I got my first dedicated headphone amp almost a month ago. I bought a HeadRoom Little More Power. My old Nakamichi 410 pre-amp (late 70s, discrete, solid-state design) started having problems.

I let the LMP "burn-in" for two days. I then compared the Nak with it. The LMP went a little deeper than the Nak, but also darker and seemed to be hiding some of the detail. The LPM high freq. filter brought some of the detail out, but it was too bright for almost all recordings that I tried. The crossfeed rolled off the highs and high freq. filter was required to return them. I found that I preferred both the filter and the crossfeed turned off. I felt like my Nak was a little faster. Drums had a little more kick to them with it. The LMP volume pot doesn't do too well at low volumes. I felt like it was inconsistant and it seemed to change the balance (left-right) which was one of the problems the Nak started to have. Still, I retired the Nak and spent the next few weeks with the LMP.

After a long delay (almost a month, shipping delays), my Corda HA-1 arrived. I let it burn-in over night before putting up against the LMP. The Corda had tons more detail without being bright or fatiguing. The bass went a little bit deeper. Both the LMP and Corda controlled the bass well. The LMP may have had a slight edge on bass accuracy. The Corda was a little faster. I got the kick from the drums and bass. The crossfeed is better on the Corda...no high freq. roll off. I also like having four settings (none, some, more, a lot).

I sent the LMP back yesterday. I let the Corda burn-in all night again and its a bit tighter and faster than yesterday. Dr. Meier said it should take about 24 hours to break-in.

As an aside, I went home last night and listened to the same CDs. My home stereo still sound much better than my headphone setup. Since my headphone setup is for work only, I'm not going to worry about it (i.e.- I'm not going to spend more money on it....now).

I'd like to thank everyone here for helping me decide which gear to audition. I've already learned tons from you guys.

I'm looking forward to the HeadRoom tour arriving in LA. I want to hear the MOH and MAX from them. I also want to hear some tube gear.

Thanks again,

-tom

Equipment: Linn Mimik II CDP, Beyer DT250-80 'phones.
Music:
Creed- Human Clay
Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream
Dave Matthews Band- Crash
Stevie Ray Vaughn- The Sky is Crying, MoFi Gold
Jane Monheit- Come Dream with Me
Sinatra- Reprise
Mozart- Requiem, Deutsche Grammophone
Beethoven- Symphony No. 9, Sony Classical
Trio Mediaeval- Words of the Angel