Headphone Amplification

I'm beginning to compose my "short list" for a head amp. One of the amps I've been looking at is the Cary SLI-80 and the F1 version only sold by Upscale Audio Cary Audio SLI-80 Signature F1. I'm somewhat concerned about the scorching heat these amps are reputed to produce and not convinced the F1 upgrades are worth it for headphone amp use. I have not had an opportunity to hear one, but understand the sound is not for everyone, but I don't know exactly what that means. The overall design seems to be good and it has been around since 1997. It has stood the test of time. Is anyone willing to comment about this amp and/or the F1 upgrade?

From Moon Audio's website: Cary Audio Seems pretty pricey, although it is from Cary.

A number of us have been contacting Hagerman over the past year or so regarding a SET headphone amp design. He said he'll do something about it independently. Oh snap. It's coming. Ultra excited. http://www.hagtech.com/castanet.html

I figured I'd start a topic on this where people can actually find info about the amp. I'll quote Kevin's post from the DIY thread in below. As with so many other of these projects, curiosity got the better of me so I actually bought one of these amps. It had gone back to Cavalli to be fixed so no claims possible that it was an early unit and the new ones aren't like this at all. That is the usual Cavalli defense plus that we are doctoring the pics to show his crap in an unflattering light. Well for some pics I'll link in Kevin's post now: So let's discuss what is wrong with this thing. First of all, it's not actually balanced, more a quad of single end…

I've been the proud owner of a Cavalli Audio Liquid Lightning for over a month now. Now as most will know, this hasn't been exactly a dream of mine but the owner practically begged me to take it and the price was low enough to waste money on it. The normal market price on the Mk1 model has dropped well below half of retail (2400$) at this point and this one was even cheaper. What finally made me buy it is the very unhealthy discussion about this piece and the clear attempts of the manufacturer to kill any negative discussion about it. My views will be questioned because of my history with Cavalli but that's exactly what should be done to any impression that is read. …

I knew Alex was getting ready to roll out his new amp and I saw a reference to the new site earlier this evening on HF. I am not going to wax lyrical about the amp as I am not trying to schill the gear for him. To say I like the amp would be an understatement but I do and have been and have been using the initial prototype for several months. Thought some of you who still listen to dynamic headphones would want to know Liquid Fire is finally getting ready to become a reality. ..dB

OMG this has got to be amazing right... it has a tube and it's a Cavalli and it's a Massdrop. What more could anyone ask for https://head-fi.org/threads/massdrop-x-alex-cavalli-tube-hybrid-amp-cth-dropping-monday.857673/#post-13654584 edited: ah man i was so excited till i saw this... ''Please be aware that this is not made by Cavalli. It's made by Massdrop by a China manufacturer with the Cavalli name being licensed, etc.''

Folks, friend of mine is looking to upgrade his rig. He's toying with the idea of Cavalli amp. I tried to talk him out from it since it looks to me that this folks is way to greedy in charging his work lately. $6500 for an SS balanced amp with whatever mumbo jumbo parts inside is simply too much IMHO. So now he's torn between Eddie Current or Headamp or Cavalli. Everyone knows Justin work, but I'm just curious about the repo of EC and Cavalli in your eyes. Which one you'd prefer to have?

For some reason which I can't explain, I wandered over to the Cavilli website today and saw that the Liquid Lightning 2T was selling for $2499.50. Original price was $4250. Wonder what's going on?

I bought a CEC HD53R for exactly 40 000 Yen in Japan (which is around $370 USD), to pair with my Edition 9s. While it does sound nice, I have some lingering after thoughts... Unfortunately I only found one reference to this amp in this forum. I'm hoping somebody with experience with the HD53R can help me. For it's price, did I make the right choice? Are there any other headphones that magically synergizes with this amp?

Just read about this in SoundOnSound magazine -- another entry into the portable USB DAC/amp category. Of interest: extremely small USB-powered very simple (USB port on one end, headphone jack on the other, volume knob) company provides technology to the likes of Benchmark, et al targeted at professionals (and probably "prosumers") "seriously low" jitter figure via reclocking (1 picosecond) $400 It's that second-to-last one that caught my attention (no, Colin, I still haven't read that article you linked for me).

I want a seperate volume dial for the Aleph, at the minute its run off the second set of pre-outs on the NAD. Means I have to fanny around with the switchbox and I'd like rid of that irritation. Cheapest pre-amp i've spotted is the little pro-ject box at

Hello, Just joined here. I am not sure if i used the search function correctly, but it showed nothing for either the FUN or HDP. Will anybody give some recommendation or comparison between the FUN and HDP? Thanks

I got a quickie HF-style poll for y'all. Got me some HF2s and AD2000s, and I'm looking for a cheap, temporary amp about $200ish. I'm probably gonna have a chance to buy one of these soon. I don't care for amp coloration; I just want my source and phones to do their thing. The amp just provides the power and keeps the signal clean. Other suggestions welcome, preferably used and available right now. Edit: Oh yeah, and impressions/comparisons are very welcome. Thanks.

I recently purchased a Blue Hawaii (DIY) and it looks great. I am ensuring that all is well, and I am performing some measurements on the amplifier prior to plugging in my headphones (SR-Omega.) The amplifier was built in a single chassis and uses Headamp's boards from 2004. One thing I noticed while examining Kevin's project page for the Blue Hawaii is that it calls for +-450v and +-15v outputs on the PSU. However, the Headamp KGSS/Blue Hawaii (as labeled) supply boards seems to output +/-360v and +/-15v. This seems to be closer to the KGSS specification. Does this throw off the amplifier sections in any way? Finally, when I measures from Bias output to Ground on …

3 years ago I gave some equipment to a friend to store for me and I just picked it back up. 99% of everything looks great, but it appears my RKV was left out on a shelf (unplugged) and has accumulated quite a bit of dust. Before I fire it back up any suggestions on how to get it relatively clean? Would not look forward to scraping out a ton of dust with a Q-tip.

Well, I just joined up here today I'm also kpeezy on head-fi and I have a little question. I'm looking to combine my turntable setup and my PC setup. The plan is to get a phono pre-amp and a desktop amp (and something to switch between sources depending on the desktop amp). I'm really not sure about which specific components would work best with my headphones though. I'll update my sig soon enough but I have HD580s, SR225s, and K240 Sextetts. I listen to mostly indie rock (Wilco, Pavement, Spoon, etc.). I really just now got around to giving this merger serious thought and found out about this forum at the same time so I thought it would be a nice ice-breaker Than…

Taking a hard look at the Qinpu Q2 from Head Direct. Exposing my noobness but WFC's so... Will this power Absolute Zero Speakers satisfactorily? Anyone have experience with this? Anything else I should consider in that price range $79 ($99 Shipped)?

So I've had about a week of listening time with TTVJ's loaner Corda Opera, and tonight some people came over to hear it as well. Basically we were pretty disappointed by it: it just did not have enough power plain and simple. I tried both the HD650s and the K701s, and the Opera had trouble driving them to levels that I consider acceptable. For some of my harder hitting music, I had to use up the entire range on the volume pot on high gain to get enough dynamic swing out of the K701s (of course the K701s are dynamic to begin with). It's a little bit better with the HD650s, but the sound just reminds me of every other mid-fi SS gear I've heard: which is to say, nothing …

What are your opinions on the Corda Symphony? There's a thread on the other site where its been reported that coaxial input to the DAC causes the signal to drop out. This is caused by the SPDIF receiver chip resetting when new signal is present. (takes a few ms) Optical is fine tho. And the SPDIF receiver chip was upgraded from the Opera's to alleviate the problems with the Opera's clicking noise when no signal was present.

Hi, I have one amp with those and there may be room for improvement: it uses some Elma electrolytic of 4700mF (and 16V rating if memory serves) on each channel life wire. They seem to block around 25V of DC (rough measure before the cap) so it does not seem a good idea to just bypass them (just joking ). I am looking for some advice, there is quite room for alternatives and even 'groups' of caps if someone gives me a good reason to get rid of those electrolytics... Thanks!

I recently built this Bottlehead kit (actually, I had it at Chicago), and I have to admit, it's crossed my mind a few times to sell my beloved Zana Deux since I started listening to it. The kit is about as easy as they come (more cutting/stripping wires than anything else) and I did it in about 4 hours. Here's the killer part. The cost of the basic kit is just $220 and an upgrade kit with CCS boards for both the 12au7 and 6080 cathode follower is another $100. The stock Crack has a strong tubey character but with killer bass and liquid mids and highs. With the upgrade (called the Speedball), the sound becomes more transparent and fast. The frequency extension sounds …

OMG! OMG! I just got my "PimplePopper Super Micro Mini Xtrasmall" portable amp and my "Boil Buds" headphone buds. It's the best I have ever heard. It's even better than the Sony ear buds. I delivered a lot of newspapers to afford this. My mom says I should have put the money aside for colledge. I told her that I am only 28 years old and have plenty of time to save for that. Right now I am in heaven. After break in I will give a 150 page review on both items.

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 forum. So I have some new Grados. I need to feed them from my Macbook Pro. Narrowed it down to Centrance DACport and Nuforce HDP... HDP has moar features, but from what I can gather, the DACPort is friendlier to the Grados. I want something relatively small and portable for now, so tubes and desktop amps are out. So with all that in mind: 1) Can anyone recommend a good new-world red to go with venison? 2) What is your favoured Bloody Mary recipe? 3) Does anyone one know what this suspicious looking rash on the inside of my left thigh is?