[Mooseteets]

hi all, i just signed up here, i have been googling for a week or 2 looking for a new amp, i have considered building my own, but i thought i would ask here first as headfi has the most hits to most of my questions without really answering them.
 
i have a pair of dt770 250ohm headphones running into a creek obh-11 thats been modified, thats plugged into an maudio 2496 and has decent results.
 
what i really want is a new amp to give ear splitting volume, the creek starts to distort at full volume, it did this before i modded it, now its got more headroom, but i need more, so a new device is needed.
 
does anyone have a suggestion for an amp that can drive these headphones ?
 
the bass is lacklustre unless turned up, i realise they are not bass headphones, but id like more volume, im used to listening to stuff at stupid volumes, without distortion.
 
my 35 year old technics amp can drive them at ear splitting volumes, obviously i dont want to use it at that volume constantly, but i want the ability to crank stuff, im worried if i buy a new amp it will just be more of the same so some advice would be appreciated.
 
budget isnt a problem, but i dont really wanna spend a fortune, i fancy something like the little dot amps, but do they have good volume ?

 

[TwelveTrains]

My Schiit Asgard 2 can drive my Beyerdynamic DT 770 - 250 Ohm headphones to disgusting volumes. It is earsplitting for me at about noon on the volume dial.
 
The Asgard 2 has a full watt of power.
 
Here are some specs I found:
 
Asgard 2: 
Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 1.0W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 1.0W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 380mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 600 ohms: 190mW RMS per channel
 
 
Creek OBH-11:
OUTPUT POWER > 10 mW into 30 Ω to 300 Ω loads

 

[Mooseteets]

not meaning to bump this thread for any reason other than an update, im finding all the desktop amps at reasonable prices to be crappy, i bought a fiio e09k to try and was not impressed with it, i returned it to the shop, for me it just does not drive the beyers properly, at full volume its still not loud enough, and hardly any bass.
 
im thinking the tpa6120 chip is slightly underpowered, i also got a cheapo smsl amp from ebay (same chip inside), this has the same response, i wont be returning the smsl one tho as it was so cheap (£30), i also opened it and it was very nice quality inside for the price, all japanese components, with panasonic caps.
 
for what its worth the smsl one drives the grado headphones i have perfectly, but i can still turn it up 100% and its not loud enough.
 
what ive settled on atm is an old technics amp i had in storage, so now i have 2 ontop of each other (one for speakers, one for headphones, powering 2 different audio sources). im using a technics su600 which has more than enough volume/power/headroom, im just confused on the numbers atm.
 
the specs of the technics are here > http://teetz.co.uk/su600.jpg
470mv at 330ohms
 
the smsl one apparently has (SMSL Sap II Pro)
300mv at 250ohms
 
whats annoying is the beyers say on their store page : "Nominal impedance 250 Ω Nominal SPL 96 dB Nominal THD < 0.2% Power handling capacity 100 mW", does the 100mw rating mean thats the most power they can take ? or is it just a made up number, it seems like its taking way more than 100mw to drive these headphones, although im not sure how to the millivolt/milliwatts are comparable, the ratings are confusing.

 

[TwelveTrains]

I've always thought that 100mw for the Beyerdynamics was made up too! It just doesn't make any sense for the power hungry design. Although I do believe the Beyers crave more current than wattage.

 

[Mooseteets]

i emailed beyer asking them directly, got a weird reply, basically they sent me a pdf with nothing in it.
 
they couldnt recommend an amp that would drive the phones, which is fine, but they must test them with something, id like to know what their testing setup is really.
or what amps the bbc use in their studios (they use dt770's).

 

[TwelveTrains]

  not meaning to bump this thread for any reason other than an update, im finding all the desktop amps at reasonable prices to be crappy, i bought a fiio e09k to try and was not impressed with it, i returned it to the shop, for me it just does not drive the beyers properly, at full volume its still not loud enough, and hardly any bass.
 

 
At FULL volume? I can barely get to noon before it is earsplitting in low gain with the e09k.

 

[Mooseteets]

   
At FULL volume? I can barely get to noon before it is earsplitting in low gain with the e09k.

yeah it didnt push em at all, either the unit i got was bad or my phones are. they work on my old amp though.

 

[eugenius]

If you need an amp with headroom, get a headroom amp.