Headphone Amplification

Eyeing some Quad 22L2s to replace 12L-as. Really love actives as the less components the better in my book, but if going with an external amp (I haven't seen encouraging signs of ~$2K floorstanding actives) does anyone have a suggestion for a smallish unit that would power the 22L2s? Pretty out of my element with speakers. Was originally eyeing the Parasound Zamp v.3 as nearly everything else I have is half-rack, but if I'm not sure it will be up for the task from the numbers (if reading correctly). Even up for altering the speaker pick (Shelly's choice of RX6s is also tempting from reviews), but my limitation is they and the amp would be best if sold by Amazon (gift cert…

I cant wait! Should be here this afternoon when I get back.... Its going to be a long few hours...

Anyone here heard both? Thoughts?

I've read some rather interesting comments over the past year or so regarding the DarkVoice. Is it something like the Ming Da and Bada offerings (relatively not so good in my opinion but some are quite vocal about it), or is it actually pretty good? Would anyone take it over a PPX3 SLAM? What about the Dodge amp some other people (you know who) are pushing?

I've been intrigued by this unit for some time and figure it would be a nice office source/amp and perhaps serve as a backup should something happen to part of my main rig. I know the dac is well respected, but how does it do as a headphone amp? How do the 650s sound straight out of the XLR outs on it? The other option I'm considering is Justins new mighty might but that's several months off. Guess I could wait, but patience is not my strong suit. Btw, what do the Mini DAC's go for on the used market these days? Rarely see on on 'Gon, but they do turn up occasionally. If anyone has extensive time with the apogee, I'd appreciate your thoughts and comparisons to other amps/…

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

I'm not going to bother with captions... no need.

I decided to build a SoHA II while waiting on the Stacker II project to get out of grid lock. The SohaII is a very interesting design with a few limitations. The tube current is very low, I can only get about 1.5 mA thru each section and the plate voltage is only about 40V. That said this is a terrific sounding amp. I didn't like the recommended RCA 5693 tubes, they were too congested with distortion in complex passages. I switched to 8416's which sound very nice. In comparison to my Bijou this little SOHAII actually has clearer better defined mids, I was very surprised to hear more of the ambience of the recording in voicing and guitar. The Bijou beats it in p…

Hi, Newbie here. I bought a pair of Stax SR-404 Signature and want to build an energizer/amp myself. I'm not a big tube fan, although I can see the value in using them. Instead, I'd like to build a fairly compact solid-state version. Does anyone have any links or references to interesting designs? Thx D.

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-…

At the SF meet, I heard the WA5 with a pair of K1000s and really enjoyed it. So now I'm looking for an amp to drive the K1000s and HD800s to the top of their game. The WA5 is one choice. The Balancing Act is another, but that doesn't have speaker posts, which I would like to have for additional functionality. The ZDT is a third option, but may not be as good a choice for the HD800 and may come up just a bit short on the K1000 as well (if I understand the tubes used in that amp compared to the tubes used in the BA or the WA5). But beyond that (and I would definitely welcome any comments on choosing between those three), I am a solid-state guy. Is there a solid-sta…

Hi everyone, I'm about to enter the world of tubes. My Acoustic Zen's arrived, and I'm going to be powering them with one of these http://www.gini.com/index.php?id=250. I heard the combo at a local dealer and really fell in love with it. Can someone explain me the difference between 'triode' operation and 'ultralinear' operation, and also recommend some really great tubes. I'm a complete newbie in this field so go easy!

My amp only has one set of inputs, and I'm getting really tired of pulling RCA's everytime I want to go from TT to CDP. Is there some kind of switch box I can buy I can put between my amp and my sources that will add convenience without sacrificing sound quality? It doesn't have to be pretty, just functional.

Well I just got done doing tests on the HD650 using my ECM8000 measurement mic and dummy head and room EQ Wizard (that some of you have seen). I kept the mic and headphones in the same spot and tried the following: HD 650 running Balanced from the GS-X (of DAC3 Balanced) HD 650 running SE from the GS-X (of DAC3 Balanced) HD 650 running SE from AE-2 plugged in with wall wart(off DAC3 SE) HD 650 running SE from AE-2 running off battery (off DAC3 SE) I attempted to volume match all 4 configurations but ended up having about .3 db (at 1kHz) variation that I could take out using the software so they all have the same value at 1kHz. Attached are the frequency response…

Does anyone know what the polarity is of the Sonic T-Amp DC power input? TxIA...

Was doing some research on the available dac/amp combos to use on a desk. Noticed the Sony TA-ZH1ES. Anyone know anything about this? https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1295894-REG/sony_tazh1es_premium_headphone_amplifier_with.html https://www.sony.com/electronics/audio-components/ta-zh1es

Not a bad deal at all. Seller wants a local pickup. If I was in the Bay Area I would probably pick it up. Any Bay Areas interested? It is on sale on the other site. Seller is located in Sacramento. FS: SinglePower Extreme - Local preferred - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Are there any tube socket adapters worth getting for a PPX3 Slam with native 6sn7? I've got the itch to roll.

Found this on alibaba recently and it looks kinda interesting. They seem to have a fair number of internal pics and even an instruction manual (top right of the page) online so I figured I would post it here. I think this is the first energizer I have seen that requires manual bias adjustment when tube rolling/as matenance which is kinda interesting.

Gents, So, I bought into the H2 hype and have a shiny new one lying around. The thing is, it sounds like garbage out of my garbage gear. I am guessing that it's just being honest and revealing, so I will give it a chance with something decent behind it. At the moment, though, I have NO bloody clue as to what that something decent should be. I am also disadvantaged by not having bottomless pockets. So, I figured I'd ask your penultimate wisdom since head-fi hasn't produced anything satisfactory. I need a speaker amp. It has got to put out 10wpc minimum into a 16 ohm load, which is what the transformer box is (I think? Well scratch that, I don't think). It needs to be…

I just checked Craig's site...

Well I just got confirmation from SPL USA today that they are going to send me a SPL Phonitor for me to do a review on Head-Case and the other site. Good stuff, all I need to do is give them a CC# as collateral. The only issue I see with this is the fact that the amp has a 9 ohm output impedance which it seems to me would cause some weird responses with low impedance phones (unless their impedance doesn't vary much). I probably won't get it for a couple weeks but hopefully I'll get it before Christmas.

It's a hp amp/preamp, I don't know what to say about its PSU, is +/- 60V necessary?

Since those two are about the same price, what's best as a DAC and as an AMP?

Anyone here has one of these singlepower solid state amps around? I know they were made in a balanced configuration? I remember at some point there were a few units around