Grado amp for other non-Grado headphones?

I have a balanced JRC4556 Mahogany Cmoy clone (with better input caps than the real one uses too!). Mine is balanced because someone once said that balanced is better and I wanted to build an amp that didnt stand a snowball's chance in hell running a pair of sennheiser HD580 compared to pretty much any single ended amp. I succeeded by taking an amp that didnt stand a snowballs chance in hell single ended, and making it twice as much!

Anyways, I think the amp pairs up extremely nicely with Grados, but if your buying one new you can probably find something better for less money. Headphone amps at the $400 pricepoint have come a LONG way since the RA-1 was one of the few amps on the block. If your buying a used one Im 50/50 on the topic for JUST Grados.

IME the RA-1 does *Not* play nice with other headphones. There is just something wrong about it.

Since it sounds like you want the amp for several headphones Id say lean away.

Perhaps get a DIY amp? the CKKiii, M3, and PPA are all within a reasonable range of price of an RA-1 (used and new prices) and sound outstanding with a wide variety of headphones.