[sa5000]

Hi,there,

I'm looking for either a portable or a normal headphone amp for my sony mdr-sa5000. Any suggestions there?

btw, I don't want to go way up to $1000 for the amp now. Something below, say, $500 should be fine.

Some of my friends suggest larocco pr2. I just would like to hear from you guys.
Thanks.

 

[Azure]

A warm amp tends to be recommended for the SA5000 (such as tube amps, or in some cases warm SS amps). The warm M^3 also matches well with the SA5000 (Yes, I am selling one right now, but I'm serious about its compatibility with the SA5000 and I'm sure others would agree as well).

Do you have any preference with regard to tube vs. solid state?

 

[clc220]

the new little dot mkIII might be nice.

 

[DJShadow]

I would strongly recommend getting a home amp at least. I used the Hornet with the SA5000 for some months and it sounded alright, but lacking in 'juice'.

I've got the Gilmore Lite arriving (to Azure's horror I imagine

) in some undetermined decade.

 

[jcx]

The SA5000 are fairly sensitive, ~ same V sensitivity as Grado but less than 1/2 the current demand

iPod's should push them to 114 dB spl without extra amplification

that budget would get you K701 + used HeadFive, or Xenos 1HA-EPT (if any are still left)

 

[DJShadow]

I'm sure any portable amp will drive the SA5000 to more than sufficient volumes. Whether it'll sound any good is questionable. The SA5000 is source dependent, therefore the amp needs to be up to scratch too.

 

[sa5000]

It seems to me that a lot of people do like M3. But the problem is that I simply donot have any experience on DIY such an amp.

 

[DJShadow]

There are people on here who do DIY for you. I think MisterX is one such member although I haven't traded him, but by looking at his feedback, I wouldn't be worried.