Headphone Amplification

I'm beginning to compose my "short list" for a head amp. One of the amps I've been looking at is the Cary SLI-80 and the F1 version only sold by Upscale Audio Cary Audio SLI-80 Signature F1. I'm somewhat concerned about the scorching heat these amps are reputed to produce and not convinced the F1 upgrades are worth it for headphone amp use. I have not had an opportunity to hear one, but understand the sound is not for everyone, but I don't know exactly what that means. The overall design seems to be good and it has been around since 1997. It has stood the test of time. Is anyone willing to comment about this amp and/or the F1 upgrade?

Hi, I am not sure if this is right sub section for this and this is my first post a head case My requirement is following: I need to be able to share my music with my gf. So, the main question here is, can I use a y splitter with any amplifier. Lets say with a pico? Or do I need to go only for units with 2 headphone outs. I need a single unit as my UAB DAC/Headphone amp for convenience of moving it around. I am ready to shell out around $1k for the unit apart from headphones. My choices with 2 headphone outs: 1. Meier Audio Opera/ Symphony - Symphony is really costly and for Opera I am getting only the 0,120 ohm versions. Shouldn't I need both h/p outs as 0 ohms 2…

I've posted my complaints in the other head-forum but no adequate responses or even any guidelines have been written. For the last month I hear a conciderable increase of the highs of my O2mk2. Somehow the highs "opened" and become more shrill and noticeable, some squeaky and ticking sounds protrude above the whole sound "picture". I mean sounds like the sound of a harpsichord or the movement of the fingers over the quitar's neck, or some "parasite" sounds which are found in all acoustic records. It sounds to me like sharp peaks in the upper frequencies range. Before this transformation the sound of the O2mk2 was smooth and laid back without anytning annoying and distrac…

I just fired up my spanking-new Rockhopper M3 (Thanks, Stephen!). Power is good. My k701 almost sounds bassy! My k271 almost has slam! My crappy music sounds slightly less crappy! There is still treble! I'm not even drunk yet! I have a half fifth of Gentleman Jack on my desk! If I had only known what this could sound like I'd have ordered one a year ago. I really hope this doesn't mean a β22 is in my future.

In the ongoing battle against the flying squirrel infestation in my house (that is not a joke) I have been emptying out the attic spaces upstairs. My house has a Gambrel roof, that lends itself to an awful lot of storage space. That means after 33 years in the same family, there is an ungodly amount of crap up there. Mixed in with the other detritus, I found this: Sorry about the lousy shot, I didn't have time to futz around and get a better one. My father dealt in antiques, including radios, and sometimes he'd get a collection of tubes. I am recalling some much bigger boxes full of tubes, but I don't know if he still had them when he died. This box might be …

So I'm going to be getting some Sennheiser HD650s soon, and I'll be plugging those into a Pioneer VSX-80TXV receiver, which is going to be connected to my computer that has an HT Omega Claro+ sound card. But I don't have any amplification for the headphones. My budget for an amp maxes out at 200, which I realize isn't a lot, but is there still an option at or below that price that will still net me a sizeable improvement in sound quality?

so i received this amp yesterday and i plugged it in last night in the following order. 1. put bendix 6080 tubes all the way in the back 2 sockets. 2. put the sylvania 6sn7 tube in the front. noticed that the metal base was slightly loose and could be moved a wee bit. 3. attached the necessary cables and then turned it on with the headphone plugged in. 4. listened to music. the gear loop is very simple and as follows. lenovo laptop (line out) - mini - rca cable - sp extreme - hd 650s. problem that only occurred last night if i even tap the amp lightly with my fingernail it sounds like it would if i were inside a tube and someone were tappin…

Anyone tried this amp? So far only positive opinions appeared on the other site and that it has great synergy with ATH-ESW10JPN. At the moment it is 299$ (excluding shipping) and comes with 12AU7 RCA Cleartop NOS tube. Should I give it a try? Thanks.

Please post a picture of your SR71a completely immersed in water. Does it refract light differently than the Predator?

OK I've gotten off the binge & purge wagon, and have settled in with 840c/Almarro/K1000 as my main rig (and Earmax AE for other phones like HD650). Now my main system is pretty much perfect (to me) except for one annoying thing: 840c is fixed out RCA to the Almarro integrated amp. Even with low 5wpc output of the amp and the K1000, I can only use the volume knob up to about 9 o'clock before it's too loud (maybe a bit more for classical/opera). That is, very limited range of volume knob. I wish the 840c had some kind of variable out option, then I could optimize so the amp volume can turn to, say, 10-12 o'clock. Is there some device, like a passive line attenuato…

Hi, I want to find a headphone amp which have pre-amp funtion with balance input, any suggestion? What is the model name? thx

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!

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?

I'm seriously considering purchasing one of these, and as of right now, is the only amp on my list. I've gone through and done "research" on many other amps close to this price, and the GS-1 seems to be extremely flexible with the headphones used (ie wide variety) and seems to be a top-notch amp. The GS-X, despite how badly I want it, can't afford it. Maybe I missed one, that you guys can recommend. And what's your opinion on this amp, for those who have listened or owned it. Any other recommendations on amps at/very close to $1,000? I'm not totally set on which HP I want, but am considering both the RS-1 and Senn 650 w/upgraded cable, or SR100's w/HP1000 drivers. A…

I figured I would start a thread on the above amp I just picked up. A real beauty and sounds gorgeous. I believe this is the exact model that Kurt owned, Saint1 owns (from James3toe who got it from a user "Bob"), and Nightfall. One of only 5 that Craig built that was supposed to develop into an actual EC 2a3 line with the top of the line black rose being at the top of the lineage. By far the si2a3/45H is the best sounding of the different moth 2a3 iterations and may be slightly better than the ec2a3 version due to the external power transformer and inductor chassis. Power supply is all film caps as well, same output transformers. Now I …

Does anyone know about this? I didn't know Craig was working on one. Is it SS or is there tubes in it? Zana Deux Micro sneak pic! - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Man this is a killer amp and as many of you may know I am one fickle motherfucker when it comes to gear. Having gone through a number of amps this year I am really struck by this amp. It sounds absolutely amazing with the balanced HD2s and RS1s. It does a wonderfull job with the k1000s as well, it is super linear without sounding dry at all. To refresh folks on what this amp is and the story, I had been in talks with Craig to design a balanced amp after hearing the Zana. After several months he came up with an amp that used a 12ax7 driver and 6c41cs as output tubes with my choice of Tango or Electra print output trannies. So after I demoed the amp in SoCal Craig shi…

FS: Aristaeus - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

I'm wondering why blind tests are not done over at headfi. I've listened to a lot of portable amps and I dont understand the ratings and rave reviews some receive over other. Between my ppa2, pimeta and mini3, I dont think I can reliably pick out which amp I'm listening to at any given moment. It leads me to believe that the prettier the amp is, the better some folks think it sounds. On the other hand, maybe I have tin ears.

I just unpacked a box from our last move in 2005. I found my HPA V. 1.0 but no power supply. When I packed it to move it was acting up so I just want to get workable power supply to see if it actually works. I believe the basic power supply for the HPA was 12V and 800 mA. Can someone confirm or refute this. Also if you know the dimensions of the power supply tip that would be helpful. Thanks.

Can someone lead me to more info on the subject? I googled what I hoped would be some good keywords to get me to a thread or something... no luck

knowing u guys are interested in the schematic for this amp so i went around begging people in other forum for this, finally got it is this the correct schematic for that amp?

They look pretty neat. Here is a link to the site in Japanese, but it shows a bunch of pics: [url=http://www.soundhouse.co.jp/shop/SearchList.asp?i_type=m&s_maker_cd=1617]IZO

Hey guys, wanted to ask you for some advice. I'm about to make an amp purchase and I've always wanted to hear some of Justin's amps. However now I'm stuck in one of those am I making the right decision by spending this much money for the source that I have. What's my lame source? An iPod with Lossless codecs going through line out. I know its not the greatest source but it's also very hard to match the convenience of an iPod. This is mainly for office use so I'm not in the market for a portable amp anymore. I'd rather invest the money into something a little more solid. So I guess my main question is... Is the GS-1 overkill for the iPod or should I just stick …

Hello all, First a little background: I recently switched to cranking my GS-X up to high gain and then a buddy came over with Edt. 9s I heard hiss (even when the volume is set to zero). I checked and I can't hear the hiss with my HD650, D5000s or SA5000s. I tried my Shure SE530s and the hiss was there with them too. I did all these checks after disconnecting it from my DAC3 at the back of the amp. On medium gain the hiss is inaudible with the Edt. 9s and slightly audible with the SE530s. On low gain the hiss is barely audible with the Shures when the amp is cranked. This all makes sense since the gain switch is in the feedback loop on the amp so it should drop gain …