Has anyone compared pro headphone amps to domestic amps?
Jun 6, 2007 at 10:44 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 6

RatFarm

100+ Head-Fier
Joined
May 12, 2007
Posts
232
Likes
87
Just asking because of my experience with pro vs 'audiophile' power amps. I have owned in the past amps from Krell, Counterpoint, Aragon, Adcom, Classe to name most of them. As an experiment I purchased a Crown XTi2000 DSP professional amp (325w/ch 8ohm) for a fraction of what I paid for the others (except the Adcom) and it truly is the best amp of them all. Super dynamic, extremely quiet, very detailed and oh so powerful. You should hear the bass!
I am wondering if there is an equivalent in the headphone amp world. Sampson looks like they have a nice 2 channel unit and there are quite a few others on Ebay. Anyone try pro head amps?
 
Jun 6, 2007 at 3:01 PM Post #2 of 6
I don't think pro headphone amplifier is a crowded product category, many pieces of pro equipment that would be typically used with headphones will have a headphone output

DAC/Amp combos are popular

try the Search function - Grace, Benchmark, Presonus are names that should
get you started
 
Jun 6, 2007 at 10:31 PM Post #3 of 6
I own a Sound Devices headphone amp, which is a pro amp. It is built in a chassis that could be run over by a semi and suffer no damage. It will drive 3 headphones to ear-splitting levels, and sounds good. It does not have the refinement of my more expensive home amps, but it's a lot of amp for $300.
 
Jun 8, 2007 at 7:17 PM Post #4 of 6
Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I own a Sound Devices headphone amp, which is a pro amp. It is built in a chassis that could be run over by a semi and suffer no damage. It will drive 3 headphones to ear-splitting levels, and sounds good. It does not have the refinement of my more expensive home amps, but it's a lot of amp for $300.


Yeah, I've been thinking of picking up an HX-3 to drive my phones. I just bought a pair of HD580s and have been using HD540s for a long time. I really like the Sound Devices gear. I use their MixPre 2 channel field mixer, both in the studio and on remote recordings and it has a clean, loud headphone amp probably very much like the circuit on the HX-3. The MixPre is built on the same chassis as the HX-3 and basically looks and feels like it's built to military specs. It's not quite so convenient as a general purpose headphone amp, however, and works best when using the MixPre and monitoring live while recording with the preamps. The HX-3 will be very handy since it works just the same on AA batteries as on the AC adapter.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Jun 8, 2007 at 9:15 PM Post #5 of 6
No doubt, the HX3 is a very nice product, as is all Sound Devices gear. It's a very cool company. They care a lot about sound quality.
 
Jun 9, 2007 at 12:46 PM Post #6 of 6
Quote:

Originally Posted by RatFarm /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Just asking because of my experience with pro vs 'audiophile' power amps. I have owned in the past amps from Krell, Counterpoint, Aragon, Adcom, Classe to name most of them. As an experiment I purchased a Crown XTi2000 DSP professional amp (325w/ch 8ohm) for a fraction of what I paid for the others (except the Adcom) and it truly is the best amp of them all. Super dynamic, extremely quiet, very detailed and oh so powerful. You should hear the bass!
I am wondering if there is an equivalent in the headphone amp world. Sampson looks like they have a nice 2 channel unit and there are quite a few others on Ebay. Anyone try pro head amps?



Rane and Furman both make good, solid headphone distribution amps that see a fair amount of use, too.

Crown does make good power amps. I still have a pair of Hafler amps I made from kits back in the early 1980s and they are killer amps, too. The Hafler was sold as a budget audiophile amp, however, not a pro amp.

Cheers,

Otto
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top