[ms960]

Greetings all,

I've got a pair of AD700's on the way. I listen to a lot of classical, other acoustical music and some pop/rock, but am not into anything heavy, nor jazz. I bought the AD700's for their purported sound stage.

Now I'm looking for a small, inexpensive (< $150) amp to match with these phones. Source is a 5G iPod, and I do have LOD on the way as well.

Here are the amps I'm considering:

Mini^3
XM4
C&C Box+
Little Dot MKI (wait for the MKI+ ?)


Wanted to know if anyone can give me advice on which, if any of these amps, would pair well with the AD700's. I've read sooooo many threads and reviews on this board that my head is really starting to spin now. I'm having a hard time keeping them all straight. So, I come before the collected wisdom to see if anyone can help me through all the choices. If there are others in that price-range that I should consider, I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks much!

Cheers.

 

[chinesekiwi]

I'd say get a cheapish amp due to the fact that the AD700 is low impedence thus won't make as much of a difference sound wise than high impedance headphones such as Beyerdyanmics or Sennheisers. I have read here though that an amp brings out the bass a bit more in the AD700's, which the AD700 unamped lacks

 

[ms960]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd say get a cheapish amp due to the fact that the AD700 is low impedence thus won't make as much of a difference sound wise than high impedance headphones such as Beyerdyanmics or Sennheisers. I have read here though that an amp brings out the bass a bit more in the AD700's, which the AD700 unamped lacks

Thanks for the comments. Any suggestions on which amp(s) would bring out the bass on the AD700's?

 

[synaesthetic]

AD700s may not need an amp, but a good amp will certainly help, and a good amp will scale with new headphones. I use a Channel Islands Audio VHP-1 amp with my AD700s and it definitely makes a difference in bass response. Very noticeable compared to unamped. But it's not really a cheapish amp.

For a portable amp it's pretty hard to beat the Mini^3 at the price you can get one for!