[sid12345678910]

Hay guys
 
i am looking for a desktop amp that very nutral
 
i am not particully using high impedance headphones with usally my shure 440s and my Sennheiser HD 438 and my futer sonic atrios, i just want to get the most out of them, i am conaiderning mabey buying some xb 1000 or some Sennheiser HD 650/600 so it should be able to power thouse. i am basically trying to futer porf my self
 
i dont really lke tube amps as they tend to be warm sounding, and i want a very nutral sound, i currelty own a e11 for portable use and its very falt and i love it
 
i was cosidering the fiio e9 as its the only company that i know that make decent amps, BTW i will be running these out of my X-FI titanim so no DAC is necciery
 
Budget 200 US us or less
 
soo any recommendations?
 
thx

 

[ZARIM]

The used Matrix M Stage, Asgard, JDS labs C421(portable but powerful and sound neutral, good improvement over E11) are recommended and first two are huge upgrade over E11.

 

[sid12345678910]

i really liked the look of the asgard but its about 360US here so its out of budget definlty looking into the matrix m stage
 
the jds labs is too small for a desktop amplifier i preffer somthing bigger
 
thx

 

[wilky61]

Food for thought: I have not heard the M-Stage yet (just ordered it a couple days ago), but everything I have read leads me to believe that it's not a "very neutral" amp. I believe that I have heard it called a "dark-sounding" amp, which actually is why I bought it (to pair it with my AKG Q701 which can be a bit "bright" in the trebles.
 
Perhaps someone else can come along and verify that I am reporting accurate information here? (or correct me if not )
 
Also, another thing to consider with the M-Stage is that many people like to swap out the stock opamp for an upgrade. One of the most frequently recommended opamps is the LM4562, which can be purchased on eBay from National Semiconductors (I think is the name of the seller) for less than five bucks. Changing opamps is also likely to have an impact on the M-Stage's sound signature.
 
 
EDIT: Also, see if this link is helpful to you: http://www.head-fi.org/t/592977/objective-2-vs-matrix-m-stage

 

[Mad Max]

All true.  I do not recommend LM4562, it needs a psu bypass capacitor (soldering required) or you get fatiguing treble with it.  It is not suited for the M-Stage's circuit in any case.
I recommend instead OPA602BP, OPA1642, OPA1652, or AD8599.  All of these are more suitable for the M-Stage and go well with Q701, 602 being the most neutral chip.  The other chips recommended in the M-Stage thread tend to be unstable in the amp, but they get recommended anyway which they shouldn't, preferrably.  Then there's the Audio-gd opamps, but those need an extension cable due to their massive size and to have their bypass caps upgraded or they don't sound as good as chip opamps.

 

[sid12345678910]

what about the asgard!?

 

[sid12345678910]

i dont mind a small warm tilt, but not too mutch they will overpower the mids and high on some headphones

 

[Snag1e]

Get an Objective 2.

 

[firev1]

Quote:

Get an Objective 2.

Yup, O2 fits the bill best. I would consider a V100 or V200 up the chain but those cost a lot more. Using it with my Srh 840s. The opamp changeability indeed makes me believe that the M stage is not neutral, after all, different opamps have to be compensated differently.

 

[sid12345678910]

hmmm the O2 is very small, comapred to the matrix, what about the oo amp upgrade compared to the O2
 
can you even change the omp amps on the O2?
 
i am really confused......

 

[sid12345678910]

btw is the 

[size=1.8333em] [size=0.9166em]Epiphany Acoustics EHP-O2[/size][/size]

[size=0.9166em]the same amp?[/size]

 

[firev1]

Quote:

btw is the 

[size=1.8333em] [size=0.9166em]Epiphany Acoustics EHP-O2[/size][/size]

[size=0.9166em]the same amp?[/size]

Yes it is the same amp and also, yes you can change the opamps, google nwavguy objective 2 to find out more. I do advise taking a look at JDSlab's O2 though, I heard stories of improper grounding.

 

[Snag1e]

I have owned an M-stage, and I prefer the O2. You could change the O2's opamp, but I would not recommend it. Nwavguy tested over 2 dozen opamps for the o2, and the ones that are there work the best in it. Upgrading it will probably only make the O2 worse (info on nwav's blog). Properly used, most modern opamps are audibly transparent, so there is no real reason to change them out on any properly designed piece of gear. Imo it's no benefit for a lot of potential problems...

 

[sid12345678910]

so basicly the o2 is a really good amp and you dont have to mod it?
 
if so then thx guys

 

[Snag1e]

Basically the O2 is a transparent amp. It adds nothing audible of it's own to the sound. Modding it will almost certainly make it worse if anything.