[rhythmdevils]

the Dynalo is cleaner and more neutral if a bit on the colder side, and the M3 is warmer

 

[Mad Max]

M^3 with the sigma11 psu?

 

[Seamless Sounds]

I'm glad my M³ and σ11 build will cost around $190-$220 (plus $20 shipping from all vendors). Haha, this is such an incredible price. If it had been a commercial product, it would go for at least $650.

 

[rhythmdevils]

a PPA would be a great choice too, I've never read anyone preferring the M3 or PPA over one another, they seem to be very competitive.  You'll never find a better deal than buying one of these used in the forums, because people usually sell them at parts cost.  In other words, all the work sourcing parts, and putting it together is all for free. 

 

[Mad Max]

What is the PPA's sound signature?

 

[yashu]

anyone try a trends ud-10/headphone amp combo? Not sure how powerfuul a tripath chip is but if you had really demanding phones, their tripath amp and some headphone to speakerpost adapter and i'll bet there would be very little you could not run.
 
the little headphone amp/pre looks nice though.
 
mid-priced amps i have always been unsure of. I have a Grace 901, but at work I use a Grant Fidelity dac09 set to lean on the tube a lot more, but it has a good SS headphone amp and NOS DAC and it's priced well.
 
if you just need clean SS amp for cheap, a presonus hp-4 will provide a clean output + act as a pre for some powered monitors., but i could get my 880s to run on an e-mu 0202 if i had to.
 
I have a few tubed sources, so the grace was an investment in as much clean, transparent amplifier heft as I would ever need, so to me it was worth the extra money to never worry about an amp. I's good to have one nice constant in your system. Chances are, if you stick with the hobby, you may try various sources and headphones, so an amp is a good constant to build around, so get as much clean amplification as you can, or, if you are looking for something to complete your system and you are sure about it, tubed or tubed hybrid would be the way I would go. If it has "monotor outputs" or something to let you feed the preamp section into a bigger amp later, it's a good feature. A tubed amp/pre>SS amp is often best of both worlds you can save up to.
 
Darkvoice has a little headphone amp worth looking at, there is little dot, and I said Grant Fidelity, well the DAC09 can do just about whatever you want on the cheap. Pacific Valve Co. may have the hybrid headphone amp/tubed output buffer using the 6J1 sockets similar to some of little dot's offerings. I do not know why GF only carries the DAC09 and not the little tubed headphone amp, but the 09 has the higher powered SS headphone output, and I like to hook my phones straight into the tubed pre-out. It treats it like a little triode amp, and can power most headphones under 100 ohms this way, or up to 600ohms on the SS circuit 1/4" in the front.
 
If you do find really cheap amplification, a GF b-283 is an ultra cheap way to inject some tube warmth into whatever you have hooked up.
 
Grace has better than the 901 now, but very expensive, still they make some of the best headphone amps out there in SS world.
 

 

[156219]

 
Thanks for thoughts and op ions....
 
Quote:

anyone try a trends ud-10/headphone amp combo? Not sure how powerfuul a tripath chip is but if you had really demanding phones, their tripath amp and some headphone to speakerpost adapter and i'll bet there would be very little you could not run.
 
the little headphone amp/pre looks nice though.
 
mid-priced amps i have always been unsure of. I have a Grace 901, but at work I use a Grant Fidelity dac09 set to lean on the tube a lot more, but it has a good SS headphone amp and NOS DAC and it's priced well.
 
if you just need clean SS amp for cheap, a presonus hp-4 will provide a clean output + act as a pre for some powered monitors., but i could get my 880s to run on an e-mu 0202 if i had to.
 
I have a few tubed sources, so the grace was an investment in as much clean, transparent amplifier heft as I would ever need, so to me it was worth the extra money to never worry about an amp. I's good to have one nice constant in your system. Chances are, if you stick with the hobby, you may try various sources and headphones, so an amp is a good constant to build around, so get as much clean amplification as you can, or, if you are looking for something to complete your system and you are sure about it, tubed or tubed hybrid would be the way I would go. If it has "monotor outputs" or something to let you feed the preamp section into a bigger amp later, it's a good feature. A tubed amp/pre>SS amp is often best of both worlds you can save up to.
 
Darkvoice has a little headphone amp worth looking at, there is little dot, and I said Grant Fidelity, well the DAC09 can do just about whatever you want on the cheap. Pacific Valve Co. may have the hybrid headphone amp/tubed output buffer using the 6J1 sockets similar to some of little dot's offerings. I do not know why GF only carries the DAC09 and not the little tubed headphone amp, but the 09 has the higher powered SS headphone output, and I like to hook my phones straight into the tubed pre-out. It treats it like a little triode amp, and can power most headphones under 100 ohms this way, or up to 600ohms on the SS circuit 1/4" in the front.
 
If you do find really cheap amplification, a GF b-283 is an ultra cheap way to inject some tube warmth into whatever you have hooked up.
 
Grace has better than the 901 now, but very expensive, still they make some of the best headphone amps out there in SS world.
 

Some interesting information here...
 
But most of the amplifiers you have suggested are out of my price range... Except for the Dacs and the GF b-283
 
My budget is £200-£250...
 
But still none the less some useful stuff here....
 
Thanks for your reply?

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

What is the PPA's sound signature?

It depends on the opamps used, but typically people use the 637 I think it's called, and it has a very neutral if slightly warm signature. 
 
I couldn't really make comparisons more detailed than that without listening to them again next to each other...

 

[Mad Max]

Another amp with rollable opamps?

Thanks!