John Massaria
Member of the Trade: JM Audio Editions/Headphone Modifications
I agree- the the dynamic driver Kennerton's in general are all ez to drive- and will reveal all the resolution of the dac/amp sound- but it doesnt present a hard to drive design at all... BUT wouldn't it be neat if we could use OTL amps with the ez to drive GH50 JM or Magni with a ohm converter "RESISTOR" plug in to up the ohms to maybe 300. It works very well and ez with Etymotic ER4P/S and ez to make on a plug adapter. I 100% agree the GH50 and Magni needs no special amp - ez to drive and would stress they are best when volume gradually turned up but no where near what most headphones need to come alive. Again- not ideal for OTL tubes, but could be with a ez mod resistor of say 300ohms.... have both worlds (ss and tube) with Kennerton adopting Etymotic idea of ohm resistor - just an idea...Hi to all.
Which amplifier to use with Kennerton Gjallarhorn JM Edition headphones?
I don't have the answer, but as in medicine, we can advance by elimination to establish a diagnosis: the examinations carried out make it possible to tell a patient that he does not have this or that pathology; as to know what the patient presents as pathology, well it's a whole different story; it is necessary to seek still ...by elimination.
All I can say with the Gjallarhorn GH 50 (and its JM Edition version) is that one should think before using a tube amplifier with a not very good signal-to-noise ratio.
To give you a concrete example: I have a priori a very good tube amp, a Viva 2A3, reputed to be silent (even a little more than its big brother the Viva 845) which however presents a little breath (hum) perceptible in the silence with an Odin mk2 (sensitivity 104 dB / 1 mW - 40 Ohms https://fischeraudio.store/products/42594891) and which becomes borderline audible (in the greatest silence) with the Thekk (sensitivity 100 db / 1 mW - 40 Ohms https://fischeraudio.store/products/43260838).
On the other hand, with the Magni V2 (sensitivity 112 dB / 1 mW - 33 Ohms https://fischeraudio.store/products/40838053) I have a much higher noise level (more than 10 dB higher) compared to my Thekk, which becomes clearly audible and annoying to hear (on my Viva 2A3 amp) as soon as there is the slightest silence in the music played.
So, with the Gjallarhorn reaching a record sensitivity of 118 dB / mW - 33 Ohms https://fischeraudio.store/products/jmm) in its JM Edition version, well you can imagine the extra noise compared to the Thekk (nearly 20 dB higher) , which is huge, and amha quite incompatible with listening on a tube amp, like mine.
This is perhaps (and even surely) the reason why I can't acquire such high sensitivity headphones, for sedentary use, with my tube amp Viva 2A3.
On the other hand, the Magni V2 works very well (without annoying breath) with my small Matrix M-Stage transistorized amp, which incidentally currently drive the Thror used by my son. But this "little" amp is not as qualitative as my Viva 2A3, far from it.
So, be careful when buying a headphone as sensitive as the Gjallarhorn, or the Magni; this main strength (high sensitivity) can also be a weakness, for some amplifications not very quiet, including the most prestigious ones.
(Note: the optimal sensitivity of headphones to be associated with the Viva 2A3 amp ranges from 90 to 100 dB / 1 mW (roughly speaking from the HE-1000 to the Thekk/Thror, maxi Odin/Utopia with its 104 dB sensitivity), it is important to know this, especially for sensitive ears and allergic to the background noise of the amplifiers).
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