[Jasper9395]

thanks for the recomendations guys the Musiland MD 10 seemed realy good at first but it looks like it works better with headphones of lower impediance http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/mus...-10-a-201624/; the Travagan White exactly like what I am looking for, an amp that is not too bulky, it has a DAC and it delivers more juce than a portable amp like the 2move.

 

[dcpoor]

maybe also consider the zero dac that's so popular on these forums.

 

[Jasper9395]

I took a look at the zero it looks very nice but I want to be able to connect my amp to my mp3 player which is not possible with the zero

 

[tranhieu]

can the zero drive the k701 (that sounds strange for its price)?

 

[karnov]

I already posted this in another thread. But what about keces 131 dac + Heed can amp? That's what I'm planning on getting, not sure about the amp tho. Or if it's wise to run the keces from my iMacs optical out...

 

[Mike Wazowski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karnov /img/forum/go_quote.gif I... Or if it's wise to run the keces from my iMacs optical out...

It is wise.

There was a used Canamp in the FS forum just a day or two ago.

 

[Jasper9395]

I recently saw a Corda Aria up for sale; How does this older amp/dac compare to for example the newer Teravagan's White.

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

both my predator and my iqube drive the k701 well!
So do not need to spend huge amounts to get them to perform!
Did try them out of a cmoy once for laughs and all can say is that it was emotional!
Put the pennies in and get the rewards!

 

[Mike Wazowski]

I agree that there is this conception that K701s are so finicky, and one must get an expensive amp to enjoy them. I've found this to be untrue. Unless you are a basshead, you'll likely enjoy them right out of iPod. Of course, they won't be showing all their potential, but to me, they were a pleasure to listen that way. And on a 5G iPod, 60-70% volume setting was plenty loud.

 

[tfarney]

Quote:

Yamaha RX-V863 sounds great for your blu-ray needs. I would guess, however, that your friend's cheap headphone amplifier is still better than the HP amp circuit in that receiver.

I wouldn't guess that at all. Yamaha typically implements their headphone sections by stepping down the speaker amps through a nest of resistors. Reportedly, this method can cause some audible coloration of low-impedance phones, but with reasonably high-impedance phones like the 701s, it really shouldn't effect them at all. In other words, the headphone section of the Yamaha should be exactly as good as the rest of the receiver, and it should be able to drive high impedance phones well. Better, actually, than it will drive low impedance phones.

If the original poster intends to buy a quality surround sound receiver anyway, the first thing I'd recommend is that he write to Yamaha (or whoever) and ask about the headphone section of that particular receiver. I'd bet the farm it simply uses, and steps down, two of the speaker amps, but it can't hurt to ask. If that is the answer, it is probably the equal of most mid-level home headphone amps (my 30-something year old Harman Kardon integrated amp holds its own very well). I'd buy the AV receiver. Then I'd get in 2 or three pairs of premium phones, test them, compare them and send back the ones you don't want to keep.

Then you're started. You may eventually decide you want to try a dedicated headphone amp, or you may be enjoying the music so much that you really don't have time to think about that.

Tim

 

[jellojoe]

You also need a hard noggin (or lots of hair) for the bump on the headband.