doublea71
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2011
- Posts
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Instead of clogging the appreciation thread, I thought I'd start one dedicated to sharing thoughts on pairing amps with all incarnations of the Mad Dog.
Right now, I have the 3.2 SE and a Fiio E17. It sounds nice to me, but I'm not well-versed in the world of amps - I don't really have a good frame of reference.
One question I have is regarding using an amp that has enough power for the MD: Can anybody explain this to me in layman's terms? I don't really understand why planar magnetics require so much power to reach their potential. Also, what would be the lowest amount of power provided by an amp you would recommend using to bring out the best in these headphones?
Hopefully this thread will turn into a useful resource/headphone amps for dummies sort of deal. I welcome all recommendations. If anybody wants to post a guide to good amps for the MDs (different price tiers would be nice), have at it.
Recommendations (so far, and in no particular order):
ALO Rx MKIII
Burson Conductor SL amp / 1793 dac
Emotiva A-100
JDS Labs C5
Fiio E12 (good for the budget-minded)
O2/ODAC
Schiit Vali (based on Purrin's audition with the Paradox, another T50RP Mod...Only $120!)
Schiit Magni
Leckerton UHA-6S MKII
Lehmann BCL
Taboo MKII (tube)
Audio-GD 11.32
Audio-GD 15.32
Ibasso PB2 (balanced)
Centrance HiFi-M8 (balanced and single-ended)
Sansui 5000A (vintage receiver)
Pico Power
More strong recommendations are obviously needed. I'll add to the list as they come in and eventually try to get a chart together with more info (price, portability, etc.) Wait and see time...
Edit September 2, 2014: I'm going to stop updating the list as I don't have the time to maintain this thread - it seems to be doing fine without regular pruning, so unless anybody wants to take it over, it will continue sans rudder as it has for awhile.
Right now, I have the 3.2 SE and a Fiio E17. It sounds nice to me, but I'm not well-versed in the world of amps - I don't really have a good frame of reference.
One question I have is regarding using an amp that has enough power for the MD: Can anybody explain this to me in layman's terms? I don't really understand why planar magnetics require so much power to reach their potential. Also, what would be the lowest amount of power provided by an amp you would recommend using to bring out the best in these headphones?
Hopefully this thread will turn into a useful resource/headphone amps for dummies sort of deal. I welcome all recommendations. If anybody wants to post a guide to good amps for the MDs (different price tiers would be nice), have at it.
Recommendations (so far, and in no particular order):
ALO Rx MKIII
Burson Conductor SL amp / 1793 dac
Emotiva A-100
JDS Labs C5
Fiio E12 (good for the budget-minded)
O2/ODAC
Schiit Vali (based on Purrin's audition with the Paradox, another T50RP Mod...Only $120!)
Schiit Magni
Leckerton UHA-6S MKII
Lehmann BCL
Taboo MKII (tube)
Audio-GD 11.32
Audio-GD 15.32
Ibasso PB2 (balanced)
Centrance HiFi-M8 (balanced and single-ended)
Sansui 5000A (vintage receiver)
Pico Power
More strong recommendations are obviously needed. I'll add to the list as they come in and eventually try to get a chart together with more info (price, portability, etc.) Wait and see time...
Edit September 2, 2014: I'm going to stop updating the list as I don't have the time to maintain this thread - it seems to be doing fine without regular pruning, so unless anybody wants to take it over, it will continue sans rudder as it has for awhile.