- Joined
- Dec 13, 2011
- Posts
- 39
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I am a fairly new head-fier (although I've owned a pair of over ear headphones for as long as I can remember) and I'm probably better described as a budget audiophile.
I have the Sennheiser HD650 headphone and my source is a MacMini (WAV files in iTunes) feeding a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic,
I am completely satisfied with both of these but recently I have been playing with headphone amplification with surprising results...
I have Pro-ject Headbox ll and Schiit Asgard headphone amps, both drive my Senns well, the difference between them is subtle but as you'd expect, the Schiit has a bit more weight and authority to it.
I recently acquired an old Marantz PM6010 OSE intergrated amp (because I am addicted to buying old hi-fi kit from a well known auction site) for under £100 which sounds as good as any other amp I've had before with the possible exception of a Naim Nait 5i that was a bit better (and 5 times more expensive).
As it has a headphone output I naturally popped the HD650's in for a listen, incredible! I can honestly say I can't hear any real difference between it and the head amps.
A bit of research revealed a couple of user reviews that raved about this old Marantz intergrated having a 'proper' headphone stage, result!
It's built like a tank, looks brilliant, drives speakers, has plenty of inputs, doesn't have tone controls (which I like) and cost less than the 'budget' Headbox ll.
I wondered if anyone else had any experience of this issue and the kit I've mentioned? all of my purchases over the years have been 'blind' based on magazine reviews and websites like this one and I have been both very satisfied and rather disappointed by different pieces of kit, in this instance I'm very happy and I'm now wondering if I need a dedicated head amp at all?...
I have the Sennheiser HD650 headphone and my source is a MacMini (WAV files in iTunes) feeding a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic,
I am completely satisfied with both of these but recently I have been playing with headphone amplification with surprising results...
I have Pro-ject Headbox ll and Schiit Asgard headphone amps, both drive my Senns well, the difference between them is subtle but as you'd expect, the Schiit has a bit more weight and authority to it.
I recently acquired an old Marantz PM6010 OSE intergrated amp (because I am addicted to buying old hi-fi kit from a well known auction site) for under £100 which sounds as good as any other amp I've had before with the possible exception of a Naim Nait 5i that was a bit better (and 5 times more expensive).
As it has a headphone output I naturally popped the HD650's in for a listen, incredible! I can honestly say I can't hear any real difference between it and the head amps.
A bit of research revealed a couple of user reviews that raved about this old Marantz intergrated having a 'proper' headphone stage, result!
It's built like a tank, looks brilliant, drives speakers, has plenty of inputs, doesn't have tone controls (which I like) and cost less than the 'budget' Headbox ll.
I wondered if anyone else had any experience of this issue and the kit I've mentioned? all of my purchases over the years have been 'blind' based on magazine reviews and websites like this one and I have been both very satisfied and rather disappointed by different pieces of kit, in this instance I'm very happy and I'm now wondering if I need a dedicated head amp at all?...