integrated amp and am using the headphone jack. I'm blown away by how good it sounds.

In the end, I actually sold off my non-portable headphone gear, and purchased a Cayin 265ai integrated amp. While I'll miss listening to headphones, I just couldn't afford to have both a really decent headphone rig, and a really decent speaker rig, which is what I prefer listening to. The Cayin 265ai has no headphone out at all, but right now I'm enjoying some damn fine music reproduction on my day off Eventually, when I'm out of school and able to work more hours than I do now, I'll grab another pair of K701s and a headphone amp...but for now, this integrated is just what I needed...

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Anyone know how this amp compares in the larger scheme of things? I'm driving Senn HD650 through that amp and wondering how much better they can sound. If I bought a headphone amp, I'd be after a solid state one in the approximate budget range of a Gilmore Lite with the dedicated power supply. Worth the upgrade? Source is lossless audio from a PC with the Emu 0404 soundcard.

I have a new nad amp and also a dedicated xcan headphone amp. The NAD is ok, but when compared to the headphone amp over long periods of extended listening the head amp is far more detailed and sweeter sounding. The NAD is quite OK, but there is far better. The sound atfer comparing the two could be described as a little thin and lifeless. I could only notice an apparent difference by switching from one to the other, but then you realise what you have been missing out on.

I recommend the xcan, which is reasonibly priced, if you can solder etc then it is a great project for an upgrade as well as you can change the valves and capaciotors inside it. I can say enougth about this amp on this forum, its by favourate piece of audio equipment that I own. !!!

Hi guys, i've tried plugging in the HD650 into my old NAD 304 intergrated amp. Feel that my SR-71 loses out to it... just my personal opinion

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Welcome Categg and sorry about your wallet.
Many years ago I had a NAD1020 preamp which,if memory serves me right,sounded damn good thru phones

I have the NAD C372 and Sennheiser 590 cans, and while the amp with speakers is excellent, the headphone output sounds pretty congested to me. I never really used it. I think it was an afterthought. Not recommended.

I just got the Headroom Micro Amp, and I'd say it blows away the NAD as a headphone amp. The Micro is still breaking in, but so far it's great!!

Dave

I just got my first set of *real* headphones, (HD600).
Running them out of my NAD C320, to my ears they sound amazing.
So sweet and rich and deep.
I have to confess, I have never listened to headphone amp, so I really have no point of reference ("im like a child who wanders into the middle of a conversation..." sorry)
Anyway, to my untrained ear, the NAD makes my 600's sing.

to be honest the nad is still very good for a set of cans, its just that your on a website talking to alot of headphone extermists like myself, ther is always better just like cars really.

Good luck on your quest, if you get really serious you'll prob end out with a dedicated amp, I enjoy my xcan and doing various mods to it such as changing the valves and replacing the capacitors inside it.

I woundering about having a look at the capitictors inside the nad, thay are probably 85c ones which could be upGRADED to 105c and possibly higher cap rates. It is the home therter reciever model, so I will prob just do the front channel if its possible ?

I recently had the chance to get my 13-year-old NAD system out of storage from my folks' place and as I type I'm listening to the NAD 505 CD -> NAD 1600 Preamp/Tuner -> Grado HF-1 and it sounds very nice. I haven't done a direct comparison with my other amps, but it certainly is an enjoyable listen and could be considered by many as a very competent setup. I also like the sound of the DT770 from it. The HD650 however sounds a bit murky and congested and is much better served by the Aria.

sorry to threadmine but i thought this might be of use to someone.

ive had a couple of weeks to compare my GS-1 to the C320BEE I was using for about a year prior. Initially, I was tihnking "hmm i may have wasted my money on the gs-1" it didnt seem to change the sound much, and have less bass.

after a fair bit of listening, it is clear just how accurate the gs-1 is to the source. the soundstage is preserved, the detail is amazing, the thing can be turned up loud and exhibit no distortion or any problems. the quality of recording is the only factor in whether something sounds good out of the GS-1. a brilliant recording is sublime, and average one is very noticeable. so it is a revealing amp, and one i dont really want to sign off on until ive got a couple more phones to play with. (Paduak Darth Beyer's on the way ) Mainly because you can feel the flatness in the mid bass of the DT880's, and so a large portion of my music isnt jumping out as it would with other phones.

The C320BEE served me well for a year, on admittedly not great headphones (HD200's, HD570's) but even with the zhaolu into the NAD with the dt880's, it is very, very good value. it seems to bloat the bass out, and at higher volumes does distort in a way that is non existent with the GS-1. It is however a really fun and cheap amp for rock etc. it reduces the soundstage of the zhaolu noticeably, but in all this youre comparing a 700+ phone amp to a 300dollar integrated

i dont regret buying the thing, because for the money its awesome and drives my average speakers perfectly well, which is what i wanted. Im sure you could pick one of these up for less than 300USD, i bought mine for less than that in aust a year ago.