[xguntherc]

Hey everyone. I have a pair of AD900'e on the way. And I've heard they do great without an amp, but I'm sure an amp would help. I don't really know what I want or anything. But it will be my first headphone amp, other than the tiny portable PA2v2 I have now.

I really want to build a SSMH Amp. But they are out of kits til later date

can anyone recommend me a good "starter" amp for my cans, I might use it with my TF10 Custom Monitors also. I don't wanna spend to much on my First amp. So lower end recommendations will be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Shark50521]

this is also relevant to my interests.....BUMP

 

[dweaver]

I can't say what to buy but will give pointers on what I think you might want to avoid.

The AD900 is a bright headphone with alot of detail in the upper midrange and treble. My personal experience shows that these phones don't do well with a colder/neutral amp that is analytical as that amp over emphasizes what the headphones do naturally. I have a headphone (see my signature) that is very analytical and I found it was a bad fit with my AD900 when I had them as it made them very sharp taking away their musical nature. At the same time I have an Auzentech Forte 7.1 soundcrad that has a headphone quality amp built in that made the AD900 sound very nice since the amp was warmer sounding. On the flip my RWAudio1 amp is absolute bliss with my HD600 since it's analytical side sharpens and brightens the warm laid back nature of the HD600.

So to sum up, go warmer laid back to balance the AD900 natural tendancies.

One last thing you might want to get an amp with a gain switch, the AD900 have very low ohm's and I found with my amp there was a small but distinct and annoying buzz from them. The other option if your amp causes this and you do not have a gain switch is something to regulate the impedance (I think Shure makes something that works for this). Sorry for not giving more technical terms and details, I am not the best about this stuff technically.

 

[t3hggnore]

^ agree. I recently placed an order for the EF2 ($200 USD), has somewhat of a following on head-fi. Hopefully this will cure my upgradeitis for a while. Ideally, the EF2's euphonic presentation will offset the thin sound I perceive from onboard sound. If only the accursed thing will ship on time....

noob question: does the AD900, fully scaled, not sound as good as headphones of comparable price? If it sounds so great without a dedicated amp...there must be a tradeoff.

 

[Helmore]

First a disclaimer about my experience. To put it simply, I have pretty much no experience with amps, DACs and headphones. I do have the AD900 and an Auzentech X-Fi Forte for what it's worth.

My guess is that most people would put more priority on their source than on the headphone if they plan to use the setup with an easy to drive headphone. I don't know exactly what source you are currently using (what specific soundcard) but I suggest to consider taking either a better source or a nice amp. From what I gathered thus far I think most people would tell you to get a better DAC as that will give you a bigger increase in sound quality than a better amp in your case.

I'm not speaking from experience (yet), this is just my suggestion and thus take my comment with a small grain of salt.

 

[francisdemarte]

I've used an Aune dac/amp with AT headphones (AD700's and W1000) and I've been more than happy.

I've haven't head it, but there's also the new ~$100 Nuforce uDac that has a top of the line Sabre DAC chip and should be able to drive the AD900.