[jefemeister]

Hi,

I'm new to the headphone game. Sorry if this question has been asked 100x but I didn't see it in a quick search.

I have a pair of Sennheiser 580s and am looking for an amp for around or less than $800 retail. I'm actually planning to buy used but don't want to spend more than $500--thus the $800 retail point. I'm also going to pick up the Cardas cable for these since I can get them brand new for 1/2 price. Otherwise, it seems kind of stupid at ~2x the cost of the 'phones!

I recently went to the meet at Jude's place and really loved the emmeline hr-2 and similar battery powered version (xp-7?) I also liked the meir corda something or other (there was a lot of gear to keep straight for a first timer!) but didn't really get to do a fair comparison between the two.

Does anyone know of an amp that I should definitely consider? I've already ruled out the Gilmore models after talking with some of the guys. I'm definitely not opposed to cheaper amps if the quality is good.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Jeff

 

[Lindy]

Meier Audio Corda PREHEAD ($770 shipped).

EDIT:
The $770 was Jan's August 2003 special for Head-fi members. It lists for slightly higher on his site now.

 

[greenhorn]

Prehead

 

[Guyferd]

Earmax Pro

 

[Canman]

Hey Jeff, I have found the Headroom amps, Earmax Pro, and the Melos SHA series to have great synergy with the Sennheiser 580/600. The Ray Samuels amps would probably be a good choice too but I haven't listened to those with the Sennheisers.
-B

 

[SENOR4Q]

A corda HA-2 should slide in there nicely at about $600. That should leave you with enough cash left to get some interconnect deserving of it, not some $50 stuff which has no business being hooked up to an amp THAT expensive.

 

[tom hankins]

The Antique Sound Labs OTL32 sounds very good the HD600 and I would think it would be good with the 580 also. I paid 555.00 new and shipped for mine from www.upscaleaudio.com I would get the Singlepower MPX3 (even without hearing it) over the OTL32. I think they are around 600.00 new and you can read a ton of great reviews on this amp. The Singlepower amp I have is nothing short of amazing.

 

[Hajime]

I use the Singlepower MPX3 with the HD600 and Cardas cables and love the sound. I reccomend you try and listen to the amps before you buy one. Good luck.

 

[screwdriver]

the MPX3 .

 

[Habib]

MPX3 is gonna be my next amp... As soon as I sell my car. That's right folks, headphone amp over car!

*I just got a new car, but there is no problem squeezing in a tiny MPX3 with the money I get from selling my old car

 

[jefemeister]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I should have spent a little time with the MPX-3 at the detroit meet! I overlooked it between the small ppx-3 and supra II (don't remember the real name.) I really loved the ppx-3. The supra II was nice but I didn't like that it had a fan.

 

[george]

Check out the Melos SHA-1. You should be able to pick one up for 500.00 or so and then could spend a bit to have it modded by Carlo. It is next on my list of audio perks to do and all the threads here have praised it highly following the mods.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Honestly... I didn't care for the corda when i heard it. The sound was quite fatiguing to my ears.

I've had great results with a gilmore lite and HD600's. (after upgrading from a headroom supreme) It has to be one of the most transparent headamps i've heard before. It pretty much doesn't have a sonic signature. Nice and uncolored, the way amps should be.

The gilmore v2 performs even better and has a preamp section and a better power supply. Price= 550$ I'll let you do any further research.

http://www.headamp.com

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=20589

http://headwize2.powerpill.org/proje...lmore3_prj.htm