll is somewhat useless as they are misleading since not many people, or maybe even none, have heard them all which will ultimately lead to a misformed / incomplete picture. Nonetheless I would like to try and ask the people who are voting to explain why they voted the way they did, what else they've heard from the list and what sound(sig) they're after. When you feel I have left out an option which cannot be missed on the list, feel free to add your thoughts and please eloborate. A little background: I still have to save up for a desktop amp and had my mind set…

Hello! Please let me know which you would prefer and why: 1) The CIAudio VDA-2 DAC and VHP-2 headphone amp, both with VAC1 power supplies. OR 2) The HeadRoom Balanced Desktop. This model is now only available with the Home Modules and Home DAC. I will be feeding the DAC's optical inputs via a SqueezeBox Classic. Headphone suggestions welcome. Is going balanced worth the hassle of recabling headphones? Music preferences: Primarily Rock and Acoustical. E.g. Rush, Pink Floyd, Jose Gonzalez, Dire Straits. Channel Islands Audio HeadRoom Balanced Desktop Amp @ HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears Thanks for your feedback!

Not much info, but... http://j.mp/HSsiUj Seems to be amp/dac combo?

I know this is insane but I absolutely love the sound of my JH 13/16s powered by either my Fetastic or Zana but both are obviously noisy in this application. They both (noise aside) sound way better than the portable amps I have tried but wonder if there is a desktop option out there that is under $2k that would be silent with these but also sound fantastic. If the Fetastic was quiet it would be the best option as it sounds great with them and is balanced to boot but there is a hiss present at all volumes. Not a knock on the amp as I am using outside it's intended purpose.

After my recent experience with the Zana Deux in Cinci I was again reminded what a difference power can make. As I have found more powerful tubes to run in the Singlepowers they just keep getting better. Mikhail, I believe, has a little bias against the bigger power tubes like the 2a3/ 300b etc.. because he doesnt feel they maintain the amps refinement .... and you have to admit at a certain point how much output power is necessary. But me ... I think if you have a refined gain tube that sets the character of the amp ..... the more power you add ..... things only get better. With this in mind I contacted Mikhail about a 6c33 amp. I had discussed this about a year ago …

I'm about to buy a pair of 6bx7gt's for my old skool toaster MPX3. First of all, will it's psu even be able to handle them? Second, what are some good ones? I'm probably gonna buy them matched from tubeworld.com, if there's a better dealer that takes paypal tell me! Would you recommend the "O" or "D" getter halo tubes? And what brands? They seem to recommend the GE branded amperex and RCA tubes, but then again they're selling them...

I just received back from Cary Audio in North Carolina the Cary SLP-05 preamplifier. This is their top preamplifier and was purchased a couple of months ago to serve as my main preamp in my speaker-based system. I also wanted this to work as my home headphone amp when the wife and the neighbors want me to keep it quiet. The preamp is fully balanced and sports something unique in the high-end stereo preamp world, namely a true dedicated built-in headphone amp. The headphone amp section uses two 6SN7 tubes to power the headphones, while the preamp section runs off another six 6SN7 tubes, for a total of 8 tubes. The separate power supply uses 5AR4 tube rectification. You…

Since I saw a pic of the board, I was wondering if it is worth it to "clone" as a DIY project the amp. I found two very useful pics of the inside. Based on it, I tried to fill in the parts: Is it a AC coupled amp ? The two closest cap from the potentiometer are input caps and i'm wondering if the two electrolytic caps close to the 1W resistors are output caps. Also, I don't know the name of the componant below the left 1W resistor. There are two of them. I think the output stage is push-pull, it probably looks like this: here is what I got so far. What do you think ? PS: I don't know if it is the right section and if it is allowed on this forum, mods fell fre…

http://www.erzetich-audio.com/deimos_prestige_headphone_amplifier http://www.monoandstereo.com/2014/09/erzetich-deimos-prestige-headphone.html?spref=tw&m=1 "We wanted to go beyond and make something that really stands out from the point of electronics, sound, design and prestige. This project has been developed under the name POS."

I have no engineering or design background, so these may be stupid questions, but that's never stopped me before. Can you tell what an amp will sound like from the amp's design? Often times, somebody says that "Amp X is poorly designed" -- does that correlate to sound? Kevin Gilmore, whose opinion and judgment I value and trust probably more than any other designer in this field, may be able to answer this question best. Sometimes you see him saying that something is a poor design, or a very simplistic design, etc. Can you assume that such an amp will not sound as good as a well-designed one? I have a feeling the answer is no, but if it is yes, what are the best-…

Specs Pure class-A, with 20W power draw at idle 16-600 Ohms load (optimised for low impedance) 1700mW into 40Ohm load W 184mm，L 300mm，H 56mm 2.2 KG Sorry for blurry pictures, it is taken from my phone. Better internal shot from the builder: (the transformer is shielded in a metal case as seen in my photo) Exterior The amp is cased in a thick chassis and finished with thick brushed silver front panel. The volume control is metal with texture on it to prevent slipping. Rear of the amp have standard IEC power socket and a pair of RCA inputs. The RCA sockets are gold plated and bolted to the chassis, not direct stressing the PCB. The overall finish is v…

I assume others have been following the O2 amp, though I haven't been able to find it discussed here. After a fair amount of reading, I've become interested enough that I've gone on the preorder list for a UK-built example of the amp, due in 2-3 months. (Yes, it does look easy enough to DIY, but I haven't built anything in an age, and I have enough distractions in my life already.) Anyone else have thoughts on this amp? Intents to build or buy one? Disclaimer: I hope it doesn't need to be said, but just in case it does, this post is not intended as drama-bait. I know NwAvGuy has raised some hackles with his opinions. In particular I know he has harsh thin…

Does anyone have an idea what's under the hood of the fabled AT amp? I'm giving thought to taking a stab at the amp. Any help would be appreciated.

For a long time now I've wanted to go balanced, but never really sat down and looked at all the offerings. As far as the big names go, there's the RSA Apache, HeadAmp GS-X, RudiStor NX-33, Headroom Balanced Desktop. Right off the bat, the Apache and NX-33 are knocked out of the running based on what I've read about the manufacturers here. Also, a small thing I've noticed: While the Headroom Balanced Desktop and GS-X have tabs to release the XLRs, the other two don't. Does this mean the XLRs don't lock as they should, or is there some other mechanism to hold them in place? As far as price goes, the GS-X is a little rich for my blood, and the Balanced Desktop can n…

from Yanko Design, slashgear & engadget: info here, here & here... stylish...

For some reason which I can't explain, I wandered over to the Cavilli website today and saw that the Liquid Lightning 2T was selling for $2499.50. Original price was $4250. Wonder what's going on?

link Comments?

Since changing up my work rig, the Lunchbox is kind of in limbo with me right now... I'm not sure if it's staying or going. But I was reading Skylab's Lunchbox II impressions "over there," and was interested if anyone here had tried rolling tubes with it. It seems as though the Western Electric 396A and/or Sylvania 2C51are direct swaps for the 6N3P and the Electro-Motive 6FC7 is a direct swap for the 6N24P, and I've read nothing but positive reviews of the results in the LB & the EC-01. I ordered some from the TubeDepot, as I figured $30 wasn't a big chance to take, but I'm curious what to expect. IMO, the LB offers a pretty impressive bang for the buck, and i…

Hi, I'm looking for a portable headphone amp with good imaging, high detail and a very fair reproduction of the source. My budget is roundabout $400. I was considering one of the offerings from Ray Samuel until I read the opinions here. Instead do you have any particular recommendations? I've heard good things about Graham Slee's voyager, would that be a good choice? This is all baring in the that I'm limited to closed phones because I'll be monitoring input sources - perhaps oneday I'll invest in the etymotic H4s's. Cheers

I recently got a srm-313 with two pro bias, the voltage is japan 100v, does anybody has experience to convert it to 120v us standard? Thank you very much. The amp is still on the way, I found the internal photo from here,

What are your opinions on the Corda Symphony? There's a thread on the other site where its been reported that coaxial input to the DAC causes the signal to drop out. This is caused by the SPDIF receiver chip resetting when new signal is present. (takes a few ms) Optical is fine tho. And the SPDIF receiver chip was upgraded from the Opera's to alleviate the problems with the Opera's clicking noise when no signal was present.

I'm looking for a single ended analytical sounding amp to go with a North Star 192 MKII. Any suggestions besides a GS-1? Thanks USG

Also posted on H-F: Review of the SPL Phonitor Introduction: Last year I started to read about this new amplifier from SPL with its exotic crossfeed and I had to hear it. SPL America generously agreed to send me a Phonitor sample for review on Head-Fi and in short I am extremely impressed with the amplifier. On top of that the Phonitor has an amazing fully adjustable crossfeed circuitry that does an amazingly effective job at recreating a speaker setup. That

Hi, I'm new. I'm looking into incrementally putting together an affordable setup and was hoping to get some advice from you guys on what I should get and in what order. Background: I listen to mostly indie rock and jazz off of a macbook (external hard drive). I just recently got a pair of sr225s and i'd like to put them to a little better use. My next purchase will be in the $300-$400 range and then it'll be about month or so between purchases, so I'd like to buy things in an order that will make the most difference. I know it's not a lot of money (and i don't have the greatest cans in the world) but you gotta start somewhere. Thanks in advance for the help...