[FinalAura]

Hello all. I'm fairly new here and new to audio as well. I've been learning a bit through hardforums, and this place gets recommended a lot in regards to audio.

Well basically, i've recently purchased a pair of JVC rx700's, which have been getting a lot of praise at hardforums for how good they are for the money. They do sound really nice to me, but from what i've read, some kind of amp could help make the sound better.

I use these headphones on my vista computer only, through an analog creative x-fi xtremegamer soundcard. I know its not the best, but its the only thing I can work with as I don't have a big budget for expensive equipment. I mainly play games and listen to 192+ bitrate mp3 songs and some flac songs as well. No movies.

For the amp, I can only probably spend about $75 shipped. I have a fiio e3 amp, and it very well with my setup, in my opinion, but i'd rather keep that with my first gen ipod mini. So, another amp i've read about was the ZERO DAC, but I just can't afford that and i'm iffy about the shipping from china (what if its doa) and the expense of shipping.

I've recently read about cmoy amps with Opamp 2227 and was wondering if these are any good for my headphones on my computer setup. Would it a good increase in audio quality to get one of these, or is my x-fi good enough as it is? Also, on ebay, there are a bunch of cmoy's, and some say they use higher quality parts than others, but still use the same opamp, and they cost a lot more. So i'm not sure which I should get if I were to get one. For example
bsg (more expensive, says he uses higher quality stuff)
Biosciencegeek Headphone Amplifier cMOY Premium Amp - eBay (item 140277309074 end time Oct-31-08 12:44:00 PDT)

vs

juice

Micro Cmoy headphone amp - Opamp2227 - Altoids tin - eBay (item 260304304902 end time Oct-26-08 15:29:26 PDT)

Is there something better than the cmoy that fits my budget of $75?

Sorry for the long post. I just want to make sure I know what i'm getting.

Thanks a lot.

edit... I didn't know if I should post this in the portable amp or here... but If I posted in the wrong section, i'm sorry... Please move if needed. Noobie mistake.

 

[Moontan13]

Is there something better than the cmoy that fits my budget of $75?

If you don't need the amp to be portable, you could use an old reciever or integrated amp. I presently have a Kenwood amp hooked up with a Realistic 10 band EQ for my RX900s. I have a lot of stray audio componenets, (garage sale OCD), and I've been checking them all out as headphone amps. Long story short: Try as many amps as you can with the phones you'll be using.

 

[Zathan]

I will most likely get the Fiio E5 but I'm in the boat too. I'm about to purchase a pair of JVC RX900

 

[FinalAura]

Yeah, I would like to get an e5 as well , for the rechargeable battery.

I think a receiver is much too big for my desk... I had an old onkyo from 1999 or so, but it doesn't work anymore...