Headphone Amplification

I just discovered my latest Mikhail "gotcha". At his last public appearance, the June 2008 NorCal meet, I bought a NOS 6385 tube from Mikhail for what turned out to be about 50% more than the going price at the time. Later I wrote that off as more bad dealings with Mikhail. Today, I stuck it on the Jackson 648A tube tester I recently bought. Both sections test at ~30%. So he got me twice, once for the exorbitant price and once for a bad tube at that price. I'm posting this to warn you to test all tubes that you might have bought from Mikhail. There is a good chance that some/many of them are bad. The good news is that now that my Extreme has been made reliab…

Hey all, first of all, I've searched. Now, picked myself up a CA Azur 840C yesterday and want an amp to match. I'm using modded Denon D5000's. I tend to prefer SS over tubes as I'm a detail/analytic freak. A rule of thumb I assume holds is that the amp doesn't cost more than the source, so that limits the playing field to $1500-ish, which is more than ridiculous for an amp mated to a $1500 source IMO. I was thinking used GCHA, but want to know what others suggest. No op-amps here preferably, unless the circuit is well designed, and designed for said op-amp. I looked into a B22, but don't know who I can get to build one. I'd DIY it, but don't know wher…

Hi all, I just ordered my first tube amp. I have alway been a solid state guy, and was wondering what all this hype is about. I have a new pair of AKG K701 headphones, and figured that a headphone amp might be a good place to start. So I ordered a WooAudio WA6. Here is a link. http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa6.html. I won't get the amp for about 7 more days, and am just curious if people can explain to me the differences I might be hearing over solid state. If nothing else I am really going to love the glow. People tell me that tubes are more laid back than transistors. Does this mean I will hear a more smoothed over detail in the sound? They also say that tubes don't …

the Rawsonte First Watt F5 clone off Agon. He immediately removed the listing as soon as I paid, so I don't have a photo, but I can't believe I caught his ad exactly when he put it up and got it I plan to drive various things with this 25 watter, including HE Audio He1.2b electrostats, Sennheiser HE60, and my various speakers. Offical F5 photo

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

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

In 2011 I bought everything needed for a D.I.Y. T2 ( except the chassis and the 4-gang attenuator or pot for level control) and had every intention of building the thing... but then I became disabled and unable to build it.... though I still fantasized that I would build it- somehow. Well, that clearly is never going to happen, and due to the situation I find myself in, I need to get the money back that I spent on these parts. I offered them to Birgir (Spritzer) but he doesn't need them; he suggested I offer them here. I have attached my T2 Bill of Materials with part numbers, prices and etc. Have a look and if you are interested, make an offer. FYI I will on…

AudiogoN ForSale: Moth Audio S2a3 Ready for horns.

Just ranting aimlessly. So I have a GCHA now. At first it sounded exhillirating; the amazing soundstage that is. But after listening to it for a while, my music just sounds so slim and uninspiring. I'm sort of a quiet listener, but it still sounds lean even when I turn up the volume. Maybe I'm just realizing the true nature of the K701 I'm using. (I also purchased the K701 recently and haven't tried it out of an amp other than the GCHA before.) Maybe I should have gone with a tube amplifier in the end after all despite having always thought I was a SS guy myself (high speed and punch). Female vocals are totally dry but I guess that is expected from a SS amp. However, I h…

Well, I got a summer internship in DC, so I am in need of a simple DAC+amp unit that does the job decently. The only one that I could think of was the GCHA, but I haven't actually heard the unit, but I read some good comments here from Reks in older threads. I will be running off its USB connection, driving RS-1s and HD650s. Any impressions would be fine.

Okay, I've been debating streamlining a bit if not downright downsizing. I find that I don't use "multiple" amps and sources nearly enough to justify having them sitting around so I'm thinking about a move to get a single amp that can handle various needs. Right now, I'm using nothing but headphones but likely will be adding speakers somewhere down the road plus I'd like to try the K1000 sometime. With that in mind, should I part with my MPX3 slam and GCHA and just pick up something that's a bit more flexible? Say the SLI-80 Signature F-1? It seems to fit the bill and from what I've read it's a solid performer with no real weaknesses. So the question.....go for it or s…

Someone in my country is selling one of these for 1000 euros + shipping in a quite good condition. It has separate power supply (as every Gilmore Reference I guess) with oversized trannie, Blackgates internal Vampire wire and is fully balanced with separate RCA and XLR inputs and also SE and balanced outs with a switch in the back to chose either RCA or XLR, and separated stepped attenuators for each channel. I'd be thankful if anyone could tell me what was the original price for this amp, whether in your opinion it's worth trying it at that used price, and some technical specs, which I haven't found at the Headamp page. Considering I already own a RPX-100 and a H…

it's incredible the virtues of this amp are putting my head to rest , and ears to pacifically drool over it. this amp is easily the best amp I've come across , it's absolutely linear smooth outraugeoulsy extended at both ends , it gives the most effortless presentation , while keeping the bass solidly firm and never an inch out of the picture . It's solid state , but other then this it's difficult to tell it has transistor related character , which is a very good thing . It does a very nice job with ps-1 finally . Bass and bass to mids frq.s region are both very smooth and very well rendered ; there's a great sense of deepness , coherence and authoritative con…

everything considered should be under $150... preferably under $100 to buy or build. some amps of up to $300 in cost to build or buy may be considered if TRULLY worth the extra dough... but try to keep the recomendations under the first list of requirements. also, list what phones and IEMs the amps pair well with.

OK I swore that I would I would not buy any more equipment, especially amps in 2008, pretty much settled on the stuff in my signature. But this new balanced Chinese tube amp has caught my eye. I doubt there's any of these in the wild, and certainly no one in the western world would have one. The question is, would it even be possible to manufacture a credible balanced, all-tube amplifier at the supposed price point of ~US$800. Let's leave out labor cost, obviously cheap in China. Just on parts/component, is it even feasible? Because all my core phones are terminated in 4-pin XLR (K1000, HD650, DT880-600ohm), I am very tempted to take a punt on this.

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

If anyone's interested, there's a good deal on Gilmore Lite over at Audiogon. I'm not associated with the seller, and would've bought it myself if I needed another amp. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1197940150

I very much like the "truth" of the K-701s and I also love the smooth sound of WWII era 6SN7GT tubes as outputs in my SP MPX3 Slam SE. So, I have needed to find hi-gain input tubes. The 12AV7 family of tubes work pretty well as inputs, but they lack the gain to drive the 701s really well, I think. So, in my experimentation I have gone up as high 5751s with good success, but recently settled on the 12AT7WA (Brimar, Sylvania, and Raytheon) as an input with Raytheon 6SN7GT flat black plates, NU Grey Glass, and Sylvania Bad Boys as outputs. Try this tube as an input with the 6SN7GTS. The various models all sound very different, but this combo sounds very good with K-701s. …

I know this is insane but I absolutely love the sound of my JH 13/16s powered by either my Fetastic or Zana but both are obviously noisy in this application. They both (noise aside) sound way better than the portable amps I have tried but wonder if there is a desktop option out there that is under $2k that would be silent with these but also sound fantastic. If the Fetastic was quiet it would be the best option as it sounds great with them and is balanced to boot but there is a hiss present at all volumes. Not a knock on the amp as I am using outside it's intended purpose.

Interesting -- a minimalist headphone amp design from Grace...good, compact choice for work? https://www.massdrop.com/buy/grace-design-x-massdrop-m9xx-dac-amp?utm_placement=0&referer=JKRU5U

Since I saw a pic of the board, I was wondering if it is worth it to "clone" as a DIY project the amp. I found two very useful pics of the inside. Based on it, I tried to fill in the parts: Is it a AC coupled amp ? The two closest cap from the potentiometer are input caps and i'm wondering if the two electrolytic caps close to the 1W resistors are output caps. Also, I don't know the name of the componant below the left 1W resistor. There are two of them. I think the output stage is push-pull, it probably looks like this: here is what I got so far. What do you think ? PS: I don't know if it is the right section and if it is allowed on this forum, mods fell fre…

As the subject states, my GS-X has arrived. I received the amp yesterday and quickly set it up in my system once I got home from work. As some of you are already aware, the amp looks really, really nice, both inside and out. It is bit smaller than I had expected, especially after getting used to the size of a Gilmore Reference that I used to own. I'll post some pics soon when I get around to taking out my camera. No listening impressions yet since I'm having issues with my ears/hearing right now due to horrible allergy and sinus condition that I've been suffering.

For those of you who've held on to your GS1000s (there are a couple left, right?), what amp are you using?

I'm wondering why blind tests are not done over at headfi. I've listened to a lot of portable amps and I dont understand the ratings and rave reviews some receive over other. Between my ppa2, pimeta and mini3, I dont think I can reliably pick out which amp I'm listening to at any given moment. It leads me to believe that the prettier the amp is, the better some folks think it sounds. On the other hand, maybe I have tin ears.

Hey all, sorry to add yet another HD800 amp thread but I'm really on the fence on what amp I should try next for my rig. My current setup is: Northstar M192 MK1 -> Gilmore Lite + DPS -> HD800 I'm currently interested in either getting a used Wooaudio 6 with the power supply upgrade and sophia tube or grabbing a 3 channel B22 kit from glass jar audio. Let's set a budget of around 800 for other suggestions. Any suggestions or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks