[sionghchan]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie in high end headphones and have just recently purchased the Alessandro MS1. I am looking at adding to my collection either, Senn HD600/650 or the Beyer DT880. Thus, I'm actually looking at getting myself a headphone amp. I don't want to spend too much either.

Monkey (a member of the Head-fi community) highlighted Pocket Amp V2 to me. Going to Gary's site, it sounds very interesting and he seems to be a young entreprising Canadian entrepreneur who really believes in his product and would stand by it no matter what happens.

So, my question here to all you Headphone/Audiophile gurus, will Pocket Amp V2 do the job? I don't need the best, just decent.

The other amps I'm looking at is the Headroom Airhead or Airhead Total.

Your opinions are highly, HIGHLY valued by yours truly here..

Thanks!
SH

 

[MASantos]

Hello,

Welcome to head-fi and sorry about your wallet!

I have a pocket amp and it is really a great performer. I use it with HD650's and ER4p plus p-s conversion cable.
Comparing to the headphone out of my stereo and from my laptop, it is a big improvment, although you don't notice it immediately at the beginning.
The bass is deeper and tighter, and the overall sound is more clear and clean.
The background noise is also quieter!!
It is a great amp for the money and you can't go wrong with it, and Gary is a great guy to deal with!!


Manuel

 

[wititw]

I just purchased a refurb HD600 from amazon and PA2V2 from Gary. The sound quality improves from a setup that I have before. They are both still breaking in right now. So I expect the sound quality will become better.

Here is my setup at the moment:

Powerbook -> Echo Indigo -> PA2V2 -> Senn HD600 or AKG K501

I usually listen to mp3 with various bitrate from the Powerbook. I use mp3gain to set all mp3s to 89 dB. With the setup above, I could not get it loud enough without distortion, even PA2V2 gain at max. If I increase volume of the Indigo card more than 60%, sound distorts very badly.

If I undo the mp3gain, I could get certain songs to be loud enough without distortion but then they start to clip. I could play around with maximum without clip in mp3gain. But then all songs will not sound equally. Well...

Anyhow, I believe this problem is more on mp3gain setting. If the source is properly set, I think PA2V2 can boost it up without distortion. And the amp itself is pretty quiet. I don't know if burning-in will change the situation.

I guess that will leave it up to you. You may enjoy lower listening level than me. I do not have the distortion problem with headphones with lower impedance by the way.

So I cannot say if PA2V2 will make the most out of the HD600. I'm waiting to see what other people will say too. I'm leaning towards getting a supermacro amp. But I have to save up first!

Cheers...

 

[gratefulshrink]

sionghchan: Welcome and sorry.... I love my pocket amp -- I use it the Beyer 250-250 and Grado SR-60 (which doesn't "need" it, but loves it anyway). I think it is the most reasonable (i.e., affordable) way to break into the amp world. Gary is a good resource, and you can e-mail him about which headphones he thinks match up well the the PAV2. But, before you purchse it, do a search on the forum. There have been a few threads comparing the PAV2 with the go-vibe, for example.

wititw: Welcome and sorry, also. There was a discussion on a related thread about using the PAV2 and the K501. I posted Gary's opinion on that particular set of cans (http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123624).

The overall sense I am getting is that the PAV2 is great for what it is (affordable, portable, convenient/economical in terms of re-charging) but it has its limits.

 

[kramer5150]

For $60... its hard to beat IMHO. Its design is so well thought out. The recharging jack is GREAT.

IMHO its got some bass and lower mid boost, just a little. Works well with my brighter sounding cans. Noise floor is very low with my MS2.

I A/B'd it with my G-moy in this thread....

Garrett

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123802

 

[sionghchan]

Thank you all for your opinions! I am convinced. I'm going to get a PAV2 from Gary. Like you said, it is CAD$70...how wrong can that get? Design wise, I do prefer the PAV2 over the Go-Vibe just because of the recharging capability and the ability to run off the AC power.

Thank you very much guys... Also, yes, I'm sorry about my wallet too!

 

[gratefulshrink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghchan Thank you all for your opinions! I am convinced. I'm going to get a PAV2 from Gary. Like you said, it is CAD$70...how wrong can that get? Design wise, I do prefer the PAV2 over the Go-Vibe just because of the recharging capability and the ability to run off the AC power. Thank you very much guys... Also, yes, I'm sorry about my wallet too!

You won't regret it. Make sure you use only rechargeables (no alkalines).

 

[Svperstar]

I really like my Pocket Amp V2, I use it everyday at work.

My advice is, if you don't need a portable, bite the bullet and buy a more expensive amp now, like a Gilmore Lite or something, you will be curious how a more expensive amp would sound after a week of listening to the PAV2, so just go all the way now

 

[12thgear]

It's my first dedicated headphone amp, and I use it with my Alessandro MS-1 and my Koss KSC75. Both sound better with the Pocket Amp V2. Especially on my iPod. It's not as big a difference on my PowerBook, but still worth using.

Given its size and price, it's a great little amp. It sounds good, it's really efficient (supposedly up to 100 hours between charges) and has an internal charging circuit. Really well thought out.

And yeah, use high quality AA NiMH batteries.

 

[PITTM]

on one hand, yes, the pocketamp is a great value in headphone amps. but if the guy is gonna be using 650's/880s i dont know that the pocketamp will suffice. i upgraded my pocketamp shortly after i bought my 580s because i didnt think it gave them enough amplification. now i use a portaphile and i am BUMPIN. i would use the pocketamp with many headphones, but for the top of the line consumer phones it might just be a little too weak.

rj