[neueziel]

Hi today I got a Chaintech AV710 and installed it under Mr. Radar's guide and it works great. I use high sampling mode and everything. The problem is that on some music tracks when the drums and cymbals start getting heavy the sound seems to "crash" in together. Does this mean that my headphones aren't getting enough power to handle all that sound? I"m using Sennheiser 497's and will be getting A500's soon. Thanks

 

[commando]

I don't know quite what you mean by crash together... but I found my A900s definitely benefited from an amp when i'm using the 710.

 

[Mr.Radar]

The high quality output on the AV-710 is incapable of driving headphones properly because it's just a line-out. Some very easy to drive headphones (like the Koss ProtaPro) are fine, but most require some form of amplification. If you have a spare receiver/stereo somewhere with a headphone jack and line-in you could use that or you could buy a headphone amp.

 

[neueziel]

Thanks for the reply guys and thanks for hurting my wallets again. So what amps under $100 would you reccomend? I would like something that I can use with my A500's and in the future AKG K501's. Thanks

 

[commando]

Can you get amps for less than $100? My Pimeta cost more than that, and my PPA cost way more.

Quick search of the amplification for sale forum brought up this - sounds like it'd be a good, cheap amp. Or maybe this.

 

[Mr.Radar]

I'm no amp guru but you should look into a Headsave Go-Vibe with the 24v PSU.

 

[neueziel]

HOw about this:

PIMETA Portable (2 available) - $110.00


· Gray or blue translucent Serpac H-65 enclosure

· Kilo machined aluminum knob

· Analog Devices AD8610 (ground) / AD8620 (gain) op-amps

· BUF634 buffers (single ground, stacked gain)

· Current source to bias to Class A

· Panasonic EVJ series 50k ohm potentiometer

· Center mounted power LED

· Single 9v battery

Would that suit my needs for the A500's and AKG K501's? Thanks

 

[commando]

I have a pimeta (which i'm not using since I got the PPA), they're a good entry level amp. The PPA cost a fair bit more (maybe 650 with diamond buffer and dac), and it's advantages are slightly better bass response and an increase in clarity. Pimeta are good value.

 

[Mr.Radar]

The PIMETA is a very good amp (for the price of course). I reccomend that you do some searches on it to read some impressions/reviews.

 

[Illah]

Man...I paid less for my optical & coax receiver than you all paid for that headphone amp! Would using prodigy 7.1 flash > toslink > cheapish reciever > headphones do the trick? I could probably find a cheap receiver cheaper than a headphone amp

--Illah

 

[neueziel]

But dont receivers have insufficient power to the headphoen jack?

 

[dshea_32665]

Neueziel:

Those amps for $110 are from JMT's site and they are no longer available. You might double check with him. I bought a portable PIMETA from him about three weeks ago and asked if any of those were still available and they weren't. However, I had him build me one and I am very happy with it I must say. I have never listened to any other amps so I don't have anything to compare it to. But, the PIMETA gets good praise around here and if the maker is respected, I kind of adopt the philosophy that you get what you pay for. If a product didn't deliver for its price here, than the head-fi community would blast it. Or if there was a no brainer cheaper amp that was so much better than the price level above it, than people would be talking about it all the time. After reading these boards for awhile, you tend to get a sense of where amps at certain price ranges stand. Anyway, hope this helps.

Cheers,
dshea

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illah Man...I paid less for my optical & coax receiver than you all paid for that headphone amp! Would using prodigy 7.1 flash > toslink > cheapish reciever > headphones do the trick?

No. At least not as good quality as AV-710 High Quaity Output -> PIMETA/other dedicated headphone amp -> headphones would. In most receivers, the headphone jack is an afterthough in the design process, often just a 120 ohm resistor attached to the speaker amp (definately not optimal quality) while a dedicated headphone amp will be designed to specifically drive headphones (and therefore 100% of the devleopment time goes to the headphone section). Also, with a recevier that has more stuff and costs less than a headphone amp would definately be using lesser quality components than a dedicated headphone amp (which is generally a relatively simplistic circuit compared to a full receiver and therefore uses less components) of the same cost or higher. Also, with a receiver's digital input there is no guarantee that the DAC in the receiver is of decent quality (again, most cheap receivers were designed to work with cheap speakers that wouldn't be distinguishing enough to tell the difference between a cheap crap-DAC and a decent DAC, so they probably skimped on the DAC to save $.10/unit and lower the price).