[legion1capone]

I'm looking into making my next purchase and thought it would be helpful for others to have a list of fully balanced headphone amplifiers that are currently available. Some of these are DAC/amp combos but I'm looking at the amp sections only for this. So far I have found the following. Please add more in the same format if you know of more.

Schiit Jotunheim $399
Balanced Headphone Output:
Maximum Power, 16 ohms: 7500mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 5000mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 3000mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 900mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 600 ohms: 500mW RMS per channel

Monoprice Liquid Platinum $699
Output Power Balanced
33Ω 6.62 watts
56Ω 4.21 watts
150Ω 1.74 watts
300Ω 0.91 watts

Monoprice Desktop Headphone amplifier with THX AAA technology $479.99
Total Output Power Balanced (mW)
16Ω 1960
32Ω 3120
150Ω 1160
300Ω 580
600Ω 290

Massdrop Liquid Carbon X $379
Maximum power: Balanced 2.8W RMS into 50 ohms (no other power output specs given?)

Massdrop THX AAA 789 Linear amplifier $349.99
Balanced Output

• Output power: 6000 mW, 16 ohms, <1% THD (watts per channel)
• Output power: 6000 mW, 32 ohms, <1% THD (watts per channel)
• Output power: 800 mW, 300 ohms, <1% THD (watts per channel)
• Output power: 400 mW, 600 ohms, <1% THD (watts per channel)

Loxjie P20 fully balanced tube amplifier $99
Balanced headphones
32Ω: 425mW
64Ω: 665mW
150Ω: 565mW
300Ω: 325mW
600Ω: 175mW

Little Dot MKIII SE $439 on ebay ( pretty sure it was cheaper on massdrop when drop was active)

• Power output: 2.5W (32 ohms), 1.8W (120 ohms), 800 mW (300 ohms)

SMSL SAP-9 $94.49
Balanced output
32ohm: 373mW
64ohm: 342mW
150 ohm: 245 mW
300 ohm: 155 mW

SMSL SAP-10 $172.79
Balanced：
32 ohm 660mW
300ohm: 170mW

SMSL SH-8 $189.99 on ebay
Balanced output:
32 ohms / 655 mW
64 ohms / 835 mW
150 ohms / 717 mW
300 ohms / 400 mW
600 ohms / 205 mW

Topping DX7S $424.99
Output power:
1,000 mW x 2 at 32 ohms
546 mW x 2 at 300 ohms

Audio Gd NFB-1 amp $485
9900MW / 25 ohm
8000MW / 40 ohm
3500MW / 100 ohm
1200MW / 300 ohm
600MW / 600 ohm

 

[robert766]

Great idea to start this kind of thread, thanks!

Was reading up on the Massdrop THX AAA 789 Linear amplifier the other day and there was a discussion about it not being "fully balanced". Is this going to be a list of fully balanced amps or amps with balanced outputs? I wouldn't even know the difference from a technical point of view but I could see it being a big deal to people over here.

 

[legion1capone]

That was brought up the other day. I think I will have to do more research on each amp to find out if it's truly fully balanced vs just balanced output.

 

[Mr.Z]

I have a fully balanced dac and amp combo, but I don't personally feel much difference when I use the balanced output against single ended output...

 

[trellus]

I picked up the Loxjie P20 and it arrived today, sadly with the right tube dead. . Amazon will be taking care of me and sending me a replacement, though it seems like it would be cheaper for them to send me two new tubes instead.

 

[JohnIgel]

Chord and Questyle both offer several choices of fully balanced DAC/Amps.

 

[Deftone]

Chord and Questyle both offer several choices of fully balanced DAC/Amps.

Some Chord have balanced analog out but all headphone out is SE class A.

Questyle is fully balanced class A on the headphone output.

 

[Deftone]

Questyle CMA400i

418mW@300Ω; 1200mW@32Ω ( XLR balanced headphone jack)


Questyle CMA Twelve

825mW @ 300Ω; 2W @ 32Ω (XLR/4.4mm balanced headphone jack)

 

[Shane D]

I picked up the Loxjie P20 and it arrived today, sadly with the right tube dead. . Amazon will be taking care of me and sending me a replacement, though it seems like it would be cheaper for them to send me two new tubes instead.

To revive a dead thread, how did you make out with this?

Shane D

 

[Redcarmoose]

Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP

 

[trellus]

To revive a dead thread, how did you make out with this?

Shane D

Oh, Amazon was great! They immediately sent me a replacement even before I sent the broken one back. I do spend a lot without Amazon, so they really should take care of me.

 

[Shane D]

Oh, Amazon was great! They immediately sent me a replacement even before I sent the broken one back. I do spend a lot without Amazon, so they really should take care of me.

So, where is your review and/or comments?

Shane D

 

[Shane D]

Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC/AMP

I am sure it sounds good, but man you gotta have BIG bucks when you can drop 3K (in Canada) just for an amp. If you own this, I gotta ask what headphones do you own and which DAP, if you use one. That is ballin'!

Shane D

 

[Redcarmoose]

I am sure it sounds good, but man you gotta have BIG bucks when you can drop 3K (in Canada) just for an amp. If you own this, I gotta ask what headphones do you own and which DAP, if you use one. That is ballin'!

Shane D

Didn’t see a price limit. But your right being I just looked at the list so far. But........people have found used ones for 1K, though they sell fast.

I use either the 1A or 1Z with a cradle which does a style of USB filtering and an AudioQuest USB cable. As a source that surpasses CD toslink RCA from a CD transport spinning. I don’t know why the source this way is better, if it just that the amp has a bad RCA digital in or using the DAP is just miles better?

I actually use everything I own with it except the qdc Anole V3; which needs a slight treble boost to sound it’s best. To describe it t would be just really clear and fluid with a touch of warmth. The TA is actually not that popular here. I figure it’s because members want a separate DAC/amp. Not having to worry about loss of signal due to interconnection has it’s benifits I feel. It’s actually really simple to use.

 

[Shane D]

Didn’t see a price limit. But your right being I just looked at the list so far. But........people have found used ones for 1K, though they sell fast.

I use either the 1A or 1Z with a cradle which does a style of USB filtering and an AudioQuest USB cable. As a source that surpasses CD toslink RCA from a CD transport spinning. I don’t know why the source this way is better, if it just that the amp has a bad RCA digital in or using the DAP is just miles better?

I actually use everything I own with it except the qdc Anole V3; which needs a slight treble boost to sound it’s best. To describe it t would be just really clear and fluid with a touch of warmth. The TA is actually not that popular here. I figure it’s because members want a separate DAC/amp. Not having to worry about loss of signal due to interconnection has it’s benifits I feel. It’s actually really simple to use.

Do you have pics of your set-up? So, you are using a Sony DAP? And it has Line Out? I am using a ZX300 and was told it has no line out.

Shane D