[gevorg]

Looking for a great under $500 amp to power low impedance D5000.

Which one are very good for such phones? Leaning to Gilmore Lite, but not sure if there is anything better for under $500.

 

[MikeW]

look into kicas amp, and rockhopper M3

 

[Got Mi|k?]

I ordered the kicas amp just waiting for it to be built i'll let you know how it pairs with the d5000's

 

[Uncle Erik]

The Gilmore Lite and M^3 are good choices. A couple others I'd consider would be the PreSonus Central Station and the Eddie Current EC/SS. The Cental Station is particularly excellent because it has a good upsampling DAC built in. Check reviews of the Central Station here - a number of members bought them and had good results. I was happy with the one I had, except I got pulled into SACD and vinyl and eventually started playing those 90% of the time.

 

[tbonner1]

Glad to see you bring up the Central Station, Uncle. I still really like mine after countless other SS and tube amps. It has a burnished warmth that offers great synergy with the Denon D5000.

Incredible build quality, state of the art preamp, DAC rivals $1000 units AND 2 great headphone amps all for the price of one good headphone amp. It also offers flexible switching as much of my other gear has minimal inputs/outputs.

I don't get why people are not wild about this device. I understand it is geared toward the pro market with balanced inputs/outputs but that is a simple fix with adapters.

 

[intoart]

The Little Dot I+ is a hybrid amp designed specifically for low impedance 'phones. Even right out of the box, with the stock tubes, it sounds fantastic. Since it is only $143 shipped, there is no reason to spend anywhere near $500. I am going to improve mine even more with less than $40 in mods (new tubes and new opamps.) I expect it to sound insane!

It is definitely the only amp I will ever need or want for my D5000s.

 

[Seba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by intoart /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is definitely the only amp I will ever need or want for my D5000s.

...until you listen to 500$ amp and you realize that LD I+ isn't that good anymore

 

[fatcat28037]

Woo 3+...........read about it here.
Woo Audio 3+ High End Headphone Amplifier
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/ive...io-wa3-366985/

 

[mrarroyo]

How about an amp by Rudistor?

 

[gevorg]

Uncle Erik and tbonner1, thank you for suggesting the Presonus Central Station. For the last two days I did some research on it (primarily reading the Ferbose's thread) and now thinking about using it as a DAC+AMP with computer-as-source.

I do have some concerns and would really appreciate some feedback on any of them:

1) Jitter. The Presonus CS is believed to be vulnerable to jitter, and I use computer-as-source. I currently have EMU 0404 USB which can output digital to coax or toslink, or I can switch to the ESI Juli@ (internal soundcard with digital out). Will EMU's or ESI's jitter will be low enough so the sound won't be harsh, "digititis", cold or analytical? I prefer the sound to be very musical and somewhat warm. As a point of reference, DAC1 to balanced HD650 sounded too analytical and uninvolving for me.

2) Power Filtration. The Presonus CS is believed to greatly benefit from good quality power. I already have a decent power filter, PS Audio UPC-200. Will it be enough for the CS?

3) Defected unit. Although the reviews claim that CS has good build quality, there was a number of people having a defective unit, even though there was only a handful of people who have CS. How to check if you have a defective unit? (other than the obvious visual damage and operational functions)

 

[floz23]

Will I get in trouble for mentioning the Musical Fidelity x-can v8?

 

[maxfazer]

rockhopper M3 imho

 

[FrederikS|TPU]

The M3 gets recommended all the time for low impedance. The Head-Direct EF1 also does a great job with low impedance headphones, but I have not tried the M3 so can't comment on which to get.

 

[Kon-Masti]

How much is the M3. I just visited the Rockhopper Audio site, but I can't see a pricing structure anywhere. If no-one knows, I'll just e-mail them anwyay, but I thought I might get a quicker response here. Thanks

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kon-Masti /img/forum/go_quote.gif How much is the M3. I just visited the Rockhopper Audio site, but I can't see a pricing structure anywhere. If no-one knows, I'll just e-mail them anwyay, but I thought I might get a quicker response here. Thanks

$375USD for the Rockhopper M^3 and $200 for the optional Sigma 11 powersupply.