[skiflyer]

I'm paralyzed by choice and lack of knowledge. I think I've narrowed my choice in an amplifier down to a few and was hoping you all could help me make a choice.

Headphones: Grado SR325i

Music: Wide range - if there's a particular music where I'm more discerning about the quality it's going to be female vocalists (Carole King, Eva Cassidy, Carly Simon etc.)... but I also want a nice controlled punch in the details of industrial music (KMFDM, NIN, Ministry)... but I probably spend the most time with more classic rock.

Price Range: I can be talked into anything, but $300 is my opening budget

Source: ipod 4g, compressed tracks usually 192vbr, some higher some lower (yeah I know, go lossless... gimme flac on a device that gives me my podcasts in an easy to use interface and I will)

Other things: Portability is low on my list of priorities, but I wouldn't mind being able to lug the thing home on weekends to use at home.


...... So that said, here's what's made my interest list so far and why.

LD I+ Hybrid - It's cheap enough with the stock tubes that I won't mind if I'm totally wrong on having good enough ears to justify an amp.

LD MK2 II - Cause I'm easy to upsell?

LD MK V - Adds the portability factor because of the solid state (I'm assuming tubes are hard to haul home, am I wrong?)


I know these reasons are pretty awful, but I don't know what I'm doing, so please help! I'm not remotely married to the LD line, it just seems to be the easiest to find decent information that sells for less than a grand. DIY projects are out of my reach for now.

 

[Tridacnid]

Look at the Darkvoice amps. But Little Dot is an excellent choice.

I wouldn't really call the MKV portable. It is actually heavier than the I+ and the MKII.

BTW, lossless also includes WMA lossless and AAC lossless, which both work on iPod.

 

[wae5]

I have the SR325i, the LD 1+ and MKV. If I only listened to the SR325i, I wouldn't need the MKV.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Did you consider the Eddie Current Lunchbox? I think it's on sale for $200 right now and I liked the way it handled Grados. You might also want to take a spin through the For Sale Forum. Last time I checked, there were three or four good amps in your price range. I think there was a Melos going around $400 - those are wonderful with Grados. A couple years ago, I bought a used Singlepower PPX3 for $500. That's over your budget, but it sounded wonderful with Grados.

 

[skiflyer]

That lunchbox looks like it fits the bill perfectly... and with $10 shipping vs. the $40 on the LD's it's not even that much more.

Only have one concern though... the eddiecurrent.com page says 150ohm minimum load, but I see plenty of threads talking about it working with 32ohm headphones (like my grados). Is 150ohm min. load referring to something else?

 

[El_Doug]

so long as you dont apply something like an 8ohm load, the lunchbox does just fine

dont discount the LD MK3 though

 

[Sparky14]

Another LD MkIII vote here. Great sounding amp, and has switchable gain to cover a wide range of headphone impedance.

I also found the switchable gain helpful when amping from my iPod's headphone out (without a line-out signal from an iPod, I needed to use a different gain setting than I'd use from a CD source). I have a line-out dock for my iPod now, so I can leave the gain setting the same as for a CD source.

As for weekend portability, just keep the shipping box at your desk for the weekend transport.

 

[Happy Camper]

The Lunchbox II & Pro have a high/low impedance switch. The first one didn't have a switch and the 150 ohm issue applied.