[AMKAM]

Not looking for the best, but for money's worth and performance that can be heard.

Let's get real here: I don't have much in-person experience with Class-A amps, but I heard they are very powerful and linear from reviewers. From this, what I am looking for is a fun, warm sound with not much linearity and a huge sound stage with depth and width while keeping the detail, imaging, and technicalities intact. In these sound profiles, I found these amps: the EarMen CH-Amp, the Burson Audio Soloist 3X Performance, the Burson Audio Soloist 3X Grand Tourer, and the HeadAmp GS-X mini, so from these, you can see my price range maxing out at $2500. With these, I am mixing a tube amp that has full tube output, and I decided to buy the xDuoo TA-22.

Now my setup will be a DAC (Fiio K9 Pro or Cayin RU6) with balanced output to an xDuoo TA-22, which has tube-full output but with RCA out only, to a Class-A amp to balance headphones.

What will I be using this setup for? Mostly movies and TV shows.

I know I am crazy and asking for a lot, but I am very curious. I would love to have an opinion about Class-A amps in this setup and which will be best, or maybe even go in a different direction and save money.

 

[tesarpa]

Schiit Mjolnir 3 just recently appeared.

 

[WorksUnit]

Given your focus on Movies and TV, you are probably better served by focusing on the headphones themselves.
Had good results with Ultrasone S-Logic Headphones personally for that purpose.

In terms of warmer SS, Arcam R-Head, and some Violectric products might be of interest.

 

[haasaaroni]

Try the Kinki Studios THR-1. It sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Warm, very powerful, and very spacious. It's not class A, but does have the warmth and smoothness of a class A amp.

You used to be able to find it through Kinki Studios directly, but it doesn't seem the case anymore. There are a few used available right now though.

I wouldn't go for the Burson Soloist 3XP if you're looking for soundstage. It's also class A but definitely not a warm-leaning amp. It's tuned more for a neutral/reference sound.

 

[Tex Irie]

The HeadAmp GS-X Mini is really nice but it's warmth will depend on the DAC you're using. If you're going to go with Burson you will want to change all 4 Op Amps. I previously owned a HeadAmp GS-X Mini and A Burson Conductor 3X Reference. I parted with both after selling all my Headphones and they weren't a good fit for my IEMs. I found the Burson Conductor 3X Reference to be accurate to a fault. I enjoy warmth and coloration in my music.

A Chord Qutest and GS-X Mini combination would be warm and resolute. Questyle DAC/Amps, Gold Note DS-10, Hifiman EF400/600 are some solutions I would suggest researching. Happy hunting and I hope this helps.

**Forgot about the Cayin HA-3A... Beautiful Sounding Tube Amp.. The Cayin iDAC-6 was lovely as well. Both devices pair well together.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Let's get real here: I don't have much in-person experience with Class-A amps, but I heard they are very powerful and linear from reviewers.

Not exactly. Class A is thermally and electronically extremely inefficient compared to A/B let alone D amps, so the same size board and power supply and chassis including heatsink on a Class A amp will support a Class A/B with more power.

What many people mistake for power is sometimes just cleaner power - if you have less background electronic noise ie you have a very black background, and it's a really good Class A amp, then on top of that current delivery there isn't much for you to overcome to be able to hear the low end so it tends to seem like it has more power. On the flipside, people listening in an environment where there's a higher noise floor might complain a lower output Class A amp isn't enough since he'd either clip the signal or just still not hear it compared to just using a more powerful A/B or D amp to just hearing damage his way to hearing the low end. It's just that with headphone amps it's far easier to make a Class A amp that makes enough power to get past hearing damage levels to begin with so people who run into power limitations on Class A are very likely driving speakers and their wallets aren't fat enough for giant Class A amplifiers.

That and Class D still tends to have issues driving higher impedance loads, which is why despite the efficiency advantage for running off of a battery it hasn't exactly overtaken Class A/B for headphones the same way that by now a lot of speaker amp lines are shifting to Class D.

Now my setup will be a DAC (Fiio K9 Pro or Cayin RU6) with balanced output to an xDuoo TA-22, which has tube-full output but with RCA out only, to a Class-A amp to balance headphones.

Does the K9 Pro have a fixed voltage line output mode? Because if it doesn't as some DAC-HPamps do then you're gonna end up mucking around with the output level on the preamp output off that so as to not have any noise in it to get preamped again then finally amped by the TA-22.

Honestly you're just overcomplicating your set up.