[Brent Hutto]

I'm getting my first good headphone, a used Sennheiser HD595. In all likelihood it will sound great from the stout little headphone jack of my old Adcom CD player. It may even work OK out of my iPod Mini, although it has famously puny headphone driver performance. So I really ought to use a separate amplifier. Depending on how I like the HD595 I may be trying a Beyer DT880 and/or an AKG K271/A501 in the future (nice thing about used stuff is you can afford to try something different until you find "the one"). Any of those would be tougher to drive and higher impedence than my 50-ohm '595.

Ideally, I've love to find a $100 amp that improves the sound of the headphone with the CD player in everyday use and is transportable enough (runs off batteries) to be used elsewhere with the iPod occasionally. That is a pretty tough order for $100. I've read up on the little PAV2 (runs off 3V) and the Shellbrook Mini Head (9V) which seem to be the best options at those two extremes of voltage and complexity in the under-$100 range.

The next step up in price would be just about my limit right now. For between $100 and $200 I like the looks of the Portaphile V2 and the Shellbrook Maxi Moy. In particular, I think the Maxi Moy could be optioned up to do a good job with a forward-ish headphone combined with the bright-sounding source material that makes up most of my daily listening (see list below). I really prefer an amp that uses at least 9V if not 15V for its power supply (in case I end up with 300-ohm 'phones) and that has a buffered output rather than a straight op-amp.

The really interesting options start at about $300 (maybe a little less used) with things like the Gilmore Lite, Shellbrook Ascent and especially the AE-1 portable with Lithium-Ion internal battery. For now, though, those are off the table.

I finish with a list of sample tracks that I'd consider to offer a fair test suite for my own listening. Mostly I like bluegrass and singer/songwriter stuff with a fair bit of 80's and 90's pop music mixed in. Not often do I listen to classical but when I do it's usually chamber or solo instrumental music (seldom symphonic, never every Opera). My sound preferences are bright over dark, detailed over "musical" and the three biggest no-no's are a bloated or boomy upper bass and lower midrange, harshness or roughness in the upper end and a midrange that gets drowned out by bass or treble. So what does that imply amp-wise?

GOOD TEST TRACKS FROM CD'S I OWN

Nashville Bluegrass Band
Sittin' on Top of the World
"Twenty Year Blues"

Alison Krauss and Union Station
Heartstrings
"Every Time You Say Goodbye"

Niamh Parsons
The Rigs of Rye
"Heart's Desire"

Iris Dement
Our Town
"Infamous Angel"

Andy Leftwich
Minor Swing
"Ride"

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
One-way Track
"History of the Future"

The Fairfield Four
Lonesome Valley
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)

Kim Kashkashian and Robert Levin
Sonata nr. 1 in F-minor Allegretto grazioso
Johannes Brahms Sonaten fur Viola und Klavier

Dire Straits
Romeo & Juliet
"Making Movies"

R.E.M.
Man on the Moon
"Automatic for the People"

 

[TheSloth]

Glad you're looking forward to my 595's!

They will indeed sound reasonable straight out of your iPod mini - surprisingly so.

I used them with a Total Bithead, and with a 2003 Headroom Supreme. Oddly, I preferred the bithead with the 595's, though there is a slightly audible hiss due to the relatively low impdence. I find the headroom crossfeed to be especially satisfying with this headphone, possibly to do with the synergy between the crossfeed circuit and the angled driver placement of the headphone?

You may well want to look into a used amp, as you'll certainly get a better amp for your money.

 

[fr4c]

try the Headsave Go-Vibe.

 

[Brent Hutto]

You betcha! If something suitably $300-ish shows up used for $150-ish I'll be all over it. There was briefly a Gilmore Lite on the market today although a) it was still a little over budget, b) it needs mains power and c) there are mixed reviews about just how well it compliments the HD595, perhaps being more ideal for the HD600-ish 'phones. Still, the Gilmore equipment has an enviable reputation around here.

At any rate, all sorts of stuff seems to come and go in the For Sale forums. Maybe I'll get one of those Millets and warm things up a bit

 

[afobisme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth Glad you're looking forward to my 595's! They will indeed sound reasonable straight out of your iPod mini - surprisingly so. I used them with a Total Bithead, and with a 2003 Headroom Supreme. Oddly, I preferred the bithead with the 595's, though there is a slightly audible hiss due to the relatively low impdence. I find the headroom crossfeed to be especially satisfying with this headphone, possibly to do with the synergy between the crossfeed circuit and the angled driver placement of the headphone? You may well want to look into a used amp, as you'll certainly get a better amp for your money.

hm, how's the bithead amp? i've been thinking about getting that... but $200 is a lot. then again it works as a soundcard too, right? then i wouldn't need my audigy pcmcia card? in that case, i could sell the card for $80 and the cmoy amp i've bought for $40... that would be $200 - $120

 

[Brent Hutto]

I had looked into the Go-Vibe as an under-$100 option but I think the Gary's PAV2 is a smaller, cheaper and simpler alternative whereas Drew's Mini Head (I believe it used to be called Mini Moy) is a better amp for about the same cost and size.

In general, I believe a headphone amp should have more than 3V of power supply (9V-18V seems ideal) and should have some sort of buffering between the op-amp and the headphone. Now if I want something really tiny and convenient and inexpensive (like the PAV2) it's tempting to get by with 3V and no buffers. But in the 9V, $100 range since that the Shellbrook is a buffered design it would get my vote for a better amp for a wide range of headphones.

Soapbox mode on. Now before any true believers get offended, note that I'm not saying that all buffered amps sound better than all unbuffered ones. Nor am I saying that a higher voltage battery automatically leads to better sound. However, given that I've never heard any of these amps it makes sense to start with the ones whose designs are better according to first principles. If you show me an amp with an extremely basic, unbuffered design with a single op-amp IC capacitively coupled to the headphone that sounds good that's great. It means someone did a great job building and tuning it. But if someone does an equally great job building and tuning a CMoy or PIMETA design, it's also going to sound good and will have the advantage of driving tougher loads and being more tunable for a specific sound signature. Soapbox mode off.

 

[TheSloth]

The Total Bithead is, as expected, a compromise. For the money, it has a lot of features. It works as a USB sound card, can take power from USB, while also running as a full featured and very small headphone amp with crossfeed. I'm sure there is better sound for the money, but there are many cases (including mine up until very recently) where it's unique blend of features is it's most attractive point. And don't get me wrong, the sound is good - it's just not top of the pile at that price point.

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto I had looked into the Go-Vibe as an under-$100 option but I think the Gary's PAV2 is a smaller, cheaper and simpler alternative whereas Drew's Mini Head (I believe it used to be called Mini Moy) is a better amp for about the same cost and size. In general, I believe a headphone amp should have more than 3V of power supply (9V-18V seems ideal) and should have some sort of buffering between the op-amp and the headphone. Now if I want something really tiny and convenient and inexpensive (like the PAV2) it's tempting to get by with 3V and no buffers. But in the 9V, $100 range since that the Shellbrook is a buffered design it would get my vote for a better amp for a wide range of headphones. Soapbox mode on. Now before any true believers get offended, note that I'm not saying that all buffered amps sound better than all unbuffered ones. Nor am I saying that a higher voltage battery automatically leads to better sound. However, given that I've never heard any of these amps it makes sense to start with the ones whose designs are better according to first principles. If you show me an amp with an extremely basic, unbuffered design with a single op-amp IC capacitively coupled to the headphone that sounds good that's great. It means someone did a great job building and tuning it. But if someone does an equally great job building and tuning a CMoy or PIMETA design, it's also going to sound good and will have the advantage of driving tougher loads and being more tunable for a specific sound signature. Soapbox mode off.

You will love the PAV2, it sounds great, it is cheap, and the batteries last a long time.

 

[Jeff E]

I suggest a former flavor of the month, the Perreaux SXH. It is a nonportable amp, to be sure, but so is the Gilmore Lite that you are considering. Anyhow, I use the HD595/SXH combo as my office rig. In fact, I am using it with a line out from my iPod right now. In my opinion, the SXH plays nicely with the Senns. The "soft" sound character of the Perreaux compliments the Senn's treble characteristics (edginess?). I really like that combo much better than the 595 when paired with my Gilmore V2 (too fatiguing). I am curious to learn what others think about the Gilmore Lite/595 pairing.

Since it has been replaced in the Perreaux line by the SXH2, and has fallen out of favor here, the SXH occasionally comes up on the for sale forum for $175 -200 used, a substantial drop from its list price of $600. In my opinion, this offers a very good deal for 595 owners.

Disclaimer: I would prefer to think of myself as a music lover rather than an audiophile.

 

[Brent Hutto]

Thanks, Jeff, for the Perreaux pointer. That's one to watch for that I wouldn't have necessarily noticed if it came up on the For Sale forum. Back in the day a guy whose opinion I trusted really liked some of their stuff (if that's the same outfit that was around in the 80's). He was a bit of a tube-head so that probably makes sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff E Disclaimer: I would prefer to think of myself as a music lover rather than an audiophile.

Tell me about it. It took me 20 years to "recover" so to speak from my high-end stereo habit. At some point I got tired of listening to the same passage over and over hoping to pick out the flaws in a $10,000 stereo playing a pristine $40 vinyl album. That kind of nit-picking ear is a surprisingly persistent thing to unlearn but I can now enjoy a great song through the stock FM radio in my Accord even if it "sounds like crap".

I've kind of dropped it for a couple years but taking lessons to learn to play the viola is a good antidote. Feeling that music in your collarbone, hearing the sound leave, bounce off the walls and come back and smelling that combination of rosin, wood, varnish and sweat is such a complete experience that it puts an amazing hifi listening session in perspective. A fiddle smells better than solder any day.

 

[TheSloth]

Sorry for the off topic, but cudos to you for learning the viola! What made you choose that rather than it's more obvious little sister?

 

[Brent Hutto]

To be honest, in my first go-around I pretty much failed to learn the viola. I took two years of lessons, didn't really practice very hard and when a couple of life-event distractions intervened I used that as an excuse to stop trying at all. So it's been two years now since I've tried to play at all.

However, I've been taking it out of the case and scratching around a bit lately and I think it's time to make a better run at it. It's probably just a matter of setting aside a little time each day to practice no matter what (rather than "whenever I feel like it", you know?).

I chose to learn viola because of the sound. I had messed around a bit with a steel-stringed fiddle but when it was time to pick an instrument it was either viola or cello. The upper registers of the cello and the entire range of the viola are just magical sounding to me. When I was taking lessons, occasionally my teacher would play this or that piece for me (stuff way beyond what I was studying, I mean) and it was an honest-to-goodness out of body experience. We're talking moments of seeing, smelling and almost tasting little snippets of sensation that were really nothing to do with the sound per se.

I went to a student recital once (senior performance for an undergrad viola major) and the piece was...memory fails...something like "Elegy" or "Requium" written after the first world war by a famous English composer. I generally hate 20th-centure classical music but this viola piece was a very intense experience. There's some hard-wiring from the viola's sound to somewhere inside my chest that I would love to have the playing ability to engage one day.

How's that for OT on a headphone discussion forum?

[EDIT] The piece I couldn't recall was "Elegy" written by Benjamin Britten.

 

[Brent Hutto]

My decision turned out to be a demo/prototype Portaphile to pair up with my HD595. The amplifier's sound may not perfectly complement the headphone since both have somewhat midrange-forward and lively presentations (my Portaphile will have AD8610 opamps and BUF634 buffers). I have an Elpac wall-wart to provide 24V power for normal home use but if I ever want to take it somewhere for use with the iPod it's just a matter of swapping in a 9V battery.

So some time next week my home and portable setups will look like:

Adcom GCD-575==>Portaphile V2==>Sennheiser HD595
iPod Mini==>PocketDock Line Out/USB==>Portaphile V2==>Sennheiser PX200

Of course I'll post my impressions after a few days of listening. Thanks to all who helped with my shopping questions.