Amp to power Grado SR-80i

I believe within that budget, something in the portable amp sub-forum would be ideal.  However, if you want to try tubes, for about 150 beans gets you a LD I+.

Headroom's Total Airhead.  It is a portable amp only ( i.e. It has no DAC ) but the amp is pretty nice for the price.  I use the amp / DAC version called the Total Bithead and like it a ton.  I lend it to my work mates all the time and they like it too and one of them uses it with his SR-80's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reach 

I've done a couple searches on this topic and they're all pretty old. Any recommendations on a Amp for a casual listener of House music? Within a 90 dollar limit. I've been hearing good things on the FiiO E7.

Heya,

What makes you think you need an amp for the SR80's?

Very best,

Good point Malveaux. They are easy to drive...no need to have a headamp. 

JDS bb-CMOY. It's well designed, has bass boost for fun (if you really want it), and let's you roll op-amps to tailor the sound to your liking. You can even get the NJM4556 op-amp which is what the Grado RA1 uses. The NJM 4556 is funky sounding, but for some odd reason works well with Grados.

The Headroom Airhead is OK too. I have one of those. It's warm sounding and a little bit veiled, but works well with Grados without any tinkering.

Honestly, you don't necessarily need an amp for the SR80s. At this price point, what you end up with is loss of transparency for better quality bass.

The Fiio E11 is great in your price range at about $65. It is really good with my Alessandro MS-1i and that is from the same family.

The lower end AleGrado's sound fine unamped but get a bit better with a bit of current into them. This is why the Grado RA-1, which is a high current amp, sounds so good with them.

The Little Dot Mk 1+ is very good but a bit higher up from your price target.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimbertt 

 This is why the Grado RA-1, which is a high current amp ...

You mean high current op-amp.  It's a CMOY!

little dot if you wanna pay a bit more for something really worth the price.

Why would you need an amp? They are 32 ohm with a pretty high sensitivity, instead of getting sr80s and an amp you could just get a higher end pair of Grado's

I have an Alessandro MS1 and I don't feel it needs to be amped. It runs just fine and loud through my ipod classic and touch. Get a higher end Grado Instead. Lower end Grado's don't need amps.

There are some CMOY's a lot more sophisticated than the Grado RA-1......and a lot cheaper!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrin 

 

You mean high current op-amp.  It's a CMOY!