Headphone Amplification

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.

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

Not too sure if anyone's seen this design before but it seems pretty amazing http://headwize.com/ubb/showpage.php?fnum=3&tid=7227 What do you think guys?

This was introduced at High End 2025 in Munich and here is a blurb about it There are no internal pictures at all but it sure looks like they stole some of our Megatron here. Yeah, if that is the case, that is not okey. At first I didn't know what driver tubes were used and since those look a bit like 6N6pi's... I thought "well that is stupid but it might kinda work if used with some transformers". No... it is far worse. Single tetrodes, likely triode strapped, so are they trying to out compete the Woo WES for the worst all tube electrostatic amp design...or maybe the Triode H1? Time will tell but there simply aren't enough tubes here if the EL34's are used a…

But have you ever recommended an amp not sold by cattylink?

First of all. Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I've read many thread about the differences between the Woo Audio 3 and the Little Dot MKIV SE . I'm pretty new to the world of high fidelity audio equipment. About 3 years ago I bought a pair of Sennheiser 202's and later that year I upgraded to HD555's. I greatly enjoyed the 555's and started researching the next step up the chain. About a year ago I finally saved up enough money to purchase the HD650's and a Little Dot MKIV SE . I love my amp, but recently I've been itching to upgrade to something better and that's why I come to you. I'm currently using a Little Dot MKIV SE with the …

Recently I sent an e-mail to David Berning asking whether he has any intention to build a headphone amp and he offered to build me a 6V6-based amp for around $2K based on one of his low power (7 watts per channel) stereo amps. He would customize the amp to add a volume control, RCA ins, and a headphone jack. He says the final amp would sound better with low impedance headphones than high impedance headphones because it was originally designed to drive speakers. I know Berning is highly regarded for his power amps but don't know if that reputation extends to headphone amps. I know he used to make the his "micro ZOTL" headphone amp but it was discontinued a few yea…

The following is what I can understand of the theory behind the diffuse field equalisers Stax produced and an assessment of the sound of one of them. Diffuse Field Equalisation vs Free Field Equalisation. Headphone frequency response measurements, conducted with a microphone in front of the headphone driver, much as speaker measurements were conducted, observed that headphones with a measured flat frequency response did not sound as flat as they measured. Comparing the sound of a flat measured speaker with a flat measured headphone revealed extreme tonal differences that started off a whole lot of investigation into why they sounded different and how a headphone’s fre…

Some of you may remember me gabbing on about getting an office rig. Well, we're moving into the new building next week and I'll have the space for one finally. I was planning on waiting awhile, but as Mr. Nate Maher, Nugget Audio's kingpin, had this little beauty sitting around with nowhere to go, it's mine now! I think it was originally meant for Mike, but since he's slow to answer those pms, he just plain loses out and now he'll have to wait for the next one Purdy, huh?

Thanks to HC, I've pieced together a bedroom system consisting of: - McCormack Micro Headphone Drive (MHD) - Rotel RCD971 - Etymotic ER-4s I've tired of IEMs (ie sticking things in my ear) and these old ER-4s have been sitting in my desk drawer for years - sometimes I tried to sell it, but out of laziness it just sat there tucked away. Then I acquired the RCD971 (because I was in a weird GD phase and HDCD seemed pertinent). Then I acquired the MHD, which is the key here. I remember not too long ago when I was a piss-poor student and I lusted after McCormack gear, and the MHD popped up here on HC, and I couldn't resist. It was not planned this way, but this o…

OK I've gotten off the binge & purge wagon, and have settled in with 840c/Almarro/K1000 as my main rig (and Earmax AE for other phones like HD650). Now my main system is pretty much perfect (to me) except for one annoying thing: 840c is fixed out RCA to the Almarro integrated amp. Even with low 5wpc output of the amp and the K1000, I can only use the volume knob up to about 9 o'clock before it's too loud (maybe a bit more for classical/opera). That is, very limited range of volume knob. I wish the 840c had some kind of variable out option, then I could optimize so the amp volume can turn to, say, 10-12 o'clock. Is there some device, like a passive line attenuato…

Anyone heard this thing? "For electrostatic + magnetostatic + dynamic headphones." Just showed up on a Todd email.

This morning, I received the GS-1 that I bought from veloaudio and since it's a rainy/cloudy day and I had nothing very important to do this afternoon, I decided to do something that I rarely do (because frankly it's a pain in the ass), an amp comparison. I thought it was an interesting comparison to make because the two amps are different implementations of the classic Dynalo design by Kevin Gilmore, but at very different price points. On one side, HeadAmp 899$ GS-1 that's been a respected amp for a few years and on the other side, the Chinese-made HA-006+ that's a newcomer to the market at a very attractive price of 280$. Features The HA-006+ has an headphone out…

Didn't find an existing thread for this amp, so I thought I'd start one. I spent the last week listening to one I had on loan from TTVJ and compared it to the FET-A, also on loan. The following is sort of my "mini-review" of the P200 to share my impressions. Disclaimer: these impressions are based on 6 days of listening, far from ideal. Normally I would've liked to spend at least a week per headphone which is what I've done in the past, so even I might disagree with my own impressions later. My opinions varied a few times during listening in fact and without enough time to confirm what I heard via repeated listening, take these impressions with an extremely small grain…

In the past few years I've gone through a few headphones but favor the HD600. I recently sold my Headroom Desktop amp and picked up the HRT microStreamer, which is fine for portable use with my Macbook/Android. Drives the HD600 adequately and is good with my Phillips X1. I am interested in trying out the the LCD-2/3/X sometime soon after the new models launch. I've read the microStreamer can drive the LCDs fine, remains to be seen. If I wanted to reinvest in an amp + USB DAC (all-in-one or separates) that happens to gel particularly well with the HD600 and LCDs, are there any decent recommendations going not much higher than $1.5K that I should look into? Seem…

I just unpacked a box from our last move in 2005. I found my HPA V. 1.0 but no power supply. When I packed it to move it was acting up so I just want to get workable power supply to see if it actually works. I believe the basic power supply for the HPA was 12V and 800 mA. Can someone confirm or refute this. Also if you know the dimensions of the power supply tip that would be helpful. Thanks.

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

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…

Anyone get a chance to listen to the Peachtree Grand pieces at RMAF (or elsewhere)? I'm looking for a dac/amp that'll do 24/192 over USB and this appears to be a contender. The design intrigues me because it permits user selectable signal routing via tubes or SS. I'm open to other hardware suggestions for a solution to 24/192 over USB. Trying to hold the line at $5K USD Peachtree Grand Integrated High resolution DAC ESS Sabre32 9018 - supports 24/192 asynchronous USB input Hybrid tube preamplifier - uses two 12AU7s High efficiency amplifier - 400 wpc stereo Galvanic Isolation State of the art headphone amp - signal is run through the tube stage [no mW spe…

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?

So many pretty (or not so pretty but just BIG) boxes out now that it is hard to know what to get. I am contemplating a partial return to dynamics. What are the top ten hubbub-causing high-end dynamic amps?

Untill now I read only severe negative posts for SRM-727II. But I still can't find anywhere concrete opinion what's the problem with this Stax amp. I see most people own SRM-007tII, SRM-006t and even SRM-717 but not the 727 How many of you had the opportunity to compare 727II with another amps?

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?

First A Little Background Trafomatic is a ten employee privately held audio, industrial, medical equipment and transformer manufacturer located in Mladenovac, in the Republic of Serbia. As noted in another thread, the transformers in the Trafomatic line are manufactured in house by Trafomatic but Trafomatic also provides transformers for Korato tube amplifiers, another audio manufacturer whom they declined to disclose, DIYers as well as power conditioners. Head One is their transformer coupled headphone amplifier employing two Russian 6S45P-E triode tubes and one EZ80 as the rectifier tube. A brief internet search found the three tubes costing from $45 to $90 dollars to…