[Ekul61]

Anyone know a good Chinese desktop amp maker? Just luv the fiio portable stuff. They just don't have any high end desktop amps

 

[cossix]

AudioGD is Chinese I believe and they make good stuff

 

[Ekul61]

Thx will check them out

 

[Muinarc]

Audio Gd, Topping, Aune, Shanling, Jolida, Gustard. Those are the first that come to mind.

 

[Ekul61]

Headphone amps are interesting. Seems like every web site I go to is a bunch of guys making amps in their garage. Being a rookie. I'm surprised I don't hear the names, kenwood marantz, Harmon cardon, dennon ect..

 

[cossix]

Headphone amps are interesting. Seems like every web site I go to is a bunch of guys making amps in their garage. Being a rookie. I'm surprised I don't hear the names, kenwood marantz, Harmon cardon, dennon ect..

Those guys specialize in speaker amps I believe. Headphone amps have different industry leaders.

 

[Muinarc]

Headphone amps are interesting. Seems like every web site I go to is a bunch of guys making amps in their garage. Being a rookie. I'm surprised I don't hear the names, kenwood marantz, Harmon cardon, dennon ect..

Well harmon international (now owned by Samsung) owns a lot of the companies you do read about in the headphone game (AKG being one of the bigger ones). Marantz and Denon were the same company for a while but I think Marantz got sold off yet again to someone else. Those big names just aren't what they used to be unfortunately. Yet, both Denon and Marantz do have headphone amplifiers on offer, they just tend to be much too expensive for what you get compared to any number of the boutique manufacturers out there.

 

[Ekul61]

Obviously limited money to be made by the big dogs selling hp amps

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Anyone know a good Chinese desktop amp maker? Just luv the fiio portable stuff. They just don't have any high end desktop amps

AudioGD, HiFiMan, Shanling, Cayin, Darkvoice, Little Dot...

AudioGD is only behind Schiit on recommendations and sales because of how much harder it is to communicate with them for support. HiFiMan makes their own amps too.

Meier amps (and DACs) AFAIK are also mass manufactured by Shanling. If Meier trusts their quality control, then they're good (not to mention Shanling speaker gear and CDPs aren't exactly cheap, save for the Tempo desktop line). That said, if you can afford Shanling, I'd probably just get Meier, unless you need specific products like their Android/iOS compatible desktop DAC-HPamp.

Cayin speaker amps are fantastic and the ones that have headphone outputs are great for when you want headphones for the speaker system at night (I wouldn't get the larger ones if you only need a headphone amp though).

Darkvoice makes a great entry level OTL amp, and I like it better than the Little Dot MkII, which is a hair grainier and has a little bit of bass bloat.

 

[forestitalia]

Audio gd very good sound quality, but software side is not good at all, very often have to restart my laptop to make work the Dac (yeah Windows 10 is crap but is what we got).
I like a lot Little Dot too.

 

[Ekul61]

Just looking to upgrade from the Asgard 2. For te senn 800s.. Seems like at $1000 budget. I would only be side stepping my $250 Asgard 2

 

[cossix]

Just looking to upgrade from the Asgard 2. For te senn 800s.. Seems like at $1000 budget. I would only be side stepping my $250 Asgard 2

I'd disagree, considering the picky nature of the 800. I'd suggest finding a thread talking about good HD800 pairings

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Just looking to upgrade from the Asgard 2. For te senn 800s.. Seems like at $1000 budget. I would only be side stepping my $250 Asgard 2

I'd just stick with the Asgard, but if you really want to try something else, maybe try the Meier Jazz FF. if you have no low impedance, low sensitivity headphones, try the Darkvoice DV336se.

If you want to spend more cash, look into the WooAudio WA3, o the WA6 (if you have low impedance, low sensitivity headphones).

 

[Dobrescu George]

A full sized, high-end Headphone Amplifier / Speaker PREAMP, the Audio-GD Master 19 is really amazing to look at, if you want one of the best out there, for neutral tuning and a large stage!

 

[Dobrescu George]

I also posted my in-depth review about the Audio-GD Master 19!! It is end-game stuff, but for upper midrange price, and you'll probably grow to love it as much as I do after giving it a listen, regardless of your headphones, because this can drive pretty much anything you throw at it. Even works amazingly well as a preamp for high-end systems!

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2020/05/unexpected-winner-audio-gd-master-19.html