If I don't bail on the Planer Magnetics and go the Stax 009 Route, I'm pretty set on the Linear Tube Audio MicroZotl MZ3 headphone amplifier ($3700). It is fairly new and only a couple of reviews from consumers (but they are MAD for the MZ3, or the Preamplifier (that's the model name, $4495) which is essentially the same thing as the MZ3 with more functionality). I haven't seen any MZ3 reviews yet from the regular print media. I was going for the MZ2 ($2000 well-equipped) until the MZ3 came out (and I read a couple of the reviews). I think The Absolute Sound included the Linear Tube Audio MZ2 in one of their recommended headphone amplifier lists last year...
The sad thing now is, having upped my budget to $7,000 or so for the MZ3 and the HiFiMan HE1000se headphones, for nearly this same amount of money I can get the new Stax SR-009S headphones and a Woo Audio WES "energizer"! So, there's a dilemma...
The sad thing now is, having upped my budget to $7,000 or so for the MZ3 and the HiFiMan HE1000se headphones, for nearly this same amount of money I can get the new Stax SR-009S headphones and a Woo Audio WES "energizer"! So, there's a dilemma...
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