Best solid-state headphone amplifier for around $800 or less

Without any hint of a doubt, the Musical Fidelity M1 HPA is the best headphone amplifier in that price range IMO (I would rank it above the Burson HA160 and the Lehmann BCL without hesitation) 

Don't know about the DT990s, but it drives the T1 well. 

It feels very spacious and effortless for a solid state amp at that price. Very nice sense of depth and clarity, never bright or harsh. A good match for the Senn HD 800 as well. 

Cheers

One would have to consider the Meier Classic and Violectric V100 and even the Beyerdynamic A1 (dependent on what price you can get it for).

Lots of decent and great SS amps out there at $800.

B22, DIY amp, haven't heard any any solid state that's better (to be fair, I've never heard any $1000+ SS amps). You can find someone to build it for you on the forums, price ranges can range from $350 - $1000+ depending on the quality of the parts you use. Most builds clock in around the $800 range though.

I like the Meier Concerto.  Not sure how the Classic compares.  I think some people are getting units so they can post reviews soon.  I'm going back to tubes.  

I just got the Classic, and it's definitely a very, very good sounding amp, I would say its really clean sounding, with great extension in both ends of the spectrum, for a $715 amp, I don't think you can go wrong.

I had the Violectric V200 at $999 i think, or a little over that with the USB DAC with my AH-5000's and it was a lovely sound headphone amp. Check out my review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xanthos 

The Violectric is definitely on my radar along with the Blue Circle HPT and the Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear. I appreciate their slightly smaller form factor as I don't think I could fit a full-sized Meier sized amp on my desk. Although the other two have seemed to fallen out of favor or at least popularity with the community. Has anyone heard any of these amps side-by-side? Also, How do the V100 and V200 compare? Any other amp suggestions are also appreciated. Thank you everyone!

Well they are just not sufficiently appreciated. And by the looks of it no one has compared the V100 against the V200.

Another vote for the Meier Concerto.  It has active ground and a pitch black background; sounded very good with my T1s and now my HD 800s.  

I'm sure the Classic would be extremely good as well.

Btw, in case you're concerned about the size of the Meier amps, they are actually very compact.  The online pictures make them look much bigger than they actually are.

I haven't personally heard the DT990s with the concerto, but personally I think the DT990 matches very well with the Graham Slee if you're looking to warm up the mids a bit.  The amp is built like a tank with a small form factor, and it's versatile to work with tonnes of different cans with various impedances and sensitivities.

I personally, however, very much want to hear the Violectric V200 with my DT cans.

I am sure most of the solid state amps in this price class are going to be excellent choices. Burson, Graham Slee, Meier Audio and Musical Fidelity should all be great options and would be favoured by me. As some of the posts stated here you should try and pick one that would match the type of signature you are looking for. I can personally vouch for the Lehmann Black Cube Linear and think it is an excellent headphone amplifier being pretty fast, detailed and very transparent, nice impact too. If you have bright headphones and/or bright recordings they are going to sound bright on this amplfiier etc. The BCL doesn't try to alter or hide anything. They drive my HE-500 orthos pretty well so I'm still very happy with the BCL!