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SS amp for low impedance headphones <250£

post #1 of 25
6/15/09 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 
Any suggestions? I saw some Creek amps they looked nice.


...Wanna amplify:
ATH M-50
Grado SR325
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post #2 of 25
6/15/09 at 6:18pm
Graham Slee Novo maybe? I'm about to try the headphone amp on a Beresford TC-7520 dac to see if its all cracked up to be.
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post #3 of 25
6/15/09 at 6:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by plonkersaurus View Post
Graham Slee Novo maybe? I'm about to try the headphone amp on a Beresford TC-7520 dac to see if its all cracked up to be.
What do you mean?
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post #4 of 25
6/15/09 at 6:53pm
oops sorry,

You can get a Graham Slee Novo amp for £230. It won an award in a magazine recently, and it sounds good.

I'm sure someone with more experience than me could help you further?
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post #5 of 25
6/15/09 at 8:22pm
The nice thing about wanting a ss amp for a low impedance phone is that one of the main problems in phone and amp matching (impedance mismatch) is taken out of the equation, so any SS phone amp will work and the question becomes synergy.

Below your price, I would say take a look at the EC/SS by eddie current, maybe the shanling ph100, and the kicas amp for commercial pickings. Gilmore lite also. There may be a couple more, but those three are pretty good amps for the money. That said, your best bang for the buck will come with DIY, if you are willing to go that route. There are several DIY amps in your range which are very good. One is the CK2III, the amp that I am running at the moment. $200 and very good with grados.
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post #6 of 25
6/16/09 at 7:25am
Thread Starter 
No DIY...

...No one knows about creek?
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post #7 of 25
6/16/09 at 11:24am
Meier's Corda Swing should be able to put ~ 1W into 32 Ohm cans from the published specs

A used HeadFive should be similarly capable with low Z cans
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post #8 of 25
6/16/09 at 1:23pm
If your budget is ~$400, I would get something a little higher up on the food chain than the creek amps. They are not bad, but you can get a lot more within your budget.
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post #9 of 25
6/16/09 at 5:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcx View Post
Meier's Corda Swing should be able to put ~ 1W into 32 Ohm cans from the published specs
Seems to much for easy to drive phones
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post #10 of 25
6/16/09 at 11:29pm
buffered op amp composites with +/-12 to +/-15 Vsupply are a very good formula for headphone amps that can handle a range of cans for the price

as long as the gain doesn't cause hiss with the 32 Ohm cans these amps should be OK driving most cans, including higher Z K701, HD600/650, 250 Ohm Beyers... maybe 600 Ohm cans or K1000 would like a little more V swing
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post #11 of 25
6/17/09 at 6:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tintin47 View Post
Below your price, I would say take a look at the EC/SS by eddie current.
Very very nice, but I found it at 429 $ in the US

so... 429$ + FedEx + 20% VAT makes it go out of budget....
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post #12 of 25
6/17/09 at 9:14am
I've got the gs novo paired with a set of sr325i's and really like the results. Before that i was running them on a creek obh-21 (not the se) with the obh-2 power supply. I much prefer the novo. The creek was very detailed but at times it bordered on being harsh. The novo has the same amount of detail but just enough warmth to prevent harshness setting in, its a musical little bugger too.

But ymmv.

cheers
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post #13 of 25
6/17/09 at 10:41am
Head Direct EF-1 Hybrid. Power of a S/S with the flavor and tube rolling possibilites of one little tube.
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post #14 of 25
6/17/09 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomy3555 View Post
Head Direct EF-1 Hybrid. Power of a S/S with the flavor and tube rolling possibilites of one little tube.
EF1 / Kicas Caliente.

One is tube hybrid, one is all discrete. Both great designs.
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post #15 of 25
6/17/09 at 3:29pm
Thread Starter 
Where are the K.I.C.A.S., the Meier and the Eddie Current made?
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