Headphone Amplification

I find the built in headphone amp in my E-MU0404USB is really lacking compared to my M^3. So I've been thinking about getting the Mini^3. Or I'll entertain other amps in its price range.

I'm doing a side gig reviewing headphones. Companies send me stuff and I give my opinion on things. I recently got a certain Moondrop Para planar which I thought sounded pretty okay. Then I saw the spec sheet and my hair stood up a bit- 101dB/V at 8 ohms. Or, when converted to actual efficiency figures... 80dB/mW. My question to the amp gurus here - will this load kill amps? It's a rare case of low efficiency combined with high sensitivity so people will be lulled into thinking that it's an easy load to drive. Like - hurr-durr, pot's only at 9'o clock and it's already hella loud! When in reality you're pushing serious mA and mW. And I'm not talking abo…

some dude posted this on some other random forum. perhaps if I didn't report the post to the admins there it would have lasted longer than 10 or 20 minutes? oops? oh well, we can still see it here, unless someone deletes this too. actually, I think they moved the thread since I can't access it anymore, rather than going to an invalid thread. (fyi this dude's handle starts with an "a," ends with a "k," and there's a "kwo" in the middle.) -------------------------------------- thread title: Headamp GS-X.. PICTURES! thread contents: http://www.headamp.com/home_amps/gsx/index.htm In my opinion, the nicest looking headphone amp ever. Seriously making me recon…

I was dumbfounded to see this photo from RMAF, showing off the $15K combo of Woo 234 monoblocks, which is able to use 2A3, 45, or 300B with both speaker and headphone outputs. The Abyss planar 'phones at $5500 costs a little more than Stax SR009 even. Anybody tried either product? woo234 by drjlo2, on Flickr

-=Hey Guys=- I have my 880s and 650s in another room and was wondering if my 701s can be powered by my Woo3, without distortion, if volumes are kept low. I understand the problems the "3" has with low impedance headphones, but I'm wondering if it's a volume issue, where more power is called for, or it just won't perform at any volume level because the volume control is an attenuator? Thanks USG

Mentioned in the NYC 3/21 Meet thread at HF: Woo Audio 22 Fully Balanced Headphone Tube Amplifier Nice looking amp, I look forward to reading impressions of it. Damn, there's gonna be some really sweet gear at the meet, I envy the NY contingent... Any tube experts' opinions of the tubes used? And why are all these amp vendors coming out with hot new stuff in the current economy?

Well, my problems with the Val E10 continue. After 5 days with it I'm done. At this point I'm really tired of messing with this. It has taken up way to much of my time. I got the replacement tube yesterday, and of course I still have the same problem of a buzz and no music after about an hour or so. I think instead of wasting anymore time I'm just going to order the WOOAudio 3plus. I don't think it will have any trouble with my K701's, and I should easily be able to get tubes, and repairs for it. Do you know anything about these amps? The 3 plus was beefed up to handle the K701's better. If you have any info on this amp let me know. I'll be ready to pull the trigger in a…

I have been a long time supporter of DIY tube amps. I want to try an SET headphone amp. What I am finding is you can buy a new WA6 for less than building a proper SET amp because the air gapped headphone OPT's cost so much. Is the WA6 a well designed amp, does anyone know the topology? I'm on the fence with this one, any feedback would be appreciated.

Well, I have decided to get the Woo Audio 6. This should have no problem driving my 701's, is built like a tank, and from what I have heard has a nice mellow sound.

Hi all I just sold my SRM-717 to a Stax 009 user. As it landed at his place, he also had a loan Woo Audio GES to try out. I remember back in 2009-2011 there was a lot of posts from users about that amp, but now it has tailed right off. How does the GES stack up today against Stat amps at that price range (Stax SRM-007t or 727). Thinking the 009 is more efficient, maybe it will be a good match? Is the GES an adaption of a KG design? I spotted this on the Woo web page: Schematic re-engineering is based on Dr. Gilmore's design.

I haven't really kept up with the headphone amp market much as of late. I started taking a look around to see what tube amps are currently available and there really doesn't seem to be all that many. The Woo Audio stuff has always looked interesting to me as they seem to be very well built and priced pretty well. Does anyone have any thoughts or impressions on the WA2 or the WA6SE?

Hi everybody at Head-Case forum! It's a pleasure to finally join you as well. ) Lately I've been checking out the Woo Audio WA6 tube amplifier. Does anyone here have any experience with this product and care to share some impressions/experiences? How does it sound and compete with other amplifiers? Does it sound very tube-like, for example very colored and veiled? Is the tube-upgrades worth the money, both rectifier- and drivertubes? Does anyone have any experience in tube rolling? I really like the properties of transistoramps, and I currently have two, but I really want to try out a quality tubeamp. Which tubes would you recommend to achieve a sound si…

Was pretty interested in what you guys thought the woo audio 4 or 5 would sound with grados??

Well, I had to send in the red hat proto to craig to fix. Unfortunately, it is deemed "unfixable" and Craig refunded back my money. So I'm ampless. I will probably end up getting the balance discrete he is coming out with, but he gave me a time frame of late January. Knowing craig it will probably be a couple of months after. So in looking for somewhat affordable options that I can use now and sell later when its time to get the balancing act from EC, i thought of woo audio. Affordable and KG has had nice things to say. The woo audio 6 is a transformer coupled amp that uses the 6DE7 tubes for driver/power and a 5ar4 for tube rectification. The only question would be ho…

Hi! Got a WA2. Use it with HD650 and T1. Any other WA2 owners out there?

Just an update. Now I've had the Woo WA6SE long enough to form an opinion or two. Remember the restaurant scene in Pulp Fiction where Vincent asks about the shake? "It's a rectifier tube? It's not in the signal path? [buddy nods] and it's $150?" [buddy says yeah] "And you don't put bourbon in it or nothin?" A few minutes later, Vincent takes a sip... "Damn! I don't know if it's worth $150." "But that's a pretty fucking good rectifier tube!" There you have it. For me, the Sophia Princess 274B turned out to be more than pretty freakin good, it's more in freakin must-have territory. I'm not the first to say this, but if you have a Woo 6SE, you p…

Well, Just received my new Woo 6 amp. Man this thing is beautiful! Extremely well built, it has plenty of muscle to drive my K701's to very loud levels. This is my first tube product, and I must say I'm very impressed! I can't believe how good this old technology can sound. What really impresses me the most , is how quite the amp is. Music seem to flow from a dead black background. I only have about 12 hours on my amp, so an in depth review should wait I guess, although I'm not one of those die hard believers in burn for electronics, I do think it affects dynamic drivers though. So far the Woo is a class act, and Jack is a wonderful, passionate, business man, who pays a…

I'm trying to think -- I don't think I've heard a worse amp than the Raptor. (Mints don't count, because they're not commercially available.) Am I forgetting something?

This is the 'new' McAlister EA-6, freshly returned from Peter, with a better than new rework of the circuit... tube compliment is: 1x 12BQ6 1x 6BQ6 2x 12AU7 4x 6CG7 4x 17GW6 This is with the Eastsound E5 and the HE60. Good news: This amp is great, if not spectacular when playing acoustic (Allison Krauss), classical, and some rock (Jane's Addiction, Who Ultimate Collection, and Hoobastank). Just superb. Bad news: On saturated and distorted rock (Tool '10k Days' and 'Lateralus', Jett 'Get Born' and 'Shine On', and even Velvet Revolver), I catch a raft of fuzzy distortion (almost static) in the upper guitar band and the top of percussion (cymbals)... BUT, ONL…

Or, as they call it on Head-Fi, the Xiansheng. Alright, I found the tube compliment as being 1 6N3, 2x 6922, 1 6Z4 and 1 6N1. Meh, the only ones of those that I have are the 6922's...and not even that many of those... My boss just bought one (under my recommendation, so there's a little bit of pressure to do well, here). It's distorting. My first guess would be one of the tubes, but he does have a whole new system (using the MF A308 as transport, to long digital cable to cheap DAC to short ICs to Xiang Sheng to Sony MDR-7506/-V6's [i forget which, but it's actually a nice match]), so there's a possibility that it's something else, but I figure: check the tubes first…

Hi guys. I've owned to Xin amps (Supermini III and Supermacro LE) and I don't think very highly of them. On Headfi, Xin receives a lot of praise, especially for the Supermicro and the Reference. After my experience with the other two models, I'm not very keen on trying either. Has anyone had experience with Xin? What do you think of his work?

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.

House Fire Where? Who? When? and we know the supposed why.

So the amp arrived today. I got it set up, turned it on and no sound. I then noticed that the 6C33C tubes were not lit up. I shut it down and turned it on again and slowly the tubes came to life. i had it playing for about an hour and the sound slowly faded as the 6C33C tubes shut down. Any idea on the cause. I am waiting to hear back from the seller and I'm guessing I will need to send it to Craig to repair.

Reports from Craig as follows: The Zana Duex: Yes I am making the ZanaDuex, it will be firm at $1800.00. Separate power chassis. The caps used are the paper, poly soy caps. You will not find them on line. They were made custom for Moth, in America. I have enough to make 12 Zana Duex's. The first proto will be hand wired from the input jacks to the front switch. The production amps will use relay switching at the rear panel. The tube compliment is one 6SL7 and two 6C33C-B's, and two 6DM4A damper diodes. Now onto the new EC-H:The EC-H does not sound as good as your ZanaDuex, but may offer an alternative for people not wanting to get a second mortgage to support this h…