Which Amps to Consider for Grado SR-325i ?

I've been using my goldies for about 2 years before recently upgrading to the RS1. Took the advice by many headfiers and went with the Little Dot I+ and it is just amazing. Haven't tried the other amps you listed but you can't go wrong with the little dot. Paired with the right tubes and opamp, you can easily tweak it to the sound that best matches your music preference. Even til now, i still use my little dot with my RS1 and sounds even more amazing. Seriously you can't go wrong with a 100dollar tube amp and maybe 50bucks in spending on quality tubes, opamps cost like 2bucks on ebay.

PS: love the cd in your display pic, one of my most favourite cd with my rig.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tribbs 

I have worshipped my 325i goldies without an amp for several years.  I have always read that Grados need an amp to coax the best from them.  After reading dozens of threads here and elsewhere I have found choosing the proper amp to be a daunting task.   So many amps.  So little time.  So, here I am, hoping to garner fellow Grado 325 owners advice.

 

I am not an engineer but possess a good basic understanding of electronics and audio.  I have prior experience with electronic kits and am entertaining a DIY project if the cost/benefit is worth the trouble.

 

Among the few amps I have considered so far are:

 

Cavalli Compact Tube Hybrid (CTH)

Little Dot I+ Tube Hybrid

Matrix m-stage & Lovely Cube (Lehmannaudio Black Cube clones)

 

I have no experience with valve/tube amps (or any headphone amp) but have read that tube amps are a good match for Grados (why?).  On the other hand I am not too keen on the idea of colouring the sound.  I guess I am looking for the proverbial "amplified wire" and not trying to compensate for something in the Grados that for me does not exist. 

 

One character of the Grados I enjoy is their crystal clear unforgiving nature.  Strangely, I get a kick when I can hear the studio engineer's cuts, edits and mistakes or the vocalisations of a pianist for example on a recording.  Of course, what really sends me to nirvana is listening to a Super Audio CD of a truly superb recording.  I enjoy most all genres of Jazz as well as Classic & Progressive Rock and some Classical when the mood suits me.

 

My budget is fairly low as you may have already divined from the amps listed above.  Hence my interest in DIY or clones.  But, I won't rule out spending upwards of $600 [Shhh, don't tell the wife.] for that almost perfect, professionally engineered and manufactured, "amplified wire" if it delivers me and my Grados to cosmic infinity.

 

In sum, I am a disciple in need of a guru's advice.  In other words - HELP!

Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum  

Great to hear you are already prepare to roll tubes and opamps. Hope you will like the Little Dot I+. Thanks for the link, I am definitely ordering that cd.

I saw your note in the 325 thread. I note that you purchased the little dot 1+, there do seem to be some partakers of this gem, personally I am looking forward to getting a little dot mk V when the cash allows. I am no longer interested in the red hot glow of those tubes, and I am not particularly gentle with this kind of stuff.

On a note of what amps to drive them. I have found that a fairly decent integrated amp can be a superb driver for our grad 325's.

I currently use optical to slink from my iMac running Vox with lossless files , through my dac and then into my Late 90's pioneer Integated amp,{which itself has a very decent DAC}, and Let me tell you that the sounds are sublime. (previously it was a 1970 Marantz integrated amp).

So I would say to everyone, running on a limited budget, to pick up a decent stereo amp or integrated amp, either from the 1970's or even a later model, some can be had for a steal of a price.  You will find a more fuller sound and robustness throughout the sonic range from the use of one of these babies.

I have a Schiit Asgard on order, hopefully it will make it out this way sometime soon.

yeah I want to try SS amps too. Deciding between the Asgard or the Matrix M-stage....
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by GarfLeonard 

I have a Schiit Asgard on order, hopefully it will make it out this way sometime soon.

The nice thing about 325's is that they are very easy to amp and sound good with almost anything (within reason obviously).  Don't forget the old staple the MAD Ear+ HD but now that you're talking about SS, I'd like to recco what I think is the best deal in all of head-fi, the NFB-10.  It probably has 10x the power that is needed but of all my amps it clearly puts the most punch into my 325s.

My vote for a solid state.

Violectric V90 ~ very under rated European made amp that takes the sound stage back about 2 rows and

improves the imaging and detail retrieval, it's a great amp and works well at both ends of the scale.

Over 1.3 watts at 32 ohms with plenty left over at the top if you find a big 600ohm headphone like a Beyer DT990

to complement the 325i's one day (730mw at 600ohms)

$580USD delivered to the US from Germany

http://aphroditecu29.com/Violectric/V90.aspx

My vote for tube if you can stretch it would be the Cayin HA-1A, it is a magical combination with

a Grado. No printed circuit boards at all, this thing is pure point to point wiring and has the potential

to be a reference class tube amplifier with a few modifications. Again, very under rated.

I started out with a Mk1 and MS2i's and while the combination was nice i managed to stumble across a Toshiba Aurex System 15, pre and power amp.  The headphone amp in this piece is truly fantastic and i will be parting with the LDMK1 soon.  If you can find some of the vintage Aurex mini systems they sound fantastic.

It's a little above your budget, but the Headamp GS-1 was a pretty awesome pairing with my SR225i.  If you're handy around a soldering iron and enclosures, I'd see how much a 3-channel beta22 build would run you.

Beta 22 amp board kit: http://glassjaraudio.com/product.sc?productId=5

Sigma 22 kit: http://glassjaraudio.com/product.sc;jsessionid=EB68BFDC34CA8C4210C0F279DC789DD3.qscstrfrnt02?productId=3

I have the Lehman Rhinelander,and Arcam cd17 Im pretty new to all this but sounds good to me.

Can anyone suggest how much of an improvement in SQ an uprade to the Lehman Black Cube Linear might be?

There is a hypothesis that hasn't been proven with extended testing, but can be one explanation for why Grados sound better with tubes.  It has to do with the over-emphasis toward zero output impedance that exists with many solid-state amps.  Contrary to conventional wisdom around here, Grados at 32 ohms do not necessarily prefer amps with low output impedance.  Dsavitsk has postulated that the higher damping factors resulting from low output impedance may actually contribute to Grados sounding harsh.  He's designed/built enough amps to test this out on a real basis.  From my limited experience, I would agree.  Grados will sing with certain types of tube amps, but border on unlistenable harshness with ultra-low output impedance solid state amps.

Just an interesting point to ponder ...