The MG Head has always been known for its excellent value and that it comes pretty close in performance to the EMP doesnt surprise me or demerits the EMP in my books.

I too appreciate the aesthetic looks of the EMP. The main advantage for me is that the EMP is such an portable amp.. i can take it with me when i go overseas quick and easy. I wouldnt dream of lugging the MG Head around on short-term travels.

Good point. The MG Head OTL is ONE HEAVY SUCKA. It's as portable as a 16lb bowling ball.

I couldn't believe what a brick it was, heaving it out of the box for the first time. Don't even ask about the monstrously massive Twin Head...

...droppa on foot, breaka you bones!

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I'm a recent HD600/Cardas convert, and they sound great with the EMP. Even though the EMP is advertised to drive low impedance phones, it just loves the 300 Ohm HD600's. Of course the AT's are excellent with the EMP also, what a lousy reviewer I am, I love all my phones, just a headphone person really.

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I know you're talking about the lighter color but mine was advertised as Black, it is more like a dark brown, it shows no discoloration around the tubes at all and it's been on 100's of hours at this point.

I find that the EMP is a very enjoyable amp with all my phones from Grado's to AT's to Senn's but on some material that has heavy bass transients (low tom drums hit hard for example) it exhibits a soft distortion. With particulary challenging material I think the EMP has trouble delivering all the current a 32 Ohm phone can use. I would not let this deter you from the EMP, it sounds great and the challenging material I'm speaking of turns up on 1 out of 100 of my CD's, if that. If you're a real headbanger I would not recommend the EMP either (hey, it's not reggae! ) [size=xx-small]inside joke for lini[/size]

Thanks to you all - especially 88sound, Calanctus and Jazz. That sounds very encouraging. Now, the question is: What do I need more - an Earmax Pro, have my car repaired or get a new computer, because my old one stalls whenever I look too sharp at it?

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Originally I believed to belong to team silicon: I like it accurate, uncolored and unvarnished. The Earmax Pro – my first tube amp – changed my mind: the magic of tubes doesn't leave me cold. But it doesn't give me the impression to make something wrong, and it absolutely doesn't hide details. Its vividity, its accuracy and dynamic, is in the same class as the Corda, which is a good reference, I think. With ER-4X and especially HD 600, my two main cans, there's no other choice.

What pleases me the most is its 3-dimensionality – combined with and perhaps a consecution of its smoothness –, which I first found a bit too enhanced. But now I wouldn't want to miss it, the more so as it sounds quite natural, not overemphasized. And btw. this sound isn't far away from the one which comes out of the DAC line out, even rather nearer to it than the one from the Corda. And as regards the bandwidth, the extremes are very well represented. Maybe not self-evident with tube amps.

I didn't notice any distortion, even at high levels, with low frequencies and low-impedance phones. The only weakness I found is a slight hum when I use low-impedance (=high efficient) cans, that means Grado SR 80 and Koss Portapro, but it's barely noteworthy. So I would recommend the Earmax Pro to everyone with every musical style without any restriction.

JaZZ

88sound, thanks for your post.
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Does the EMP have the distortion/current shortage problem even with the 300-ohm HD600s?

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With the HD600's it's not nearly as noticeable. I do want to emphasize that very few recordings elicit this unwanted distortion and the EMP delivering not enough current at times to Grados is a revelation that the Grace 901 proves. By Grace standards the RA-1 also does not provide enough current to 32 Ohm phones with challenging material at high volume. Before the Grace I thought the distortion caused by these transients exceeded the volume limit of the phones....I was wrong, they exceeded the current capability of the amp.