Meta and CHA47 is all I hear about. Are there others?

I want more bass. I use my SlimX and enjoy its equalizer, but when I switch to my D25S or D3 a lot of it is gone. It feels empty. I don't need a TON of bass, but more would definitely be nice. So I'm looking for an amp.

Which should I buy?

The Kevin Gilmore Solid State Pure Class A Dynamic Amp(KGSS for short) is an option, if an expensive one. It is somewhat above a maxed-out META42. It was designed specifically for Grado phones, but is supposed to sounds better than anything else at this pricerange on any set of heapdhones. Antness is right now on v1 of his rendition, priced at $500. Soon he will make a $300 Gilmore Jr version, and a $500 fullsize one with improved components. (headamp.com)

Making your own Gilmore is an option too, and *For just the amp*you can expect to pay maybe $60 minimum in parts to populate the board(subsonic is coordinating a group buy of a mint-tin sized run of PCBs, I suggest you PM him if you decide to go this route, the board is looking like it will cost sub-$10), and more for every component located offboard(Pot, switches, LEDs, jacks, etc.). For the power supply, you can either make the Gilmore UltraReg, designed for this amp with somewhat excessive amounts of regulation(He says it's probably overkill for most people), for something somewhat over $100, or go with a cheaper regulated wallwart. I think there was a $50 15V/.4a posted a little while ago that was supposed to be pretty good.

Also, if you want to go cheaper than CHA47/META42(I'm not sure if CHA47's are being produced anymore too), you can make yourself a CMOY for $30-50, or buy one for $50-150(I remain vague purposefully, PM the DIYFSE'ers to get quotes).

Finally, there is a guy by the name of Fixup making an amp called the SuperMini - about the size of a 4 AAA battery pack - that is supposed to be somewhere between a CHA47 and a META42 in quality. It isn't a meta, but it's supposed to sound only a little bit worse than an entry-level META42, and it's priced at $99 last I checked.(fixup.net)

Are there any amps I can go to a website and buy? I don't know how to soder, and I don't want to go through the hassle. So far I've e-mailed one guy (jmt, i think) about Meta's and cha's, but I haven't gotten a reply.

I'm looking for anything less than $150.

Would a Total Airhead improve the bass?

I recommend staying away from the lowend Headroom products. From what I've heard, they make some great stuff in the several hundred dollar and up range, but DIY stuff kills the Airhead and Total Airhead in the same pricerange. JMT is probably the most prolific builder here. I have one of his CHA47 amps, won in a contest that Akar threw a while back, and it's great. For $150 you can probably get a pretty decent META42. I suggest you PM(private message, an internal messaging system in this board) the builders in addition to emailing them. Since these are DIY amps, noone really has working automated online ordering systems. It just isn't worth it considering that they only get in the single digits orders a week(just a guess, really, but I don't see them selling many more). If you want to buy one, you get personal attention, including, if you want, any customizations that you may want. That's why one of the rules(stated or unstated? I'm too lazy to look it up.) here on head-fi is that most DIYFSEr's(Do It Yourself For Someone Else) rely on privately quoted prices. Only I think Antness and Fixup have publicly stated prices and partslists.

Anyway, contact the builder(s), describe to them what you want to use them for(what headphones, source, possible future headphones, etc. The output impedance and gain etc can be adjusted by changing some parts. In addition, you have to decide what kind of portability you want), and ask them for a quote and partslist of the best amp they can put together for those headphones for $150.

Here is a list of current and past(add to this list, I forget who else) builders of the META42 on head-fi:

JMT
Eric343(retired I think)
KurtW
Tangent
Jason

Notes:

A commercial amp you might want to think about is the Creek OBH-11. It can be had for $169 here. You might also want to consider the semi-commercial Fixup Supermini, which is about the size of a 4 AAA battery pack, and would be nicely matched to your SlimX for portability. You can get it for $99 here. On META42s: The best resource for this topic on the web, other than this forum, is Tangent's site, http://tangentsoft.net/audio/

If you do feel like getting into DIY amps, you can build an RA-1 clone or a CMOY for only around $30.

Oops, almost forgot: Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet.

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Definitely, as will any headphone amp. Other amps at the same pricerange do somewhat better, though. The D25S seems to have a comparatively beefy headphone circuit, so I'm unsure why the slimX has better bass. The Kevin Gilmore Solid State, while beyond your pricerange at $500 from Antness(possibly $300 soon, not sure[Although you might be able to build it with a wallwart for $150]) is described by its designer here:

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