Bryston Amp + Preamp

[ex0du5]

Hey, I'm planning on getting a pair of decent Grado's...probably 325i's or RS1/RS2 if i can afford em.

Anyways, my dad has a good sound system (loudspeakers though). He has a Moon Eclipse CD Player and uses a Bryston 4BSST Amp and a Bryston BP26 Pre-Amp. These are fantastic quality for loudspeakers, and i know the BP26 has an output for headphones.

My question is, will these do well with headphones? Am I best to spend an extra few hundred on getting a headphone amp, or could I spend that extra money in getting the better Grado's?

 

[Rob80b]

I’ve been using (or not using) a similar setup, Bryston BP25P,although the BP25/BP26 are great preamps the headphone out and the Grado’s are not a great combo (see post )
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=187630

The Bryston’s gain is very low and the volume has to be turned fairly high with all cans.
The impedance mismatch takes the life out of my Grado’s, no bass and extremely mellow presentation, which is the exact opposite at which Grado’s are good at.
My Senn HD580’s and AKG K501’s sound OK though.
Prior to the BP25P I was using a Creek OBH-11se Rev B and a Bryston .5, the Creek was a perfect match for my Grado SR325i's lots of definition, solid deep bass and overall great presentation.
I’m currently waiting on delivery of the Meier Corda Headfive at which time I’ll post my impressions over the Creek/ Bryston.
From reading the posts the Headamps http://www.headamp.com/ are also an excellent match for Grado’s, they were my first choice but I thought I'd pick up a Headfive.

But to recap IMO as much as I love my Bryston (forover 20 years) gear the headphone out has taken the life out of my headphone experience.

 

[mrarroyo]

IMO the RS-1 or RS-2 are more than one step above the other Grados. If we use a Performance/Cost ration the RS-2 is hard to beat specially if you buy it use for about $400

Grado cans love tubes, if you can swing it my first choice would be the Mapletree Ear Purist + HD at about $600 new or $500 used. Although I have not seen many used unit come up for sale. Good luck.

 

[Rob80b]

Topics on Bryston mrarroyo, Bryston!

 

[Rob80b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ex0du5 My question is, will these do well with headphones? Am I best to spend an extra few hundred on getting a headphone amp, or could I spend that extra money in getting the better Grado's?

You could get better a better Grado but you will not hear their potential even on the SR60 using the Bryston and Grado Phones.

 

[mjb]

i've got a bryston bp-6 and i absolutely love it with my hd650's. i agree that there isn't a whole lot of headroom (volume needs to be turned up a bit higher than most amps) but the sound is fantastic. the best instrument separation and air i've ever heard. very clear and dynamic sound across the range. smooth and full sound--think velvet

again, this is with senns (high impedence), so you may very well find that none of this applies to your grados.

mjb

 

[ex0du5]

So would i be better to get cheaper 325i's and using a 200$(cdn) headphone amp? I really can't be getting into 500$ amps.

 

[ex0du5]

gah this is why i hate these tough decisions

I guess i could benifit from a listening session...I'd like to see the difference in between: no amp, bryston bp26, headamp, <insert crazy stax + amp combo here>

Also, I will mostly be listening to rock or metal (including death-metal, weeee double bass madness ) with these headphones, but I welcome vocal as well as classical music, especially piano (though I don't care for jazz as much, but appreciate it's value in demonstrating the capabilities of system )

What I'm probably going to do is listen to the different headphones, mainly the 225's, the 325i's and the RS2's (RS1 are a little out of my range) and make my decision from there. If the 325's were better than the 225's no matter what I'd at the least go with those, but if there are reports of harsh listening sessions I should investigate first. Hopefully they have a selection of headphone amps when i go to audition them so I can see the difference that an amp really makes.

 

[Rob80b]

When I was using the Creek OBH-11SE Rev B my SR325i’s bested my Senn’s and AKG’s, it was IMO the best of both cans, coherency top to bottom, smooth highs, great midrange and tight extended bass.
After replacing the Creek with the Bryston (which I had great hopes for) the Grado’s lost all of that, the Bryston is best with cans rated over 50ohms.
Even though Grados are the most efficient of the cans (you can run high volumes off an iPod), they need current, which the Bryston headphone out does not have, to sound their best, especially in the bass department.

 

[Rob80b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjb i've got a bryston bp-6 and i absolutely love it with my hd650's. i agree that there isn't a whole lot of headroom (volume needs to be turned up a bit higher than most amps) but the sound is fantastic. the best instrument separation and air i've ever heard. very clear and dynamic sound across the range. smooth and full sound--think velvet again, this is with senns (high impedence), so you may very well find that none of this applies to your grados. mjb

I agree, after getting the BP25P, my HD580’s took top honours in the sound department .

 

[ex0du5]

maybe i should look into the senns, if they'll sound that much better on the system i shoudl try them out.

 

[Rob80b]

See if you can find a good price for some Sennheiser HD 580's on line $150.00 or so, (they are too expensive in Canada), they'll work well with the Bryston.
Then latter you can get a dedicated amp, and some Grado's, AKG's, Sony's Beyer's etc, buy another amp etc .. welcome to Headfi!

 

[ex0du5]

Also, would Senn 600 or 650 be appropriate choices for the BP26?

If I'm lucky I won't like Grado sound and end up making the easy choice of getting the Sens ;D