[jimbones]

Hi all, I'm new to the headphone area. I own Sennheiser HD650 and in the past I used them with my Modwright LS100 headphone out. It was very good sounding but now I have a new preamp. The headphone out isn't so good (RP7). I want to get a SS unit that is an amp only, no DAC that will drive my Senns. I don't really know what I need to budget for an amp but if we start at $500? I can move up so dont take that number as a hard line. recommendations appreciated.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Look for the HD 650 and 6XX threads. There will be tons of amp discussion. I think at the price point you would have some good choices.

If you're willing to consider tubes, you should be able to score a used Valhalla 2 for around $250 and it will be a much better match than most solid state amps.

If you can't find the threads lemme know and I'll try to look but I'm heading for the sack soon.

 

[chocolates]

if you're not nitpicky about sources then the THX 887/789 are perfectly fine in terms of clean amplification and features; but there's a nontrivial number of naysayers who find it to be dull and not very dynamic. up to you which side you believe since the measurements are clean for the price.

the schiit jotunheim 2 comes highly recommended by many people; higher price and less features but a very solid sounding solid state amp.

rebel amp is also highly recommended and at the very peak of your budget ($499)

tl;dr thx if objectivist, jot2/rebelamp if subjectivist or you like the nicer finish (imo)

 

[Mightygrey]

The $199 Asgard 3 is a fine pairing with the Senns.

 

[warrenpchi]

Let's also remember that OTL amps like the Bottlehead Crack are always a good option... especially when fitted with a Speedball upgrade.

https://bottlehead.com/product/crack-1-1-otl-headphone-amplifier-kit/

And, as luck would have it, it seems that somebody is selling one second-hand in the classifieds right now.

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/price-drop-bottlehead-crack-with-speedball-and-tubes.3152/

 

[jimbones]

The only reason I was thinking Solid State is with Headphones they will really expose any noisy tubes. NOS tubes are getting pricey. Just a thought. I see there is a unit called Audio gd?

 

[chocolates]

i wouldnt get audio-gd stuff lmao the engineering is pretty suspect in my opinion just from seeing opened up units / other peoples experiences with them

tubes are only really notably noisy when poorly impedance matched; senn 6x0 happen to be high impedance and work very well with tubes

 

[jimbones]

Thanks so much for the replies, I am taking a look at some of the suggestions. I see Topping has a A90/A70/A50 series of headphone amps

 

[Currawong]

i wouldnt get audio-gd stuff lmao the engineering is pretty suspect in my opinion just from seeing opened up units / other peoples experiences with them

I don't know what "other peoples['] experiences" you are talking about, but Audio-gd have been around Head-Fi for about 12 years now, and while there haven't been zero issues (nor have there been zero issues with any company) the owner, Kingwa, is on the forums and you can engage with him directly about any issues, as I have for the whole time he has been here. If anything, they haven't suffered the quality control issues other brands have once they became popular, such as Little Dot (I bought one of their amps and it was clearly a rush assembly job) and Topping (a cheap amp of theirs destroyed peoples' headphones and knobs on some of their components were hammered on, breaking them).

Even with the issues described, I wouldn't suggest avoiding those companies. If anything, people remember the worst failures of a company, even quite a few years later. It took FiiO years to recover their reputation from early DAP software issues, for example.

Something to note is, some other forums have been known to pick a manufacturer to trash the reputation of, so that they can claim they are protecting people from bad products/people/manufacturers. They'll claim that measurements or aspects of the design are bad or wrong, and blow up the slightest issue anyone has had with them. Often these people don't have engineering qualifications, and, like I said, are only doing it to build up their own reputation.

We're lucky these days to have quite a variety of amps to choose from, and manufactures, and plenty of reviews of most. At the $500, I'd say it is pretty hard to make a bad choice, as at that price range, there is little a manufacturer has to cut back in terms of features or quality to make something that will perform well. Mostly, it's a choice whether you want something that tries to be as technically "transparent" and accurate to the signal as possible, or something that is tuned to be a bit more generally listenable.

 

[capetownwatches]

"i wouldnt get audio-gd stuff lmao the engineering is pretty suspect in my opinion just from seeing opened up units / other peoples experiences with them"

You would be doing yourself a distinct disservice by not considering Audio-gd in your price range.

A 2017 NFB11.32 has been doing DAC duties (primarily DSD) in my second rig, powered on pretty much since I got it.
Not an issue at all to date, and a very capable headphone amp too when necessary.

AGD delivers a lot of engineering for the money and mine has stayed the course whilst MANY other (more expensive) gears have been moved on.

 

[jimbones]

OK I have 2 I am considering the SMSL SH-9 and Singxer SA1

 

[chocolates]

that's true @Currawong - didn't want to start any drama or anything, apologies.