[gimmeheadroom]

The Cary CAD-300SEI absolutely sings with the Sennheiser 6 series headphones. My God! It's like perpetual morning wood!

For four thousand USD it certainly should

And yeah, Sennheisers are usually happiest with tube amps. I think a THX amp would not be a good match.

 

[bifcake]

For four thousand USD it certainly should

And yeah, Sennheisers are usually happiest with tube amps. I think a THX amp would not be a good match.

There should be quite a few of the Carys on the used market for about $2k or so

 

[gimmeheadroom]

There should be quite a few of the Carys on the used market for about $2k or so

For two thousand dollars I also expect a high level of listening satisfaction.

 

[bifcake]

For two thousand dollars I also expect a high level of listening satisfaction.

As you should, but boy, does it deliver!

 

[exwhyzed01]

Thanks for all of the input all. I ended up going for a Khadas Tone Board for the DAC and Monoprice THX 887 for the Amp. I can't wait till they get here, its going to be a great 2021!!

 

[bifcake]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

 

[BobG55]

Hi All,

If anyone has come across any, can you throw in your suggestions for either Integrated Amps, Vintage amps, or AV Receivers with a great Headphone Amp inside?

I know that usually the headphone section is "resistored-down" from the main amplification section and acoustically suffers from it. I'm experiencing the same thing with my bookshelf system Panasonic PMX70, where the spearker sound amazing but the headphone output sounds quiet and muffled, compared to my 7 year old laptop soundcard.

Anyhow, i'm willing to consider a full sized amp that has a great headphone section. the only one i've come across online is a forum comment naming the AV Receiver Onkyo TX-NR905 as having a good headphone section. I'm looking for others (and less pricey others, than the Onkyo). Thanks in advance for any insights that can be provided!

This is an excellent vintage amp review by a fellow Head-if member on YouTube. He mentions that the vintage amps’ headphone output/ section was designed so you get the full amplifier’s sound. The same as it sends to the speakers.

 

[Deceneu808]

I run my hard to drive DT880 600 Ohms on a Marantz PM5005 stereo amp. Relly wows me everytime I listen. I got mine used for 170$.

 

[Hohmslice]

I haven’t needed to use headphones in ages, so I’m about to go down this road as I await my first headphones that aren’t buds in 20 years (Meze 99 Classics*) to arrive. I have two vintage amps I’ll be trying them with, a Sansui 5000x and Stereotech 1200. Normally those push my Bozaks, so switching to phones will be interesting. Audio comes from a Dual 1219 with Pickering XV15.


*I know these don’t need an amp. I like the preamps in these units and I listen to records most of the time at home.

 

[DeweyCH]

FWIW this weekend I replaced the speaker relays in my old Luxman R-117 and added a TP-117 to the stack. That's a reeeeeeally nice stack, both for hard-to-drive speakers (my KEFs) and headphones.

 

[Strayngs]

PrimaLuna EVO Integrated series all are a very good headphone amp as well.

 

[Marco59]

PrimaLuna EVO Integrated series all are a very good headphone amp as well.

I confirm. The Primaluna series of amplifiers have very good headphone output. I use a P.L. Dialogue Premium HD with Susvara and Hd 800 and is very good as a $ 4000 or more headphone amp.

 

[bifcake]

Thanks for all of the input all. I ended up going for a Khadas Tone Board for the DAC and Monoprice THX 887 for the Amp. I can't wait till they get here, its going to be a great 2021!!

Did you get it yet? How do you like it?