Headphone Amplification

I am trying to wrap my mind around what must go into a solid-state amp to explain a $4250 sticker price. I understand that chassis costs are often one of the largest expenses, but I look at that chassis and it seems many DIY amps on here are more impressive in that regard. It's certainly far short of the RSA A10, looks-wise. Unless there is a few ounces of platinum inside, this seems pretty outrageous. Or am I missing something?

Hi, Can anyone give me a list of amps with some balanced input (I don't care if it has unbalanced input or not, but if it does, please note it)? I'm thinking about getting one of those....but not necessarily to use balanced headphones with it. Just want to use balanced sources with headphones. Thanks in advance!

Hello all! I'm looking for a decent but cheapish DAC/Amp that has significant negative gain, and was wondering if anyone knew of anything? I'm using it to connect to my digital piano software, with which I use a pair of Etymotic 4XRs. At standard levels and 0dB gain I usually need to attenuate by at least 24dB before I can even get close to half volume with most pots. I'll add that I'm also using it at relatively low output levels because of my messed up ears, so it really would be nice to have some meaningful volume range without having to use massive digital attenuation. Also, using that kind of digital attenuation still leaves the amp itself at a much higher outpu…

Hi everybody! Greetings from Barcelona! This is my first post and I want to thank the attention of anyone who responds. I'm interested in buying a tube headphone amplifier, but I have a low budget so it would be interesting to hear some advice from more experienced owners. Looking for through the web I have ended with two interesting candidates: the Little Dot Mk II and the Appj PA1502a. Both have received quite good reviews (not many, but there are some) for the price so I'm undecided. The Little Dot is a class A OTL push-pull amp, while the Appj seems to be a class A transformer output single ended. As for …

I know they don't get many (any?) mentions over here and this will probably mark me as irretrievably jejeune -- but, for the money, I've been pretty happy with the Little Dot MkIVse I picked up used on HF. Anyway, their new balanced tube amp is apparently now available at a fairly tempting $724 shipped to the U.S. and I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on the basic design? Haven't been able to locate any specs, though they explicitly say it was designed to be able to drive K1000s. Any idea what the driver tubes might be? Pity about the gold tube sockets, but what are you gonna do?

I'd like to get a longer USB cable for my Pico so that I can sit on a couch probably about 10 to 15 feet away from where my computer is. I know I could get a headphone extension cable but I like to be able to control the volume and a longer USB cable would minimize the extra connections an extension would add to the mix. So my questions are, is there a maximum length for USB? If a longer cable is possible does anyone know where to get them in such a length because they're not available round these parts?

I recently bumped into this site decware, where they make SET amplifiers without circuit boards. Being a complete electrical engineering idiot, Im wondering if there is any merits to it. If im not mistaken, audionote uk does not use circuit boards too. There's the internals to one of his speaker amps. Im quite tempted to put down an order for one just for novelty sake and the lifetime warranty. If im not mistaken he makes headphone amps and kind enough to include the schematics. Quite skeptical about the beeswax caps though. http://www.decware.com/newsite/TABOO.htm

Some of you may remember me gabbing on about getting an office rig. Well, we're moving into the new building next week and I'll have the space for one finally. I was planning on waiting awhile, but as Mr. Nate Maher, Nugget Audio's kingpin, had this little beauty sitting around with nowhere to go, it's mine now! I think it was originally meant for Mike, but since he's slow to answer those pms, he just plain loses out and now he'll have to wait for the next one Purdy, huh?

Finally after months with all the problems getting the dac(Pico dac lost by shipping company and y2 builder taking ages to order the parts)I just got my refund and decided to go with the DacMagic with a discount from a dude from my home town, and the rig is "complete". Now that I plugged all down, I don't like the sound its to distorted which I describe as a kinda messy metallic sound.. I tested on the dude house to find the problem, and it seems its the minimax tube effect, I tried the rs1+dacmagic with his Lehmann Audio Black Cub and the sound was so much better, still to much bright sometimes but thats just the rs1 and I hope HF2 will be the right tone, then…

Hi guys, I'm looking to buy a new portable amp. I am owner of an iBasso P2, but it's a bit too big and I'd rather having more battery life. The P2 is very spacious and detailed, but has a slight midbass hump: some people seem to love this added "warmth", but I'd rather having a more neutral amp. I am interested in a Pico, but I wonder if there are any other good alternatives for the same price/size. I'm not thrilled by Xin amps, since an used Supermicro (only one I might be interested to) sells for more than a Pico, and for the same price I would get a latter. Are there any other portables (at a reasonable size) that can compete against the Pico? I know Skylab love…

I am looking for a compact amp with a line out for my desk at work, so I can keep my crappy powered speakers plugged in too. Source is an iPhone 3g dock, headphones are most likely k271's, if not them, either DT770's or DT250's (I need to hear the k271 first). So, assuming I go with the k271, I am guessing I'll want to err on the warm side of neutral, and I'd really prefer something with a small case and wall wart as "desk" and "office" are really words too strong to use for what they give us. My understanding of the mini3 is that it isn't easily modified for a lineout (but I would be happy to be wrong - I love the mini3). Battery functionality isn't important, but …

Any suggestions on an inexpensive low powered (10W) speaker amp? I'm looking to use it with the Audio Nirvana speakers I built a while ago. I was thinking maybe a T-Amp.

not sure if this warrants a completely new thread, but i'm hearing this "bing" noise whenever i touch my volume knob. is this normal or should i get this looked at? i did just switch in a new gain tube, so i'm not sure if it's that.

Didn't find an existing thread for this amp, so I thought I'd start one. I spent the last week listening to one I had on loan from TTVJ and compared it to the FET-A, also on loan. The following is sort of my "mini-review" of the P200 to share my impressions. Disclaimer: these impressions are based on 6 days of listening, far from ideal. Normally I would've liked to spend at least a week per headphone which is what I've done in the past, so even I might disagree with my own impressions later. My opinions varied a few times during listening in fact and without enough time to confirm what I heard via repeated listening, take these impressions with an extremely small grain…

As usual I'm at a disadvantage as I never seem to be in the right place to hear the gear I'm interested in. I've pretty much ruled out tube amps (yes, they sound wonderful) due to the placement of the amp in conjunction with where i sit. It's a heat issue. So solid state it is. Wondering if anyone here has has the pleasure of listening to both of these fine amps and can share their respective strengths/weaknesses. YES, I know the GSX can accomodate balanced cans. Yep, I realize alot of folks have not heard the P1. If it matters I'll be feeding it with the Bel Canto Dac3. Any other options I should be considering at this price point? BTW, I know I can order bo…

Hi. I'm looking for a good value amp in the under 800$ price range. I have been adviced to get an HR-2, a Gillmore Lite and M^3. While I am not sure I want to spend 850$ for the HR-2 (plus I've read some constrasting opinions about it), I'm seriously considering the Lite with DPS and M^3. I like the fact that the former is only transistor based, but it has been described as hyperdetailed and somewhat piercing in the highs by more than a few people on Headfi. Considering that I can't stand sibilance/harshness, I am not sure if I should go on with it. I read here that the M^3 is on the "warm" side. I am not sure if I am going to use Sennheiser HDxx or Denon D5000 with it. …

Hi guys! I've done some extensive researching in the past few days to find an amp that would be a good match for Senn HD600 and I've pretty much settled my choice on the M^3. The problem is, there seems to be an incredible number of configurations and upgrades possible and I'm no DIY guru so it's hard to know exactly what I want and what's the best I can get for the price I want to pay. I want to spend about 500$-600$ and my source for the moment is a modest M-Audio Transit USB (next upgrade after the amp ). What's your suggestions for the parts? Also, I need to find a builder, so I'll take your recommendations on that.

I currently have a Millett Hybrid as my main headphone amp, and I'm considering switching to an nicely speced M3. I would probably have to sell the Millett to finance the M3, but I don't think it would be a significant financial outlay beyond that. I know people here and on head-fi have a pretty high opinion of the M3, and think perhaps somewhat less of the Millett (I have heard it described as a "fun" amp especially with Grados). The real issue is that I don't have the oppertunity to compare the two before I do this, so I would definitely appreciate some comments from you guys before I proceed. The Millett has fairly nice components. Here is what the builder says: "tr…

Back in the '70s the amp wars were on, and Japan (Sansui, Pioneer, and others) challenged the burgeoning U.S. HiFi (yes, that's what it was called back then) stalwarts Marantz, Fisher, Scott, McIntosh, and Harmon Kardon with high quality, low cost premium gear. Heck, even Sony had a presence in high end, high quality iron in those days. Much of that gear is revered today, including the relatively exclusive Pioneer Series 20 line. I was recently fortunate to land a Series 20 M-22 Amplifier - 30 watts, Class A, and as sweet as any amp I have ever heard - right up there with any Pass Labs, Krell, McIntosh, or Levinson. When I got it, it was in very good (7.5/8 of 10) c…

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=215264 <GE> suppose he paid for any of that <GE> that stupid dock is going to break his ipod good seriously, the review makes no fucking sense at all. just another example of shameless headfi marketing. i am willing to bet 10 bucks that the UE-10 pros sound best straight out of the ipod.

Anyone heard this thing? "For electrostatic + magnetostatic + dynamic headphones." Just showed up on a Todd email.

What do you guys think about these 2 amps coming out soon? Not much info on them. Basically, i'm wondering if anyone can give some insight about the quality of their products and whether these 2 new amps will be worth checking out.

Needless to say, I invested in one of these works of art and well... it didn't disappoint. External build quality is way beyond the Cavalli Mk1 unit I had but inside...yeah.... So if anybody thinks this is good for 300$ they need their head checked. Every expense was spared here, just look at the high quality sockets used. I mean, who hasn't heard of the legendary "Hooya" sockets let alone "ZWEE". I mean quality stuff... Circuit looks to be identical to the LC minus the internal switcher. All the same issue as well plus the super cheap volume control...

I finally picked it up and it doesn't disappoint... Jesus this is bad and one funny thing, the surface coating on the chassis is very different from the CarbonX. Same quality parts, ZWEE output socket and the "legendary" SANNI volume control i.e. crappy Alps clone. Now the chassis is the same one as the CX but much better surface finish. The other one scratches very easily (as in I've already scratched it) but this one seems more resilient. One funny thing though, the hole for the tube doesn't quite line up. I tried to take a picture of it but it might not be as apparent as in real life. The space on the right is quite a bit bigger than on the left... N…