[kokushu]

Quote:

I may try this at some point, although I have only reviewed 3 DACs so far, so I have a long way to go   Yes, the AVA DAC is the best I personally have heard.  It's outstanding, and given the performance, it's a bargain at it's price.  And yes, the Leben is still my favorite amp.  Every night I listen to the Leben and the Sony R10, and think what a lucky guy I am
 



 

 
Leben and the R10; you lucky person lol.  I have to settle for wa6 and lcd2 to listen to before I go to sleep.  I would love to get the leben but I need to know that is the best amp at that price currently before committing 3000k+ to it.
 
 

 

[Fantoon]

Flexibility, sounds interesting, would you like to elaborate?
 
Quote:

I may try this at some point, although I have only reviewed 3 DACs so far, so I have a long way to go   Yes, the AVA DAC is the best I personally have heard.  It's outstanding, and given the performance, it's a bargain at it's price.  And yes, the Leben is still my favorite amp.  Every night I listen to the Leben and the Sony R10, and think what a lucky guy I am
 



I need to do that.  It is a TERRIFIC amp, with a lot of flexibility, and quite a bit of drive capability.
 

 

 

[Skylab]

The flexibility is in that it is transformer coupled and has an impedance selector switch for good matching.
 

 

[googleli]

Skylab, I always wondered but I just want to confirm- the impedance selector on the Leben only applies to the speaker connection, am I correct?

 

[music_man]

i wonder what would happen if he threw in apex pinnacle,luxman p1u.rsa apache and ear hp4. also of intrest would be the (cullen) gcha,not the ps audio. i understand no one can possibly review every amp. i would however put the aformentioned pretty high up the list. probably the top spots maybe with one taking the crown from his #1 choice. the thing is they are all different even at the high end. i couldn't put the ones i just listed in order. at that level it transcends mere simplicity. like what is better a van gogh or a picasso?

 

[Skylab]

@Googlie, yes, the Leben's switch applies only to the speaker taps.

@MusicMan - you suggested several amps there that are solid state - I have a separate thread for SS amps, which includes the RSA Apache.

 

[googleli]

Dude, I just got a quad set of used 50's Mullard EL84s today at quite a bargain. The bass is so much fuller now and the Leben with these Mullard vintage power tubes and the Amperex long plate D-getter 12AX7s sounds really good. 

 

[BmWr75]

Skylab, guess I'm too stupid to find your SS amp review thread in this forum.  Would you mind providing a link to it.
 
EDIT - found it.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/403237/review-summary-index-22-solid-state-home-headphone-amps

 

[InnerSpace]

Quote:

 
...  I would love to get the leben but I need to know that is the best amp at that price ...
 

I may or may not have heard as many amps as other members (but I'm sure it's ballpark) and I would say the Leben is easily the best amp at its price, and one of the best irrespective of price.  It does everything at least 95% as well as the best, and those that hit 98% on some parameters fall short on others, revealing the Leben's great balance of virtues.  Plus - and I hate to use untechnical words, but alternatives won't suffice - the Leben has "charm" in abundance, such that it's always a pleasure to hear.
 

 

[Double F]

I had the Leben for several months.  It's performance was very good with the LCD-2, however, since I only used it as a head amp I did not feel it was worth it.  My version was the Japanese 300xs.  There has been speculation that Leben made some adjustments to the gain with the xs version that adversely affected it's performance with the LCD-2. 

 

[music_man]

my bad. duh. i don't know why i mentioned ss amps in a tube thread. on the other hand, what i mentioned was my list of my top picks tube and ss. the nice thing is one of the ss amps in the list was only $1,400(secret you cannot get one anymore).
 
i have to go read your ss thread. i am already guessing the apache is at the top
 
edit: skylab, i was just wondering. are your darth's and manufaktur both dt-770 drivers? they both seem to be closed(well darths are). what impedance are yours? sorry to go ot. i was just surprised you are using those headphones with the apache and leben. well, they are darn good headphones if i must say so myself. i was going to trade my darths for stock dt880-pro yesterday but i thought twice.

 

[danne]

Does the Leben pair well with the HD 800?

 

[InnerSpace]

Quote:

Does the Leben pair well with the HD 800?

In my opinion it's a wonderful match.
 

 

[shaunybaby]

Im kind of new to this forum and i was wondering if anyone knows a good tube amp that will pair well with hd 650s?

gonna start reading the reviews now, thanks skylab.

 

[Skylab]

My DT770 Manufacture and Darths are both 600 ohm drivers.  I still like both, but rarely use either - I just have a bunch of headphones now (HE-6, LCD-2, T1, HD800, R10, Ed 8, D7000, DX1000, Chroma MD1, etc etc) that are better