Headphone Amplification

Back in the '70s the amp wars were on, and Japan (Sansui, Pioneer, and others) challenged the burgeoning U.S. HiFi (yes, that's what it was called back then) stalwarts Marantz, Fisher, Scott, McIntosh, and Harmon Kardon with high quality, low cost premium gear. Heck, even Sony had a presence in high end, high quality iron in those days. Much of that gear is revered today, including the relatively exclusive Pioneer Series 20 line. I was recently fortunate to land a Series 20 M-22 Amplifier - 30 watts, Class A, and as sweet as any amp I have ever heard - right up there with any Pass Labs, Krell, McIntosh, or Levinson. When I got it, it was in very good (7.5/8 of 10) c…

I just bought the SR-009 which should be here soon. I have resisted buying them forever because I never really warmed up to its sound signature when I have listened to them, even via Blue Hawaii SE. Yes, I am a lover of single-ended triode (mostly 2A3 and 45) sound. I don't listen to stuff with lots of bass of dynamic jump, so these days I'm happy listening to my Stax O2 MkI, Senn HE-60 (woody), and HE Audio 'stat via Stax transformer with my 2A3 SET or EL84 sigle-ended pentode speaker amps. SR-009 should be easier to drive than O2, so that's good, but obviously, a dedicated 'stat amp will be needed at some point. Blue Hawaii SE, hopefully with some tube, cab…

FS: RSA P-51 Mustang - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio pictures say it all. i mean hot pink...really? question 2 - who the hell makes that case?

Eddie Current Equilibrato - two unbalanced inputs - will drive headphones true floating balanced, or unbalanced - external power supply, same as the ZD and ZDT - solid state rectifier Tubes - (1) Tung Sol 12SN7, (2) Sophia Electric PX4 I'll get more details when I pick it up on Saturday

Hi tube gurus... so I'm www surfing for various "preamp" tubes and running into the usual trendy-hot flavors telefunken, mullard, brimar, amperex...etc. Some as much as $100-160 each from various NOS and used sellers. And then I see EVERYWHERE, an underlying seemingly abundant surplus of GE tubes going for a fraction of that, like $6-7 each. In general, then just how bad are GE tubes?... are they really "that" bad that people are literally giving them away? What have been your experiences with them and what amp, source or preamp are/were you using them in? thanks!!

Just saw this over on that other forum: http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2062510&postcount=5 Looks somewhat interesting but I'd like to hear comments from the more technically inclined members here.

So give me the scoop. I love the Dynahi sound, but I've never heard the Dynalo. I read an old thread over at *website named censored by moderation team*, and it stated that roughly the -lo is intended for lower impedance phones, while the -hi is intended for higher impedance phones, but that really both low and high impedance phones seem to perform fantastically out of both. My Dynahi is just as kickass with my HD650 as my HP2. Has anyone ever done any lo/hi shootouts, or can make any general comments on their general sound signatures? Thanks for your time!

Hi there, I've got a strange and somehow annoying problem with my STAX SRM-1 / MK-2 (B Series). Sometimes, in about 3 to 4 cases out of 10 after switching it on in an cold state, I hear a strange clicking / buzzing noise on my Lambda on the left channel only. It's definitely faster or more often to be directly related to 50hz AC noise problems and it sounds more like a "ticktickticktick" kind of noise. This noise doesn't change if I make the amp louder and if it occurs, it's stays for about half an hour and slowly fades out, until the amp is heated up regardless of switching the amp on and off. Sometimes I also get a very distorted left channel which can happen anyt…

hi guys, it looks as if the mark 2 get a brother, I found this note on the website of audio valve. look its : http://www.audiovalve.info/rkv3/audiovalve%20rkv%20mark3.html roger

Two new amps have just been announced: https://stax.co.jp/products/srm-700t/ https://stax.co.jp/products/srm-700s/

I'm seriously considering purchasing one of these, and as of right now, is the only amp on my list. I've gone through and done "research" on many other amps close to this price, and the GS-1 seems to be extremely flexible with the headphones used (ie wide variety) and seems to be a top-notch amp. The GS-X, despite how badly I want it, can't afford it. Maybe I missed one, that you guys can recommend. And what's your opinion on this amp, for those who have listened or owned it. Any other recommendations on amps at/very close to $1,000? I'm not totally set on which HP I want, but am considering both the RS-1 and Senn 650 w/upgraded cable, or SR100's w/HP1000 drivers. A…

AudiogoN ForSale: Moth Audio S2a3 Ready for horns.

So there are some nice looking Japanese amps that catch my eye. It looks as though the U.S. markup is outrageous ($3.5k higher than the imported amp example below), with the only difference (afaik) being a USA-compensated voltage. In the Luxman example below, Audiocubes2 offers a voltage transformer with the original japan version of the amp, at a much cheaper price than buying it from the U.S. dealers. I wont mention names, but it seems to fetch about $9,500 from U.S.A. based merchants that I've seen. I'm wondering how much (if any) of a hit I'd take in the sound quality department if I went with the Audiocubes version, that comes with the voltage transformer. I've…

...not only that, it does iPod. Digitally. link

What do you guys think of a B22 as headphone duty and preamp duty? How do you think feel about a B22 as a preamp? Is it a bad idea?

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, I need some advice. I have a Metric Halo ULN-2 which I use for recording and as a DAC-unit with my Mac, through S/PDIF from my M-Box 2, which works fine. I am currently considering buying some high quality headphones to do as much work as possible with a headset, since I can't make much sound where I live. I was thinking about buying a pair of HD 650, but have read serveral places that some people doesn't think it works too well with the ULN-2 headphone amp because of too high impedance. I don't have much experience with headphones. Does anyone have an idea what I could connect between my ULN-2 and a pair of HD-650 to make them sound as good as they can? Some ki…

My ass is getting very sore sitting on this fence. Need some help sorting out the technical advantages, design features of these two. I currently have a 2ch B22, once upon a time I had a HeadAmp Reference single ended. That said, it was a long long time ago and while the B22 decimated the Concerto I wonder how it compares on paper to the dynamid, GS-X specifically? I listen at low levels, 70dB is loud for me. So on paper, how does the dynamid compare to the b22? Slew rate, noise, all that jazz. Maybe Ti and Kevin can chime in? Side question, given I listen at unity gain at best, are the advantages of going balanced pretty much moot?

I felt really bad hijacking humanflyz thread so I've created this seperately. I've done plenty of searching at the other place. Earl one of your posts from Headfi. Just doing some searching for uber Grado amps. I'm convinced the 6BL7GT/A is the way (if this will provide tons of current for the Grados) I want to go, unless there is a more high current tube that can be stuck in the MPX3 without driving the costs to Supra levels. Out of everything I'm looking for in a tube amp bass slam, and bass control is probably the most important thing for me. I'd like tight controlled bass with excellent attack and decay. And uh...don't mess with the Grado midrange too m…

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…

Pictures of the A-10 have been released. Looks interesting to say the least... http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f38/10-thunderbolt-ll-fully-balanced-electrostatic-amp-pre-amp-417185/

Justin's Pico Slim gets leaked, and so Ray announces a direct competitor that's "in the works"... News - Ray Samuels Audio

Currently there is a Woo WES and a HeadAmp KGSS-DX listed on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/262862948306?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT http://www.ebay.com/itm/192110146358?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Going to be interesting to see what they go for.

Hello I am pretty new here and am seeing some really impressive knowledge on this site. I looked but did not find anything on changing the voltage from 100 to 117 on an RSM717. I saw a post on the 727 which someone also said was similar. It looked like on that, the leads were cut from the transformer and that did not look like fun to do. I can measure resistance, voltage, etc, but don't have the expertise to do what some of you guys can do. If there are step by step instruction (esp with photos) I can do it. I don't see a lot of posts that are dumbed down to that level though. I also was wondering if there are any mods to be made on a 727 that would make it a b…

Hello all, I have this unit, but it stopped working so I opened it up. It seems that in right channel are shorted mosfets on output stage. But LEDs are not lit on both channel so I need to check it more. I started drawing schematic from the board. Since this is only one sided pcb, it was easy. But there is one thing I don't really understand. It is the cascode pair of 2SA1699. It should be that emitter is connected to the drain of the 2sj109 and output is at collector. But there it is connected differently. Or there is something I don't see. If we look on the board, there is drain of the 2sj109 and it is connected to the base of 2sa1699 according to …