chuckgopal
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2011
- Posts
- 26
- Likes
- 10
Hello!
I'm a bit of a newbie to high-end audio, so please forgive me if my question might be a little basic.
I own (and love!) a Grado SR325i. I listen to rock, prog and metal (FLAC) through my desktop computer which has an Asus Xonar Essense ST. It has a built-in headphone amp, and I take the Grados out of there, and they sound pretty darn awesome.
I didn't have an amp per se, but then when I went to my Dad's place, he had this old Sony Hi-Fi system (whose model number I really can't figure out) which he bought in 1995 (one with dual cassette docks etc). The system is still pretty kickass but he never used it, so I took just the stereo amplifier from him. Image below.
Now, this is not technically a headphone amp, but I wanted to see if it would do the job. The result - well, it did, a bit. It added a bit of thump, but quite honestly, nothing more. Currently the thing is under repair and I run the Grados right off the Asus, and I don't notice too much difference. That's kinda worrying because I've also owned a PA2V2 which came highly recommended for Grados, and I didn't notice too much difference with that either.
At the same time, I'm quite keen on 'upgrading', so given this, does it make sense getting a dedicated headphone amp, given I've not noticed too much difference with these 2 (very different) amps I've used? Perhaps my ears aren't 'evolved' enough yet
And if it helps, I stay in Mumbai, India (which means many of the amps you might recommend will not be available here. This and this are the offerings from an 'audiophile' website here)
Thank you very much for your help!
Deepak
I'm a bit of a newbie to high-end audio, so please forgive me if my question might be a little basic.
I own (and love!) a Grado SR325i. I listen to rock, prog and metal (FLAC) through my desktop computer which has an Asus Xonar Essense ST. It has a built-in headphone amp, and I take the Grados out of there, and they sound pretty darn awesome.
I didn't have an amp per se, but then when I went to my Dad's place, he had this old Sony Hi-Fi system (whose model number I really can't figure out) which he bought in 1995 (one with dual cassette docks etc). The system is still pretty kickass but he never used it, so I took just the stereo amplifier from him. Image below.
Now, this is not technically a headphone amp, but I wanted to see if it would do the job. The result - well, it did, a bit. It added a bit of thump, but quite honestly, nothing more. Currently the thing is under repair and I run the Grados right off the Asus, and I don't notice too much difference. That's kinda worrying because I've also owned a PA2V2 which came highly recommended for Grados, and I didn't notice too much difference with that either.
At the same time, I'm quite keen on 'upgrading', so given this, does it make sense getting a dedicated headphone amp, given I've not noticed too much difference with these 2 (very different) amps I've used? Perhaps my ears aren't 'evolved' enough yet
And if it helps, I stay in Mumbai, India (which means many of the amps you might recommend will not be available here. This and this are the offerings from an 'audiophile' website here)
Thank you very much for your help!
Deepak