Headphone Amplification

Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - REVIEW: Purity Audio K.I.C.A.S. Caliente home headphone amp internal shots via Skylab. Moreover, does it really not suck?

To me these are 100% identical, but I am not expert, so thats why I need your critical / professional opinion please. THX Sylvania GOLD BRAND National Electronics

Wanting to know the differences between the SRM-252 Mk2, the SRM-252A and the SRM-001. Do all three uses the same amplifier circuit? I Know that the SRM-001 uses a switching supply that I assume that the table top models do not but are the circuits the same?

I'm interested in building the Stax Transformer project here: the STAX Transformer as it seems relatively easy to build but I've searched everywhere I can think of but can't find any reviews on this beast. Has anyone built this project or know of any reviews detailing performance, SQ etc? Tim

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.

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?

Hi all. I stumbled across this headphone amp. I found it on this site: Trafomatic Audio - Experience HEAD ONE Here is what it says: Experience HEAD ONE Continuing with our line of fine amplifiers in Experience series, Experience Head One tube stereo headphone amplifier has been released on audio scene recently. Following basic design principle in accordance with philosophy of whole Experience series, this product offering an extended functionality unusual with amplifiers of the same type. beside it's general purpose to drive different types of dynamic headphones, this device is designed with some additional and very useful features. Owners of transistored audio sys…

I was going to post these pics on the other site but this is probably a better site to post these pics on. At a Colorado 7/26/08 meet that I organized, Mikhail traded me a Square Wave w/ DAC for the previous non-DAC one that I had. (It had developed a few problems.) Yay for free upgrade, except when I took it home and used it in DAC mode the next day after the meet there was pretty much no bass. I mean literally. It seemed like everything from 200Hz down was just plain not there. I even compared with a HeadAmp Pico to make sure the problem wasn't with the computer or some other such setting. I asked Filburt and he said this is probably due to the coupling caps. I'll …

Hey all, first of all, I've searched. Now, picked myself up a CA Azur 840C yesterday and want an amp to match. I'm using modded Denon D5000's. I tend to prefer SS over tubes as I'm a detail/analytic freak. A rule of thumb I assume holds is that the amp doesn't cost more than the source, so that limits the playing field to $1500-ish, which is more than ridiculous for an amp mated to a $1500 source IMO. I was thinking used GCHA, but want to know what others suggest. No op-amps here preferably, unless the circuit is well designed, and designed for said op-amp. I looked into a B22, but don't know who I can get to build one. I'd DIY it, but don't know wher…

I think it may be a weird question. But I am thinking about going for either a high end dynamic setup with RSA B52(with grado PS1) or a high end electrostatic setup with single power ES1 (with stax Omega). Having no experience about them. I wonder whether it is worth at investing on the single power ES1 or RSA B52. if you agree with ES1, how much do you think i should invest on it? My only taste is that super big soundstage and real sound thanks

Hello, first post here! I'm having big problems finding a new amp and dac for my k701s. I was interested in the Corda Opera because it had both an amp and a dac, plus it's sold inside EU wich make it more worthwile (i.e. wont be forced to pay 25% extra at the customs). Alas I read the thread here we you brutaly murdered the corda opera, so what's the alternatives around ~$1500 for and amp/dac or amp + dac? At the moment I only use my k701 but I'm planning on getting another pair of headphones, maybe Grado or something different from AKG. My source is an iMac via optical out, so it'd be good if the DAC had a toslink connection. SS or tube doesn't matter to me. I'd …

Yes, this could go in any one of several forums, but the amp/preamp choice is probably the heart of the matter, so here it is. I find I do almost all of my listening -- headphone and speaker -- at my desk now, so I'd like to upgrade my current (and, I admit, quite adequate) setup to something with a little more polish. I'm very happy with the Duet and the Senns, so those probably stay. Source is Apple Lossless from the iMac -- secondary goals are simplicity, reasonable component footprint and (again, I admit) good looks. So far I've looked at: -- SE tube head/power amp (Cary SLI-80) to passive monitors (Dynaudio Audience, Totem Rainmaker or similar) -- SE tube h…

So I bought the Mini3 that jinp6301 sold and the battery life's been pretty bad. I get about 3 hours per charge, so I figure it's time to replace the 9v that came with it. Any recommendations as to which 9v I should use?

Hey Guys: I have a chance to get a pretty good deal on a SFT built Dynamight from a person that I've known for a long time and trust. The only issue that he has disclosed to me about the amp is that on the lowest gain setting, there is some crackling when changing the volume on the stepped attenuator. But on all other gain settings, there is no crackling. Is this something of a major concern? Because I don't anticipate on using the lowest gain setting, having heard this amp before. Thanks.

Looking for an "endrig" in "till death do us part" or "till my ship comes in." Was leaning toward Pete's new Monster TTVJ but concerned about it's brightness and reports that it may not be as involving as some other choices and well it is $6000! Then there's the BHSE but that marries me to electrostatic when the Monster has such dynamic versatility. And now I'm hearing alot about Craig's amps: the Nautalus and the Balancing Act. However I just talked to him yesterday and they really seem to be on the back burner in terms of production and distribution. So that leaves the Zana Deux and the HD-2(which I know nothing about but have only heard about in passing) I know t…

Ok, so we all know about the various issue SP has delivering product on time. Several long standing members here have had rather large issues but everything always seemed to get sorted out, with the exception of Elephas. And, quite frankly, because I've always found Mikhail to be a nice guy when I've seen him at meets I've treated this all pretty lightly and figured that he'd just gotten behind again or underestimated the amount of time that it was going to take for a custom build. That was until today when I read some of the more recent posts in the SP thread on Head-Fi (thread starts here). What I find most troubling are the posts by Elephas, tom hankins and Kan…

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…

I am not sure which forum to put this question, whether the headphone or amp section. Which electrostatic headphone works best with the SRM-T1S? I now have the KGSS and the SR-007 for it is coming. I also have the T1S and want to optimize it's musical presentation at a second location. I really don't what the time or money to play around with all the combination of these headphones. I am inclined toward the SR-404, any comments. This is after reviewing lots of threads and personal rankings. I prefer the sound of the SR-Gamma Pro to the SRX-001 Mk3 normal bias. thanks

What possible causes for a good testing tube to do this? Internal short? I've had it happen with an EZ80 rectifier and a 5687 triode

Has anyone an ideal as to when this unit will come out and an estimate for it's price? Thanks

What is a reasonable price for a used KGSS?

Has anyone heard or experience reliability issues with any of these amps. I saw a reference on StereoWOW about the 717 having issues. StereoWOW

Please do tell what tubes your using and how they affected the sound and what headphones you are using with those particular tubes.

OK I swore that I would I would not buy any more equipment, especially amps in 2008, pretty much settled on the stuff in my signature. But this new balanced Chinese tube amp has caught my eye. I doubt there's any of these in the wild, and certainly no one in the western world would have one. The question is, would it even be possible to manufacture a credible balanced, all-tube amplifier at the supposed price point of ~US$800. Let's leave out labor cost, obviously cheap in China. Just on parts/component, is it even feasible? Because all my core phones are terminated in 4-pin XLR (K1000, HD650, DT880-600ohm), I am very tempted to take a punt on this.