[RobertR]

Just got a channel islands VHP-1 headphone amp and really love the sound. Didnt realize what I was missing. Without going into the usual superlatives the sound is just less congested and I feel more drawn into the music experience.
Cia audio also makes a power supply for this amp at 149.00.Would this be the next upgrade for me. using a marantz deck for source and power hungry beyer dt880.



I know that beefy amps used to drive loudspeakers need ample power but I don't understand why a headphone amp needs a dedicated power supply when we are only dealing with milliwatts.
Can someone explain why your amps sound better with a power supply.

 

[BrokenEnglish]

in case of the channel island audio power supplies, it is indeed hard to imagine what they could better, because they deliver AC only...

there's a huge - and most likely well audible - potential of improvements with dedicated DC psus: you could use better rectifiers, advanced smoothing caps, eventually with higher capacitance, better regulator circuits there. ac-wise you could only add some sort of net-filters and/or after the secondaries of a bigger (hq-?) transformer some rc-networks or so. but the whole dc-part stays the same with ciaudio headamps.. it's included in the amp.

 

[dusty_v]

The VAC-1 will improve bass definition and dynamics over the factory AC adapter.
It uses a higher quality, higher current transformer, with input and output filtering.
The DC section is inside the VHP-1 and uses high grade parts (ultra fast discrete diode bridge, Nichicon Muse caps, and multiple bypassing with film caps).

 

[Nospam]

Buy the VAC-1 and see if you notice a difference. If you don't want to keep it, I'll take it off your hands