[mikedennis]

I am looking for a home headphone amp with really good bass. Mostly for watching DVDs (action/adventure). I've got a Woo 3 and a Total Bithead but neither one hits me in the chest with bass like my old subwoofer did.

Is this even possible with a headphone amp?

I appreciate your comments/advice.

 

[PFKMan23]

Of course it is. I'd get a Singlepower PPX3 SLAM or a high level Singlepower amp that uses other powerful output tubes like 6BL7GTs or 6BX7GTs. The bass yeield from those should be plentiful and powerful.

 

[RockinOut]

I really like quality bass.

My Shure E5c IEM's are nice for bass

. I don't know how it compares to full size can bass

.

MicroDAC added texture, dimension, and rich bass to my rig as do apple lossless files (I find compression kills bass to my ears).

My Xin SM3 Bass Boost really works well in my rig for bass. I don't like bass all the time, when I do it's just a flip of a switch and it just sounds so right. When I get tired of it I just switch if off. I can't ever get equalizer to sound like it as much as I tried.

Chest-pounding bass seems to be the "weakness" of Head-Fi rigs: For me I'm a basshead and I'm pretty happy with my transportable, bass-on-demand rig

. So it is possible, for a price

 

[granodemostasa]

the Corda HAI MKII has very boomy, lively bass.
or the headroom max

Try the PS-1 from Grado with those amps

 

[Sovkiller]

Unless you got a bassboost on your amp, you will never get this kind of impact on the bass...IME non of the amps I have tried or heard till now, without bassboost have given it to me...You may get a bass heavy headphone like the DT770 or the PS-1 and all you will get a different flavor or an overpowered bass, but the clean impact in the bass that a good home theater setup will give you with a nice subwoofer, only if you boost those lower octaves...BTW my PPA do actually give it with the CD3K but with the bassboost on half a way up or more...

 

[Gabe Logan]

A Singlepower with fast hard hitting tubes will get you the bass you can feel.Then top it off with things like a better power cable and interconnects and you just might have what you need.

 

[Borat]

I don't think you can get the feel it in your chest bass from headphones. You need speakers for that.

I've tried the PS-1, DT770, R10, etc. out of amps like the SinglePower PPX3 SLAM, Ray Samuels Raptor, Gilmore Reference, etc. and I've never had the feeling you describe.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borat I've tried the PS-1, DT770, R10, etc. out of amps like the SinglePower PPX3 SLAM, Ray Samuels Raptor, Gilmore Reference, etc. and I've never had the feeling you describe.

Same here....

 

[PeeeMeS]

Any amp with good bass boost as mentioned

 

[evilgnome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeeeMeS Any amp with good bass boost as mentioned

M3 can be built with bass boost.

 

[DigiPete]

Dynahi really digs out the bass, if your source can produce it and your headphones can go low

 

[PeeeMeS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilgnome M3 can be built with bass boost.

Woops, I didn't mean my response as a question but rather as an answer to the original thread starter's question.

but thanks for the info

 

[rocktboy]

no headphone amp/headphone will ever give you the subwoofer bass of a good home theater. just like you described you FEEL the bass rather than hear it.
I have emphrical evidence in my living room to back this up!

i have a 350w plate amp driving two NHT 10in subwoofer. to calibrate the subwoofer level i used a low frequency sine sweep cd with a digital radioshack spl meter with proper frequency response correction chart. I can hardly hear any difference between base notes at 20hz-30hz that are 4-5db's different. But I can certainly FEEL the difference in my living room.

Also, realize that most of the "slammin" bass is actually in the 60-100hz range imo, eg, the explosion scenes in most dvd's. if you have equalization for 60-120hz range on your subwoofer (some powered subwoofer have mid-bass bump switch builti-in) bump it up. It will give you the most "chest punching" bass.

Or leave your subwoofer on while listening to headphones like some of the k1000 owners do

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocktboy no headphone amp/headphone will ever give you the subwoofer bass of a good home theater. just like you described you FEEL the bass rather than hear it.

What he said:.

But what you can get is great tight well controlled and well defined bass from headphones.

 

[boodi]

ps-1 make you feel the bass ( yes ) not only hear it ..
the Gilmore Reference ( or the new version the gs-x , which share most part of its design ) supposely deliver great bass performance .

an eq can furtherly adjust the deep bass frq.s ( 20 40 100 hz ) to your likings without ruining the sound at all.

I know that bass with headphones , with ps-1 and hp-2 , can be really solid type and make you quite completley forget about a subwoofer-kind vibe if you are on the listen , anyhow it's true thing headphones ( my exp , my 2c ) whatever manner you drive them will never deliver a subwoofer kind vibration .