[dishkyun]

Wonder how it will sound with MS1i. Any comments?!

 

[Blackmore]

Not sure, but if you take a look it says 300-600 Ohm, which MS1 arent.

 

[dishkyun]

Thanks man. Sorry I'm rather new to this headphone scene

Do you mean that the Relyon KT88 is not good to drive the MS1i?

Ideally I'm greedy enough to ask for an all-in-one USB DAC-Tube-Headphone-Amp. Have so far considered -

a) Beresford Caiman
b) Audio GD Compass
c) LD MK IV SE
d) Relyon KT88
d) WA6 with upgrades
e) Peachtree Nova

If I have a flexible enough budget, what amps do you advice me?

TIA

 

[UglyJoe]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/kt8...be-amp-374543/

Doesn't sound good

 

[moodyrn]

I would stay away from this. This was my first headphone amp, and I made the big mistake choosing this over a few others because it was cheaper at the time, and it looked good. This thing hums with any headphone you throw at it(both low and high impedance), didn't sound much better than my portable, had to turn it almost all the way up just to drive some 300ohm cans, and it died on me after a year. I remember reading that others who tried this a few years ago having some of the same issues. These amps have been around for a while, and there's a reason you don't hear much about theme around headfi. On top of all of that, it's much more expensive than it was a few years ago. I think I got mine for a little over 200.00 shipped, and believe me, that was way too much.

 

[dishkyun]

I was checking various headphones specifications and see that in Alessando MS1i and Grado RS1i, they mention the impedence as Normal Impedence - 32 Ω. Where as in Sennheiser HD650 its mentioned as Nominal Inpedence - 300 Ω.

What is the difference between Normal Vs. Nominal?!

Anyone can share their views please?

 

[Blackmore]

If you are serious about upgrading your headphones later, say MS2, MSPRO or other high end, then get Woo amp, however there is no USB option, which you can get buying HiFiMan amp, check up here http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rev...sb-dac-433150/

I am not familiar with this amp you are asking about, but it is better to go with low impedance capable one than high one only. MS1i are 32Ohm, so, basically you will be quite good with some portable amp, say GoVibe Petite with DAC. But if you have more funds, get yourself Magnum or Vulcan, check up here with search option, sure you can find lots of info. Here is the link where you can get them Uncle Wilson's Superstore - Where you can find your sound

Like I wrote, if you are not thinking to buy some high end headphones, just go and buy some nice portable one, which also can be used with your PC based system.

 

[dishkyun]

Thanks guys. Really appreciate the inputs.

@moodryn
I did check out your Mingda amp. Find it beautiful - a noobs take ofcourse. I wonder how it would sound with MS1i.

@blackmore
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely check them out. Infact I was toying around with the idea of iBasso D10 a while back.

Kind regards.

 

[moodyrn]

The ming da is a beautiful sounding(and looking) amp. In fact, as beautiful as it looks, it sounds even better. In my opinion, compared to all of the more expensive amps I've heard, it's the best value you can find for an amp. It compares favorably to a lot of amps up to and in some cases exceeding 1000.00. But on the downsides, it's recommended for high impedance phones. It hums a little bit with low impedance phones. You don't hear it while the music is playing, but it's still there. One solution to that is to use an impedance adapter. You can get them for less than 20.00 on ebay. I use one with my 40ohm ad1000s, and it works perfectly. There's no hum whatsoever. So eventhough it's a remarkable amp for the money, there are some drawbacks.

 

[928GTS]

I have the version of this amp that uses the 6P13P power tube. I've had it for 3 years and it sounds fantastic with my low ohmage MDR V6's. I've replaced the 6P13P power tubes for Soviet 6P13S power tubes and the 6J8P driver tubes for JAN 6SJ7GT tubes and the increase in sound quality is very substantial.