Headphone Amplification

Short version: Do the 6SN7 tubes in the Woo Audio WA5LE (300B SET topology - see pic below) need to be matched? Long version: I am getting ready to sell my Woo Audio WA5LE to make room and money for the future BHSE. However, one of the stock "matched" driver tubes that Jack sent me with the amp (a cheap Tung Sol 6SN7gtb) was very noisy and tested much much lower than the other when I got it. Since I never planned to use the stock tubes, it wasn't a problem. Now that I am selling it, I am thinking of selling the amp with an option to buy the amp stock (without "upgraded" tubes) and so I feel that I should include one pair of cheap 6SN7 tubes. I do have another Tu…

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 our Rotel 1068 processor is starting to give up the ghost. I need to buy another processor or receiver. I have external amplification I am happy with so a processor is preferred. Since these things seem to change daily I am looking for recommendations. Does not have to be latest gen but at this point I do want HDMI switching. Looking at $1500 approx. although less is always nice.

Interesting -- a minimalist headphone amp design from Grace...good, compact choice for work? https://www.massdrop.com/buy/grace-design-x-massdrop-m9xx-dac-amp?utm_placement=0&referer=JKRU5U

Hey guys, @justin and I are excited to make our first offer on the burgeoning deal site Massdrop: it's the Original HeadAmp Pico DAC/Amp! https://www.massdrop.com/buy/headamp-pico-portable-dac-amp Get in soon, to save up to 50% off the retail price of $499. This is a limited-time, limited quantity deal, and once the Picos at this price are gone, they're gone. The Pico DAC/Amp uses an ASRC to upsample signals of 16/44 and 16/48 to 24/96 before converting them with a well-regarded Wolfson DAC chip. The Pico DAC works without drivers on Windows and Macs, and works on some Apple iOS products when paired with a camera connection kit, and select Android d…

Hi, First post here. I am curious about building an electrostat HPA as I only have an SRD7 Mk2. I am interested in some of Kevin Gilmore's designs like the KGSSHV variants and the T2, but the legend about the KGSSHV seems to ring true that it is hard to build and hard to learn about. Is there somewhere I can read about these different designs in white paper format like Nelson Pass does with the First Watt amps? I can't even find schematics or a BOM. It's truly a nightmare, and I don't want to endlessly bother spritzer with questions. Frankly, I am not totally sure of the "authorship" of each of these amps which makes it harder to research. I was considering firs…

I am thinking, just maybe, of switching back to K1000, but not sure if I could do it, because of financial issue. That's why I would like to see if I can find some reasonable priced tube speaker amp for them. Budget within USD 1500. I was thinking of Cary Xciter, but he is to pricey if not say more, however the tube rolling options of it is quite nice. Let see what you all think of that guys/girls THX

I got my mayflower O2+ ODAC last week. My primary headhpones are the 600 ohm version of the dt880s and I also tested my old ath-m50's. The audio quality is really poor. Sounds dirty and there's distortion where there shouldnt be. When I plug into my onboard audio the audio is crystal clear using the same audio file(FLAC and 320kbps music). Basically my onboard sounds better in every situation. I've made sure the audio quality is set to 24/96khz. I've tested it with my source volume at 50-80%. I've even done all these steps ive listed above on my friends computer with the exact same results. His onboard sounded better, and his mobo is 3 years older than mine. I dont have a…

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 have recently bought a DT 990/600 and now im looking for amp. but will amp be enough to get a great sound for 40% music 40% gaming 20% movies i heard some people suggest getting both DAC and AMP. i'm going to use them on my gaming laptop but i do not have a good sound card(realtek HD). For the amp im leaning to MK III with M8100/CV4010 im new to setting these up

Hello, I dont have a great grasp of these topics so if I have some fairly base misunderstandings or bad assumptions let me know. Now onto the question. My understanding is that estats behave pretty predominantly as a capacitive load. If this is the case it would seem to me that a transconductance amp (that has not be rectified to voltage drive output/aka a 'current drive' amp) would be a fairly ideal way to run estats. Are there any amps that do this? is this how all estat amps do it and I am just not aware? If not, what are the reasons that we dont use an OTA output stage given basically all TOTL estat amps have a solid state output stage (only ex…

Hello everybody, I have to admit, I have asked this question in some way over at the other place. Good thing I was able to find this forum in time before falling into the hype of the Compass. I hope I am still welcomed here.. So here it goes, I started off as an IEM kinda guy. I enjoyed the sound quality it is able to deliver straight out of an Ipod and its ability to filter out people's conversations on bus rides. However, I became really curious about circum-aural headphones this past summer and bought a used Sennheiser HD555 to try out. I love the soundstage and felt that it was a big step up from my old iems (Shure SCL3 at that time). I was just going to lea…

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.

Sold, alas.

What are the differences between the Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 headphone amp with the X-PSU external power supply and the V8 version?

Jack is now offering custom made aluminum feet with silicone rubber inserts for your WA6. I paid $25, shipping included.. I think they look awesome

Jonokuchi, from Pete's home page. His latest single ended desktop amp, complete with boards(on his ebay store), Edcor transformer package, and Front Panel Express info and files for the enclosure. A very neat looking build. Hat's off to Pete.

I have an audio itch that needs scratching! So I have been looking for an inexpensive balanced DAC with a balanced amp built in. I found the Audio-GD for $500 plus $71 S&H and although most may have not listened to this unit I would appreciate if "on paper" the claims by Audio-GD are sound and make sense. http://www.audio-gd....1/NFB10.1EN.htm If you all have a potentially better alternative I would appreciate hearing about it. Cost is a major issue, I would "feed the monkey" by selling a few items. Thanks.

ZDT <- This is very similar to the Nautilus amp that he had prototyped but better (Partial Silver Electraprint transformers last time I heard). I think it's a steal at this price versus the price of a new Zana Deux.... anyone on board or considering?

Sorry, cannot wade through the lovefest thread. - How big is it - Custom paint? - Where do I get it from and product details in a single webpage if poss. Thanks

Long time lurker, first time poster... I've managed to assemble the following rig, however, since I haven't been able to attend any meets, my purchases have been based solely on other's opinions. My current setup is MF a3.24 -> Opera analog -> RS-1s/HD650s What would be the most cost effective way to upgrade? I'm happy with my current cans, so an amp upgrade is probably in order. Would a se b22 be a significant step up?

Hi, This is my first post on the forum. I have a STax SRM-323MK2 driver unit and a pair of SR-303 headphones. I would like to do some checks on the voltage levels (AC and DC if possible). Is there any service information or a schematic diagram available for the SRM-323MK2? Thanks.

I'm going to be shipping a PINT amp to Romanee, as I wanted to give him the opportunity to hear it. If anyone else in the NYC area, who knows Romanee (i know a few of you do!) and haven't heard the PINT, let him know that I sent you, and hopefully, he'll be able to accomodate. Of course, if you don't want to hear it, then poo on you

My mother in law wants headphone amp recommendations to incorporate into her speaker rig, and, having never had the opportunity to A/B different head amps (one of these days I must travel to a meet...), I'd like to hear what advice head-casers suggest I give her. Present Gear CD transport: Esoteric P-10 DAC: Esoteric D-10 Headphones: currently HD555s, but likely to upgrade to HD600s or HD650s. I'd like to keep things solid state because I visit frequently with a toddler (plus one more on the way), and her stereo rack is within his reach. I'm not a fan of her speaker rig's sound, but I suspect that's likely due to speaker placement more than anything else (spe…

Received her Wednesday afternoon and we've been getting along just fine so far! Like a lot of my favorite gear, its sonic presentation was unexpected at first and took some getting used to. This happened with the L3000, Qualia, and my vinyl rig - often it takes several listens to really get a handle of whether something so new is truly going to be wonderful in the long run. The one exception would be my SDS, which was pretty much love at first listen. I'm still in that evaluation period with the Zana Deux, but it's already bestowed some truly magical listening sessions and several spine-chilling instances. What got me about the Zana was how it's unlike other tube amp…