[cifani090]

I am looking at two headphone amps, and do you rather have a transparent headphone amp or a warm headphone amp.

 

[oqvist]

Depends on the rest of your system... If you find your headphones bright you maybe want something warm to get it transparent
 
Neutral amps tend to be better allrounders since there is less chance they will break a headphone by it´s own colouration. Heed Canamp is a good example of that for me. Finicky about what headphones that worked on it. More neutral amps like Auditor, GHP works with just about everything.
 

 

[baka1969]

Hi,

The short answer is I'd rather have a transparent amp. The long answer is it will depend on your personal preference.

Me personally, I want as balanced, neutral and transparent a setup as possible within my budget.

There are so many ways to put together a setup it's almost infinite. With the source, DAC, amp, headphones and to some degree the cables all having a part in the sound. In my opinion, if you have a transparent (and versatile) amp, you can have different headphones to give you differing perspectives. If you have a warm amp, not matter what headphones you have there will always have a slight coloration.

If you plan on only having one amp, source, and headphone, you have to carefully select the pieces that match your liking.

Just my thoughts offered with a grain of sand. .

 

[hodgjy]

In my opinion, there's no universal "better", "worse", "best", etc, because it all comes down to individual preference.  Find the sound that you like and forget about what everyone else says.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Simply buy both. 

 
I'd probably have picked neutral if I had never listened to directly heated triodes.  They're my favorites.  Even though there's a little warmth added, there's something very natural about their presentation.

 

[krmathis]

I would go for a transparent amplifier.
Although a bit of both may not hurt, all depending on what it is meant to be paired up with.

 

[kingtz]

Personally, I would prefer colored tube amps as I have managed to finally completely wean myself off EQing.

 

[Happy Camper]

Find a transparent amp that lets you color it based on your tube selection.

 

[Caesar2010]

Quote:

I am looking at two headphone amps, and do you rather have a transparent headphone amp or a warm headphone amp.

 
Too much transparency could be a dangerous thing.  The best analogy I have heard regarding transparency is that it is like reading a book with a 1000 Watt flood light.  You notice every detail about the paper, the typeface, the bindings of the book, etc.  The problem is that you get distracted by the details and miss the musical whole, at best.  At worst, you will suffer from fatigue.  I recently auditioned the $20K Ayre monoblocks in my 2 channel system, which were Product of the Year a  couple of years ago.  Although they were sublime on great recordings, I rejected them because I was distracted by all of the details.   If you go for warmth, however, a poor design can give you the opposite.
 
As suggested, you need to audition both amps and figure out what you like.  Actually, you may like something in the middle.

 

[Shahrose]

Transparency is one of the key attributes I consider in assessing a product. It's a quality that allows one to spot and address weak links in an audio chain.

 

[nikongod]

Why cant an amp be both?
 
I interpret "transparent" as letting information through, the opposite being somewhere between veiled and simply dull.  
 
Warmth is TOTALLY different. 
 
Can you tell the difference between 2 different sources or minute amounts of EQ: yes - its transparent. no - its crap.
 
Is it warm? maybe.

 

[JohnBal]

Quote:

Why cant an amp be both?
 
I interpret "transparent" as letting information through, the opposite being somewhere between veiled and simply dull.  
 
Warmth is TOTALLY different. 
 
Can you tell the difference between 2 different sources or minute amounts of EQ: yes - its transparent. no - its crap.
 
Is it warm? maybe.

+1 

 

[FallenAngel]

I generally like something more visible, perhaps a translucent or leaning more on the smoky side of it, perhaps even nearly opaque.

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Transparency IMO is another word for (apparent) resolution...it has no relation to voicing per se although the amp's tendency to be warm or cold will influence apparent transparency. Resolution is detail....the best amps have all of the source material detail in it's proper context. What I mean by that is simply this...take an instrument (doesn't matter which one) and find a faithful recording of that instrument (that you know ape's the live sound of it pretty well)...playback that recording and judge the amp on it's ability to let through all of the detail you know is there on the ref recording...How well the amp reveals the resolution will give you a pretty accurate idea of it's transparency. All of the above assumes your source is already letting everything through without additions or subtractions.
 
To answer the OP's question...yes I believe transparency is a very desirable trait (from your amps, speakers, headphones...the whole system).
 
Peete.

 

[Ypoknons]

I agree with Peete, but I feel that brighter equipment in general has been called transparent because it better reveals details in the highs by some members.