Saw mcbride with Edgar Meyer in old synagogue in wash dc this fall. Amazing

Have you thought about bel canto?

The amp is just not very good with the he 6. Harsh, not musical, has you looking for the off switch.

Yeah, but that is hardly high end on the speaker side. Hell the speaker amp that your headphone amp is based on is $20k and a pre that does justice to it might be another 10.

Absolutely right. But of course headphone money is chump change compared to speaker money.

what budget? There is a little synthesis tube amp that may have enough. http://www.synthesis.co.it/pdf/prime/Flame.pdf There is a used one on Canuck audio mart. These also is a bit more powerful option from them but pretty pricey

what sounds good to you is what matters, not whether it checks certain audiophile boxes.

Thanks. I get it, It is hard to get the richness out of.a solid state amp, particularly at the m2's price. I have three amps with tubes in them (with three tube preamps) and they are all more able on the attack than the m2 without sacrificing decay. Two of the amps cost much more, so I expect to...

^^ "That takes me back to the First Watt line of amps. He made an amp just for your flavor - what ever it is. M2, J2, F1J, F2J, F3. F5, F6 - the SIT 2. A lot to choose from, but one that fits your preference for sure. All while having the technical prowess of any TOTL amp out there." They are...

Similar story. In my set up, I have two amps connected to the preamp. For speakers I turn on the 2a3 monoblocks, about 12 watts per channel. For he-6, I turn on the 150 watt blue circle amp. The volume on the pre has to be much higher for the headphones. Some of it may be the difference in gain...

Problem is that once you get used to it it is hard to go back.

Mark at Reno is great and great to talk to about the differences in the amps. They do not all sound the same.

I was looking at a used canary CD player but there is not much out there in terms of user feedback. If you find anything helpful please post.

Click on the person's name, select block member.

Agree on the Sfax. I only have he-6. If I were more convinced by the energizers I think I would have tried the 007.