[ChuckS]

I have a home recording setup (primarily for acoustic guitar) and am looking to upgrade my playback chain for mixing and monitoring. I'm looking for a headphone amp and open back headphones that are "neutral". At this point I have a Lake People DAC RS06. I'm considering a Lake People G111 or G109-P amp, or a used Violectric V181 (definitely want balanced inputs, and would prefer both balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs). Also considering HD600 headphones. I'd appreciate your thoughts on what I'm looking at and also other alternatives I should consider.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Headphones for audio production (creating, editing, mixing, etc).
Sony MDR-V6 or MDR7506.

 

[Deolum]

I have a home recording setup (primarily for acoustic guitar) and am looking to upgrade my playback chain for mixing and monitoring. I'm looking for a headphone amp and open back headphones that are "neutral". At this point I have a Lake People DAC RS06. I'm considering a Lake People G111 or G109-P amp, or a used Violectric V181 (want balanced inputs and would prefer capability for balanced outputs). Also considering HD600 headphones. I'd appreciate your thoughts on what I'm looking at and also other alternatives I should consider.

Don't know if it's available in the US but i heard good things about the Little Labs Monotor

 

[tutetibiimperes]

Massdrop THX 789, Monoprice THX 887, and SMSL SP200 are as neutral as they come and all have balanced and single-ended input and output. I can't speak to truly neutral headphones, though I've heard the Audeze LCD-X/LCD-MX4 when combined with the Audeze Reveal plug-in are pretty close.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Massdrop THX 789, Monoprice THX 887, and SMSL SP200 are as neutral as they come and all have balanced and single-ended input and output. I can't speak to truly neutral headphones, though I've heard the Audeze LCD-X/LCD-MX4 when combined with the Audeze Reveal plug-in are pretty close.

The THX amps (except for Benchmark AFAIK) have balanced output connectors for convenience. They are not balanced amps.

 

[tutetibiimperes]

The THX amps (except for Benchmark AFAIK) have balanced output connectors for convenience. They are not balanced amps.

IIRC they're not fully balanced end-to-end and even the HPA4 doesn't deliver a voltage balanced signal via the XLR output (Benchmark explains why on their site). The Massdrop/Monoprice/SMSL THX amps do output considerably more power via their XLR outputs compared to their single-ended outputs though, and they do have the XLR input jacks in the back, so they cover the bases for what most people are looking for in a balanced headphone amp.

 

[ChuckS]

I appreciate all the responses. The THX based amps are new to me, and I've been reading up. I was wondering if they were fully balanced from the inputs to the outputs; thanks for the info.

 

[c4sadler]

Neumann NDH20 Close-Back Monitoring Studio headphones