[olor1n]

If you're interested in the 10SE, I'd suggest you start skimming from here. Unfortunately that thread died out as the impressions migrated back to the earlier NFB-10 thread and a merge request was ignored. The links in the 10SE thread will take you to where the impressions continue.
 
Quote:

Hey guys,
 
Looking for something like the Lyr for my HE-500, but solid state. Any ideas? No real budget. Just getting an idea of what's out there. Would like to find something that can push more than 1watt, something more in the range of 3~5 watts even. The Lyr was doing that, but I'm more interested in solid state these days.
 
Look forward to any ideas.
 
Very best,

 

 

[OPrwtos]

Quote:

If you're interested in the 10SE, I'd suggest you start skimming from here. Unfortunately that thread died out as the impressions migrated back to the earlier NFB-10 thread and a merge request was ignored. The links in the 10SE thread will take you to where the impressions continue.
 


 

who has the rights to merge the thread? im guessing admin or moderator? why didnt anyone actualy private message them to do it.
 

 

[metalgear]

Quote:

Hey guys,
 
Looking for something like the Lyr for my HE-500, but solid state. Any ideas? No real budget. Just getting an idea of what's out there. Would like to find something that can push more than 1watt, something more in the range of 3~5 watts even. The Lyr was doing that, but I'm more interested in solid state these days.
 
Look forward to any ideas.
 
Very best,

randomly came across this a few minutes ago - a made in Taiwan class A amp, the Amtech Ha1
 
1. Bias adjustable to fit any headphone: 4 steps ( 32/64/128/600ohm)
2. Pure class A  power delivering 9W@8ohms and 2.25W@ 32 ophms
3.Variable Gain switch (8dB to 26dB), would find the best volume setting to each phone.
4. Very Wide freq response: 7Hz to 340Hz (-3dB)
 
Certainly sounds promising - but all those switches ... makes me wonder if they will get in the way of good sound?
 
Otherwise the Violectric V200 has a pre-gain adjustments that may help.
 

 

[linuxid10t]

Doubt the switches would get in the way of good sound.  Honestly though, just get a nice receiver.  They can put out a lot more power than any headphone amp.  There is an entire thread for vintage amps, which I would think would power any of the HE series just fine.
 
Quote:

randomly came across this a few minutes ago - a made in Taiwan class A amp, the Amtech Ha1
 
1. Bias adjustable to fit any headphone: 4 steps ( 32/64/128/600ohm)
2. Pure class A  power delivering 9W@8ohms and 2.25W@ 32 ophms
3.Variable Gain switch (8dB to 26dB), would find the best volume setting to each phone.
4. Very Wide freq response: 7Hz to 340Hz (-3dB)
 
Certainly sounds promising - but all those switches ... makes me wonder if they will get in the way of good sound?
 
Otherwise the Violectric V200 has a pre-gain adjustments that may help.
 

 

 

[powerlifter450]

GCHA doesn't have the power. I thought it would too till I tried with 50ohm orthos.

 

[Cliff-Samuels]

Another headphone amp that has the kind of power you are looking for without having to resort to some kind of speaker amp or reciever is the headphone amp I use, the maker is called NJC Audio & the actual amp is called a monitor II, its a solid state type amp which is hand made in the UK, i'm listening to the HD650's with this & I think it's a match made in heaven.

The spec is very good & it has a quoted 3.2 watts of power for each channel, so if you combine that it makes a total output of 6.4 watts

which is a lot of juice, it's no wonder my HD650's sound so good as I guess they can now take all they want, I noticed that the beta22 was mentioned on an earlier post & that amp has a little more power but it's a diy job so not an option for most, me included but I can not see why you would need more than 6.4 watts anyway for any headphone.

As for the Hifiman headphone, hifiman say their own EF5 amp is the best (well they would would'nt they), but that only has 2 watts per channel so it's weaker, so in theory the monitor II should be even better with those headphones, I am getting the Fostex TR50P's very soon as I heard they pair well with this amp so I will post my findings also when they arrive.

Anyway I just thought id throw another option into the pot here

& would just like to add that even though it is very powerful it does it all in a very nice way, its not all hell, fire & brimstone kind of power like some can be but effortless & delicate power.

 

[eugenius]

Both my balanced amps can do that. They're also completely oposed sound signatures, the CEC is all about resolution, midrange purity and natural sound, and the Headroom is all about slam and control.

The CEC HD53N has 4W class A for headphones, or 18W for speakers / headphones with a tail.

The Headroom Desktop Balanced amp puts around 13W into low impedance headphones (at least that's what Headroom says, and I believe them, low impedance efficient headphones are totally unusable on medium and high gain - not unless you want to move the pot between 8 and 10 o'clock).

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Thanks for all the information guys.
 
I started playing around with amps and receivers. Here's some impressions that are troubling:
 
I've played my HE-500's from a Schiit Lyr, Schiit Asgard and an inexpensive Pioneer amplifier (total entry level VSX-521). Pretty much sounded about the same to me on the various recordings I tested. As in, nothing stuck out really to me. The only thing I noticed was that the Lyr obviously output more power since I had way more room to crank up the volume. I had to put the Asgard roughly from 1~2 o'clock to 5 o'clock depending on the recording. I had to nearly max my receiver's volume (it goes from 0 to 80 digitally, and 65 was good for most recordings, 70 for others, and maxed on some very quiet recordings that I have). The Lyr generally did the same with half the volume cranked. But the end result, when I tune all three to have the same perceived listening volume to me, sound relatively the same in terms of quality to me. That's troubling. As in, why is an inexpensive receiver doing the job of of the Lyr? Maybe my ears are not golden enough. But it seems to me that this receiver is doing the same job, for less, so I'm probably going to just stick with it and get rid of these other amps for the time being.
 
Edit: I take that back. After further critical listening, I'm noticing more noise on the receiver than the Asgard for example. Hrm. Back to square one.
 
Very best,