[WiR3D]

wow @[size=12.800000190734863px]AppleheadMay [/size]thanks for that, with that and the recent discussion with songmic I have a fair amount of work ahead of me rewriting the first post (not completely of course)
 
You have just helped a lot of people out. And I greatly appreciate your contribution.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Glad I can help.
 
Hopefully someone with a HP-A8C and abit of sxperience with some of my amps will chime in and tell me where the HP-A8C's amp part fits in. Probably won't be a Zana by far but having heard what the little HP-P1 can do it might be stunning as well.
 
Deciding between the HP-A8C and a NA-11S1/Zana combo is the only head-fi related doubt still on my mind. Big price difference though and I can't keep the HP-A8C as a dac should I get the Zana since I need the dac to feed a speaker amp as well and the Fostex only has 1 output, sadly.
So if I get the Fostex it would be my only headphone amp and feed the speaker amp.

 

[songmic]

Quote:

Glad I can help.
 
Hopefully someone with a HP-A8C and abit of sxperience with some of my amps will chime in and tell me where the HP-A8C's amp part fits in. Probably won't be a Zana by far but having heard what the little HP-P1 can do it might be stunning as well.
 
Deciding between the HP-A8C and a NA-11S1/Zana combo is the only head-fi related doubt still on my mind. Big price difference though and I can't keep the HP-A8C as a dac should I get the Zana since I need the dac to feed a speaker amp as well and the Fostex only has 1 output, sadly.
So if I get the Fostex it would be my only headphone amp and feed the speaker amp.

 
People in the TH900 thread have also reported Zana Deux SE as one of the best tube amps for the TH900. I was surprised to learn that an OTL can have an output impedance of only 3 ohms. Yet it is said to sound like the ideal solid-state amp. I wonder what kind of magic Craig has put into that piece of work.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Yep, and if you look on Craig's site the Zana's output impedance is actually rated lower than that of his other amps.
Just wanted to mention that since I had some recommendations in the past to choose a BA over a Zana for sensitive cans.
From what I could gather from Craig there will be a real difference in sound between the OTL Zana and the TC BA though, so I (for me) would be hesitant to buy a BA for the kind of cans I like.
I guess the BA would sound more like the HP4 than the Zana. Guesswork though ...
 
Don't know if it's magic but the man sure knows what he's doing.

 

[Prava]

Nice thread you have here, I'll try to compare the Matrix Stage vs Objective 2 I have in here with my D2000 although I'm not sure I will be able to succed at it while doing the tests myself.
 
Its worth a shot, methinks 

 

[WiR3D]

Keep the conversation going. This is Awesum. And I had thought I had settled on the audio GD master 8. Damn. I was looking forward to using it as a pre too

 

[AppleheadMay]

If anybody here heard the HP-A8, feel free to shout it out as well.
This is an interesting thread indeed!

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

If anybody here heard the HP-A8, feel free to shout it out as well.
This is an interesting thread indeed!

Will need some frequenters of the Summit-fi thread

 

[grokit]

I have an XCANS/XPSU amp hooked up to a Bel Canto DAC2 and it sounds very good with the HD650, just the way I planned. It sounded good with the HD600 but a bit sharp up top. I like the HD650 more than ever with this setup though, and I thought it was the sweet spot for this amp.

Then I hooked up my refurb D7000 that I just got in, and wow. Huge step up. I didn't expect the D7K to match up so well with the XCAN, but it does. Even though the D7K is ~ twice as much $ as the 650, the difference in sound quality goes way past normal diminishing returns. Highly recommended combo!

 

[Man7rah]

Quote:

Then I hooked up my refurb D7000 that I just got in, and wow. Huge step up. I didn't expect the D7K to match up so well with the XCAN, but it does. Even though the D7K is ~ twice as much $ as the 650, the difference in sound quality goes way past normal diminishing returns. Highly recommended combo!

By refurbished you mean just restored to about new condition right? no modifications?

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

I have an XCANS/XPSU amp hooked up to a Bel Canto DAC2 and it sounds very good with the HD650, just the way I planned. It sounded good with the HD600 but a bit sharp up top. I like the HD650 more than ever with this setup though, and I thought it was the sweet spot for this amp.
Then I hooked up my refurb D7000 that I just got in, and wow. Huge step up. I didn't expect the D7K to match up so well with the XCAN, but it does. Even though the D7K is ~ twice as much $ as the 650, the difference in sound quality goes way past normal diminishing returns. Highly recommended combo!

Thanks for the feedback - It was a combo that is already listed, and its good to have actual feedback here. 
 
I suspect the clean high current delivery of the XCANS is the big deciding factor.
 
 
On a side note I still haven't written the first page over - having spent my birthday weekend drunk

 

[AppleheadMay]

On a side note I still haven't written the first page over - having spent my birthday weekend drunk

Biggest sq improvement you can make in your system!

Happy birthday!

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

Biggest sq improvement you can make in your system!
Happy birthday!

Thanks!

 

[preproman]

Oh - Happy B-day man...

 

[haejuk]

I just wanted to pop back in and add that there was another thread (a very very old thread) about amp recommendations for Denons and a couple of the most mentioned amps in the thread were Xcan v8 and KICAS non-caliente.  I don't think these are available new, but perhaps someone has heard them and has some impressions?  As a caveat for anyone who is looking for used ones based only on this post right here, that thread also mentioned Little Dot I+ quite a bit, which I can say isn't a great match.  So if anyone has impressions of Xcan v8 or KICAS non-caliente I think it would be a great addition to this already amazing thread thread.  This is for sure the best thread for those looking for an amp for their Denons.