Joe Bloggs
Sponsor: HiByMember of the Trade: EFO Technologies Co, YanYin TechnologyHis Porta Corda walked the Green Mile
Well... if you can't buy a really high-end one, it's not worth buying one at all if you have a decent speaker amp in your house!
My previous headphone amp history:
Porta Corda--not satisfied because of volume pot mistracking (I'm just unlucky though, I suppose; I'm the only one complaining about such a problem)
ASL MG-Head, SR-Head--got these on loan, but will have to return them coz I don't have money to buy them
Enter the Onkyo CR-305X minisystem...
I got the bright idea of buying a minisystem to upgrade both my source (discman before) and amp. With the mantra of 'headphone = 10x speaker value' in mind, I auditioned systems mostly with a mind to find something that can drive my headphones better. Well, it's just coincidence that my brother helped me find one that sounds pretty good with speakers
(<--no headphones)
Then I set about to build the Grado headphone adapter. Abandoned that and just made the Impeder(tm) because my DIY skills are just too horrible
Well, the Impeder is now in my system and the Onkyo headphone out->impeder | headphones sounds mighty nice.
It could be the best solid state headphone amp I've ever heard
I may do listening tests against the Porta Corda and SR-Head later (but I'm lazy--all I can say is that with the sound I'm hearing now, I feel like I can't be bothered to take out those amps anymore
)
To those who don't yet own a headphone amp: build an impeder and see how your receiver / speaker amp / whatever drives your headphones! Even if the speaker amps in your house are too noisy to sound good with headphones, you can get a new receiver / minisystem that sounds better with headphones than many headphone amps at the same price by auditioning with headphones!
I can see how one would want a headphone amp to improve portable sound but if you're just looking to improve the sound at home, you may not need a headphone amp at all!
My previous headphone amp history:
Porta Corda--not satisfied because of volume pot mistracking (I'm just unlucky though, I suppose; I'm the only one complaining about such a problem)
ASL MG-Head, SR-Head--got these on loan, but will have to return them coz I don't have money to buy them
Enter the Onkyo CR-305X minisystem...
I got the bright idea of buying a minisystem to upgrade both my source (discman before) and amp. With the mantra of 'headphone = 10x speaker value' in mind, I auditioned systems mostly with a mind to find something that can drive my headphones better. Well, it's just coincidence that my brother helped me find one that sounds pretty good with speakers
Then I set about to build the Grado headphone adapter. Abandoned that and just made the Impeder(tm) because my DIY skills are just too horrible
To those who don't yet own a headphone amp: build an impeder and see how your receiver / speaker amp / whatever drives your headphones! Even if the speaker amps in your house are too noisy to sound good with headphones, you can get a new receiver / minisystem that sounds better with headphones than many headphone amps at the same price by auditioning with headphones!
I can see how one would want a headphone amp to improve portable sound but if you're just looking to improve the sound at home, you may not need a headphone amp at all!
