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.

I bought a Pioneer A-27 Integrated Amp a few months ago and sent it to Hamad at Amplifier Surgeries to have it rebuilt. I and others here have had Hamad do wonderful work on Pioneer M-22 amps. Since I will be using this amp sometimes with headphones (but mainly driving my Sound Lab speakers) I asked Hamad to check the headphone circuit to make sure it is optimized as much as possible. He indicated he would and asked what headphones I was using so he could "check to see if the resistor network can be matched for my headphones". The hard part is I don't know which headphone to have this amp optimized for. The dynamic headphones I use are the LCD-2, HE6 and HD800. I l…

Likely due to laziness, I don’t have much patience lately for writing or even reading reviews so I’ll keep this short. It may be of limited use to others as it’s primarily a two amp comparison. My interest was how the new Apex Arete and Volcano competes with the earlier introduced (and owned) Apex Peak and Volcano. This is especially so as (another member pointed out not long ago) I tend to prefer solid states traditional strengths with a touch of tube-like warmth. I’ve kept a Luxman P-1u over a B22 for this reason and it’s also where I think the hybrid Peak is especially strong. The flavoring of the tube I used for the tests, and the one I use over 90% of the time, th…

I assume others have been following the O2 amp, though I haven't been able to find it discussed here. After a fair amount of reading, I've become interested enough that I've gone on the preorder list for a UK-built example of the amp, due in 2-3 months. (Yes, it does look easy enough to DIY, but I haven't built anything in an age, and I have enough distractions in my life already.) Anyone else have thoughts on this amp? Intents to build or buy one? Disclaimer: I hope it doesn't need to be said, but just in case it does, this post is not intended as drama-bait. I know NwAvGuy has raised some hackles with his opinions. In particular I know he has harsh thin…

The SRM-1 MK2 pp (rev. C, spritzer modded to balanced input) was having bad resistors when I just got it. The bad resistors are those 2.2Mohm (R303 & R304) resistors. After fixing that, I like this SMR-1's sound even better than my new SRM-323S for some music. The bass is tight and impactful and the soundstage is more open. Recently, I changed the two diodes (D301 & D302) in the bias circuit with 1n4007. I also replace other two diodes (D101 & D201) in the L&R channels. I found the SQ actually went down (to my ear). The bass impact was weaker and the soundstage shrank. And the DC output from PSU seems to drop a few volts. Then I put the old …

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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?

Hi, community! I'm pretty new to this scene, and an even newer member of this site. I've bought my Denon AHD2000 and I love it. But someone told me to get an amp/DAC, so that it would sound even more amazing. So I have a few questions: 1) Will it make a remarkable difference? Enough for a even newbie like me can recognize? AKA Is it worth it? 2) Is the Audinst MX1 a good amp/DAC for my headphones? 3) If not, what substitute is out there within that price range? Edit:: Seems like I came to the wrong place. I kinda feel like a freshman accidentally entering a senior class. I'll head over to that OTHER headphone site. Hopefully I can be as professional as you guys on…

I still haven't seen my Absolute Sound for July/August but I am looking forward to the Pinnacle review. Has anyone read it?

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

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…

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 …

Haven't had mine long, but first impressions are very positive. Until I get more time (and tubes) to post additional comments, here's a new Playback/AV Guide review: http://tinyurl.com/peakvolc

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 …

Hello to all, I'm fairly new to this forum and untill now I have read a lot of posts to get a bit acquainted. For normal bias phones, I use a SRM-1/Mk2 which I would like to upgrade (actualy a P.P., but I fitted 1 normal bias socket). I have read about swapping out the power transistors for 2SC5466 units, currently used in Stax amps. However, in a SRM-323 thread I read that 2SC3675 transistors are to be preferred over the 2sc5466 units. Why is that and which transistors are best for the SRM-1/Mk2 (p.p.)? For pro bias phones, I use a SRM-727II on which I want to perform the "spitzer mod". What resistors are to be used? metal film, carbon film, others? Are 1/2 Watt…

Does anyone have a schematic for the SRM323? I can't seem to find one through Google. @Spritzer: I assume it's possible to do a balanced input on it? At least that's what I inferred and seen from other designs - the STAX amps are inherently balanced.

Hi, new here, looks interesting. I use HD600s with my orignal, stock Musical Fidelity X-Cans I am not a big user of headphones at home, mainly LP (LP12) and CD (Ikemi), I never use my PC for music. What should I try and how much (ish) should I expect to pay to noticeably get a better sound than the X-Cans. Has anyone here ever had their X-cans upgraded? thanks KT666 London

I'm hoping Justin, Mr. Gilmore or Spritzer will see this thread and hopefully tell me what's wrong with this KGSS. This unit is over 7 years old and features Alps volume controls as opposed to the newer DACT controls. The serial no. written in red pen on the circuit is #1000. The issue with the amp is a noisy humming emitting from both channels past 0 position. The humming sound is distinctive to the transformer and is very audible at modest volume. I've isolated the issue without plugging in a source. I've made sure my SR-007 is working properly on the SRM-007t and SRM-717. The problem persists on both RCA and XLR. I've taken several pictures. I have not touched th…

from Yanko Design, slashgear & engadget: info here, here & here... stylish...

Last month Craig Uthus of Eddie Current debuted a new amp at a smallish gather of friends in NorCal. I've heard many amps by Craig and I've been impressed by his output with some of his amps like the BA and HD25 hitting it out of the park for me. I've owned a few of Craig's amps notably one of the original Moth 2a3s that was a visual masterpiece and sonically one of my all time favorites. To this day it is the one piece of gear that I regret selling. He's made better sounding amps like the HD 25 and Balancing act since then but the marriage of industrial almost gothic design, old school innards like brass plugs for switching output impedance and wax cloth wires and pluse…

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

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

Jonokuchi, from Pete's home page. His latest single ended desktop amp, complete with boards(on his ebay store), Edcor transformer package, and Front Panel Express info and files for the enclosure. A very neat looking build. Hat's off to Pete.

I have recently bought an Onkyo C-S5VL SACD player and WOO WA6 with EML 274B rectifier (about 2 weeks). My Headphone is HD-800. Today I decided to for no good reason try the headphone jack on the Onkyo which has internal amplification (with actual volume knob for headphone out). To my surprise going aback and forth I could not discern major difference between Onkyo and Woo. I tested these on several 24 bit recordings that I have. I also tried my Denon receiver headphone out but this time the sound was simply horrid. Is something wrong with my setup? Or Onkyo internal amplification that good. This post is by no mean to criticize WA6. I am just trying to ge…

I have a set of Behringer ms16s, and I was listening to my headphones through them (Sony MDR-V6) and the headphones sounded better than ever before. Is it possible my Behringer monitors were acting like a headphone amp, boosting and enhancing the sound of my music? Cause it just sounded so good. Thanks, Eddie