Best <$500 (street) amp for Senn. HD650 + Zen Xtra 60gb mp3 player

[guitarded]

Well I cannot afford my $1000 guitar amp so i might as well buy what I can afford.

I need an amp for my HD650's and am expecting a Zen Xtra 60gb to come in the mail next week. What amp should I order? I am looking at the Gilmore Lite w/ and w/out the upgraded power supply, and the sr-71.

This will be a home set-up, despite its portable..ness, and i dont mind changing batteries. Sound is most imporant to me.

Anything else I should consider before taking the plunge?

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarded Well I cannot afford my $1000 guitar amp so i might as well buy what I can afford. I need an amp for my HD650's and am expecting a Zen Xtra 60gb to come in the mail next week. What amp should I order? I am looking at the Gilmore Lite w/ and w/out the upgraded power supply, and the sr-71. This will be a home set-up, despite its portable..ness, and i dont mind changing batteries. Sound is most imporant to me. Anything else I should consider before taking the plunge?

Buy the Eddie Current HD300 in the fs forum for, I think, $375.00. I believe it is a perfect match for the HD650's. You may want to check with Gloworm, as he bought my HD300. There are certainly others that are good matches for the Senn's. This is a very well built, versatile tube amp for a very reasonable price.

 

[Jahn]

I would definitely look in the used section of head-fi, most of the items there are very well taken care of. I think I read a Solo 2004 used there, and reports are that they sound great with the Senns. Personally I found that to be true, with the modded Solo I have. So you have a tube alternative (eddie current) and a solid state alt, within budget. Don't go too high up the chain tho if you are keeping the HD player as your only source - something like a Singlepower probably isn't necessary with that signal chain.

BTW I feel your pain on the Guitar amp. In the height of my GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome) I wanted a Fender Twin sooooo bad. But it was out of my budget and it wasn't going to be used as my main rig (i'm an acoustic guy at heart) so I got a Roc Pro 1000 instead for around $300. It ended up being the right choice, as I still have that amp and the electric guitar isn't even used anymore. But man do I listen to my Headphone gear like crazy!

 

[guitarded]

i will use it with my minidisc player at times as well.

eventually ill buy a deck but i have no idea where to start there so im not even going to try right now too busy with school.

i have no bias towards tube or solid state, well, for headphone amps at least, for guitar amps of course i would go with tube.

i doubt i can afford the solo 2004 but ill look around