My vintage receiver headphone out sounds better than my Woo Audio - Page 2

Old gear is up for grabs, it takes space and people buy new stuff. The old gear can be found for very low prices.

Vintage recievers can be seriously good. And quite a good bargain but the trick is to find a good one. My early 70s Marantz 2270 has an excellent headphone out and easily beats the Hornet but in all fairness, the Hornet is a portable amp.

I've compared my vintage Marantz to the cheap Little Dot 2+ and in ways it does beat the Little Dot but in some ways, I found the Little Dot to be more listenable and natural. So it can also boil down to personal taste.

I think a smart thing for a budget audiophile to do is to get a good vintage reciever preferably from the 70s and pair it with a good used Headphone. With this combination you can get some seriously good hi fi territory without breaking the bank baby.

My problem atm is knowing where and what to look for. Vintage gear seems difficult to find here in Australia.

Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.

Thrift stores sometimes have good vintage stuff, but it may be abused or broken in one way or another.

You don't have to buy vintage stuff; anything before about 2002, when the HT craze changed the whole face of hi-fi, can give excellent results so long as you stick with the more credible brands (Marantz, NAD, Rotel etc ). I bought a 2001 Yamaha RX-396 on Ebay for $75 and it drives my 650s just fine.

That said, beware of profiteering on Ebay. Be prepared to wait for a bargain.