Headphone Amplification

Was expecting to find a Head-Case melodrama thread about this amp here, but it's not the case. The inane banter and debates on the Head-Fi Phoenix thread about CAST, DAC, etc, makes me skim alot and not read much there. This amp's two box layout is rather interesting to me. Without really knowing too much about the actual circuit, the build quality looks pretty impressive to me. Seems to be an ideal layout for me as well, as I don't like full wdith stereo components. Digital volume control and inputs galore are a plus. One issue I have is the internal conversion to CAST, and how it's converting single ended to balanced. More info and pics here: [url…

So as a counter point to the Massdrop amps, I also bought one of these Audio-GD units used. The R2R15 seems to have been replaced by the R2R11 which is more SMD based but it looks very similar. So this cost 350$ new, is not balanced but has a discrete R2R dac, discrete headphone amp and can also be used as a single source preamp. The Chinese version of the product page is still active: http://www.audio-gd.com/R2R/R2R15/R2R15CH.htm I must say it does look really fugly in real life (as so many of the Audio-GD product do) but it's amazing that they can do this for 350$.

I picked up one of these on HF for $100. I figured I'd use it in the living room or something. I wonder if I should have just bought $100 worth of beer instead. How bad can it be for $100?

Folks, anyone know where I can audience some headphone amplifier on these cities (in order of priority). If there are headphones, it would be even better. Also what kind of brand ?? Thank you all....... I know I've ordered my headamp+DAC from Justin so I may not buy anything at all but I wanted to expose myself to as much as possible thus have more experience. OTOH, God know I might ended up with something too :palm:

Has anyone seen this headphone amp: http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AURAUD I couldn't find the website for the manufacturer, and Head-Fi has very little information.

New? Notice: 100 units only. Linky go here.

Has anyone has experience of them?

I currently have a 2ch build with a gain of 5 that I like so like all things we like I want to change it So what are the real world, measurable and not measurable differences in: 2 v 3 v 4 channel builds 1 v 2 case builds Assume single o22 for all three. Gain set so output would be similar. Same parts selection except the pot etc. Go!

Hey i have read some about the b22 and who'd want to know if some one have heard whit a pare of GS1000i. And want to share the conclusion.

Considering the overwhelmingly negative sentiment on Head-Case regarding RSA and its designs I have up until now stayed silent. I defer to KG technical expertise. I do read most of the anti-Ray propaganda that is posted. I believe that all of this propaganda has given me a slight predisposition against liking the Sonics of RSA?s products. It is with this predisposition that I attended this weekends NYC meet. I tend to pay attention to products that might be considered very high end. I already own what I consider to be the finest portable amp so I had little interest in listening to the new Tomahawk or even the Hornet, so I won?t comment on their performance or value ex…

I have a 2nd hand headamp aristaeus, the background noise follows the volume pot. I measured ac between L+/L- and R+/R-, the left is 3.48v when volume pot is turn to max while right is 1.74v, I swapped ecl84 and 12ax7 but still same value. Also I tried to adjusted vr p1, p2+,p3- but it didn't help, same value. May I ask how can I solve the issue? Thank you in advance.

After doing my first recable I find that I would like to see if really running left/right separate make a difference. So now I am looking for a nice easy cheap (!) solution. Ideas anyone?

My contribution to the madness...just finished yesterday: Take one of these: Put one of these on it: Build this: and this: plug them in and.... viola! Eventually I'll get the two ground channel boards for the single-ended capabilities, but for now it's balanced heaven.

I have some experience with the DIY. This project looks quite easy and using cheap parts ( that is important, cause i am used to burn them a lot lol). But do you think the Amp will perform better in balanced configuration. I have HD650 and will use balanced source.

For a long time now I've wanted to go balanced, but never really sat down and looked at all the offerings. As far as the big names go, there's the RSA Apache, HeadAmp GS-X, RudiStor NX-33, Headroom Balanced Desktop. Right off the bat, the Apache and NX-33 are knocked out of the running based on what I've read about the manufacturers here. Also, a small thing I've noticed: While the Headroom Balanced Desktop and GS-X have tabs to release the XLRs, the other two don't. Does this mean the XLRs don't lock as they should, or is there some other mechanism to hold them in place? As far as price goes, the GS-X is a little rich for my blood, and the Balanced Desktop can n…

A couple of pictures from Craig to get it started: Very Moth-esque.

Well here is some fresh meat for the peanut gallery. I got this off our resident gear whore Tyrion a while back in a gear swap. The Berendsen IPA 80 is from Germany and retails for about $2000 but they recently pulled out of the US market. From the website and visually there are three transformers one for the pre and one for each side of the amp. They talk about the power of the amp coming from ring emitter transistors ( I have no idea what the fuck that is). I will say this cleanly slays the Krell 400xi I owned briefly and thought sucked. The main bonus this amp presents in a killer headphone amp that is so ergonomically challenged it has me questioning the designers…

Does anyone know what’s the best amp and dac for the utopia excluding the cavallis?

Hi, I am interested in the best electrostatic amp for jazz (instrumentals and vocals) with the Stax 009. Any thoughts or reccs?

Hi guys. I just bought a Stax SRS-005 system which consists in a SRM-Xh amp and SR-003 earphones. After some time spent on thinking, I've decided to experiment some configurations. Basically, I'm looking for a better amp. I know the SRM-Xh is a vintage amp, and there should be better alternatives to use with the babystax. I'd like something that's an upgrade over the stock SRM-252 amp. I have been advised towards the SRM-313 as a good match, but I'd like to know if there are any others. I really want to exploit the best potential of the sr-003, especially since they tend to be dark, while higher models, like the Lambdas, tend to be very forward in the upper midrange, w…

After surfing at much forums and reviews ,I came to narrow it down ; stax sr009 he90/ 60 lcd3 mdr r10 he500 dt880 as the worlds best headphone up to date ; would love to hear from readers ,their experience in comparison of those each other ;

Hey everyone, Ok, so I have an SR-71 which I am happy with for the most part, but currently both my DAP's are good only from the headphone out (Rio Karma/iAudio X5); this leads to a problem I'm experiencing with piano passages and clipping. It happens too often for my liking and unfortunately, Ray Samuels hasn't been able to help other than to suggest that I drop the volume out down to 25% of full volume (at that output I have a hard time driving Grados with the amp) or to get a better source So instead, I've decided that maybe I need to get a new amp. Can someone suggest something helpful to me? Is Ray right(only solution is a better DAP)? Is there a better soun…

Because of a thread on Head-Fi (see link) it got me wondering, only I wanted to add a poll. I know that a poll is somewhat useless as they are misleading since not many people, or maybe even none, have heard them all which will ultimately lead to a misformed / incomplete picture. Nonetheless I would like to try and ask the people who are voting to explain why they voted the way they did, what else they've heard from the list and what sound(sig) they're after. When you feel I have left out an option which cannot be missed on the list, feel free to add your thoughts and please eloborate. A little background: I still have to save up for a desktop amp and had my mind set…

My interest in tube amps has been growing since around last October, and now that I have my own Aikido hybrid I'm only even more interested. I'm personally more interested in what I can DIY, but I'm cool to hear whatever. I fully expect that the ZD, HD2, the Luna, and the SDS (is this just a really charged up Waarde?) to be part of the list, but I like to hear about what else is out there, again especially in the DIY realm (like dsavitsk's cool looking shunt-regulated, single feed, spud amp).

Is a gain of 5 too much for Audio-Technica W3000Anv?