Mapletree Ear+ HD SuperII vs. Headphone Amp in Decco2

I haven't heard the Mapletree amp but I do have a Decco2.  It sounds pretty good with both my Grado 125i's and my ATH-M50's but I find that it falls WAY short with my LCD-2's.  It's the oddest thing.  The D2 has a tube in it but for headphone listening, I actually prefer the tube out of the circuit.  I was expecting big things from the D2's headphone output but so far I'm finding it just adequate.   

I don't want to make it sound like the D2 isn't a great piece.  It's fantastic as a preamp and a standalone DAC and it's even a surprisingly capable integrated.  But the headphone stage is just not as good as I was hoping. 

And with that said, if the reviews I've seen of Grados with Mapletree amps are any indication, you would be much happier with one than you would with just the D2.  Supposedly, the Grado/Mapletree pairing is heavenly.  (And I can believe it because the 125i's sound phenomenal with even my little $250 Maverick A1 tube headphone amp.) 

Hope this helps. 

A friend of mine has the EE DAC and loves it.  But he lives 900 miles away so I haven't heard it firsthand.  It has a tube in it, too, so it would probably play to the Grados' strengths a bit. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishsammy 

I haven't heard the Mapletree amp but I do have a Decco2.  It sounds pretty good with both my Grado 125i's and my ATH-M50's but I find that it falls WAY short with my LCD-2's.  It's the oddest thing.  The D2 has a tube in it but for headphone listening, I actually prefer the tube out of the circuit.  I was expecting big things from the D2's headphone output but so far I'm finding it just adequate.   

 

I don't want to make it sound like the D2 isn't a great piece.  It's fantastic as a preamp and a standalone DAC and it's even a surprisingly capable integrated.  But the headphone stage is just not as good as I was hoping. 

 

And with that said, if the reviews I've seen of Grados with Mapletree amps are any indication, you would be much happier with one than you would with just the D2.  Supposedly, the Grado/Mapletree pairing is heavenly.  (And I can believe it because the 125i's sound phenomenal with even my little $250 Maverick A1 tube headphone amp.) 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

 

 

Just because you are trying to run cans the D2 was never designed for (LCD-2's) doesn't mean it is merely an 'adequate' amp.    Stick with cans that don't require loads of power/a dedicated amp and the D2 is very capable. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jodet 

Just because you are trying to run cans the D2 was never designed for (LCD-2's) doesn't mean it is merely an 'adequate' amp.    Stick with cans that don't require loads of power/a dedicated amp and the D2 is very capable. 

Sounds even better when he says it. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironman31 

Unless something else comes up or someone else changes my mind, I'm looking at getting:

 

Grado rs1i

Sennheiser HD 650

Peachtree Audio Decco2

Mapletree Audio Design Ear+ HD Super II

 

Jesus, this will be about half of what my car is worth, lol.

I have a D2 and am thinking of getting a pair of ATH-W1000X's.   But I'm a dedicated amp kinda guy, so I'm thinking about the Mapletree amp as well.   Decisions, decisions.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironman31 

Unless something else comes up or someone else changes my mind, I'm looking at getting:

 

Grado rs1i

Sennheiser HD 650

Peachtree Audio Decco2

Mapletree Audio Design Ear+ HD Super II

 

Jesus, this will be about half of what my car is worth, lol.

If you're going to spend that amount of money, there are much better ways to spend it. I have not heard either of the amps in question, but their power specs at 300 ohms are grossly inadequate to drive the HD-650. The HD-650 will sound like crap with any amp that doesn't put out several hundred milliwatts, trust me on this. The RS-1i is very sensitive and fine with any kind of amp, but I wouldn't bother buying the HD-650 if you are gonna use the Mapletree or Peachtree (lots of trees there...) amps. Forget the EAR + and get a cheap, powerful headphone amp like the Sheer Audio HA-006 (dynalo), Matrix M-Stage, Schitt Asgard, or M^3 (DIY). Those will do a much better job powering something like the 650 that is difficult to drive. 

Also, in my opinion, that's a lot of money for a setup that honestly is not gonna be very good. For my money I'd go with either the HiFiMAN EF-5 + HE-5 combo or STAX SRM-1 Mk. 2 + SR-507. Yes, I have owned both of those setups, and they will flatten most of the dynamic setups you see around here. You can add a nice entry-level DAC and still come in at under what you were gonna pay for all that other stuff.

My mappletree (non super) routinely has grado's and HD650 plugged in at the same time.  The amp's builder uses and built the amp around his HD600.  I have also used the mappletree with LCD-2 with no issue but I'm sure the more powerful super would be even better.  If you were going to get the RS1i's then the mappletree is probably the most famous amp in existance to use with it.  Though I use both, going from the grado to the HD650's make the 650's seem pretty lifeless.  The Decco wouldn't be on my list so I can't add to that.  But it sounds like you need to iron down exactly what kind of headphone you really want first.  And dont feel the need to jump on to the LCD-2 band wagon because it seems like everyone else is.

Why is the LCD-2 so hard to power? Because impedance and power aren't the only things at play.  They are low sensitivity phones and low impedance so lower powered amps that aren't matched right wont work and good amps with low impedance and an output transformer will out do a higher impedance output amp with more power.

I just recently got a Mapletree Super II, am currently driving a pair of HD-650's and have a pair of RS-1i's on the way.

I don't find that the Mapletree has any problem driving the Sennheiser's, even with 5751's in place of the 12AX7's. Although I haven't done a true side-by-side comparison, the Super II seems to drive the HD-650's at least as well as an X-Canv3 with X-PSU.