[Cortes]

Hi all,

I need to buy an external AMP to drive my iem JH13 from a DAC Lavry DA10.

The amp will be in my office, so no need to be portable. I've been looking at the WA6, Gilmore Lite, and others, but not sure. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks.

 

[jc9394]

I have tried on both WA6 and Glite, I do prefer on WA6 with Sophia Princess tube. The GLite is a little to clinical to me.

 

[Cortes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc9394 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have tried on both WA6 and Glite, I do prefer on WA6 with Sophia Princess tube. The GLite is a little to clinical to me.

and have you tried a good solid state amp with the JH13 ?. I like all what I read of WA6, but I'm a bit scared of its size.

 

[jc9394]

I have tried on two other SS amp, HA5000 (almost like GLite but slightly warmer) is great but not as good as b22 but I can not afford b22 now.

 

[El_Doug]

indeed - if you have interest in DIY, a 2-channel B22 can be made with a switching power supply (cfcubed did a version like this) for about the same amount of money as a WA6, assuming you want solid-state.

 

[Cortes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc9394 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have tried on two other SS amp, HA5000 (almost like GLite but slightly warmer) is great but not as good as b22 but I can afford b22 now.

The difference from you iphone -> JH13 to AMP -> Jh13 is the subtle side or is significant?. Thanks.

 

[jc9394]

It is significant to me but I use it a little different, iPhone>Wadia>DacMagic (soon will be gamma2)>JH13.

The difference is more on the soundstage, details, and seperations. It is still noticable without using Wadia and DAC but not as much. Make sure you source is lossless on your iPhone.

 

[Bina]

And isnt some of these amps too loud for Jh13? Just to be sure I dont buy some amp and would be able to listen to it only on minimal volume.
With Beta 22, I could possibly build it to match power of output better for Jh13, right?

 

[Happy Camper]

correct

 

[gregeas]

Beware of gain issues. I have tried my JH13s with three amps: Pico, Lisa III, and Benchmark DAC1, and I can't get the volume knob past 9 o'clock on any of them... With the Lisa III, channel imbalance is an issue as I'm stuck at the very bottom of the range. The DAC1 has three gain settings for the head amp, and even the lowest one is too high for the JH13s (and my ears).

Still looking for the ideal amp for these amazing IEMs. Maybe the Pico Slim, which I have on order. But I'd ideally get a desktop amp that has suitable gain.

 

[FallenAngel]

Are you sure you even need an amp for these? Wouldn't a current buffer (unity gain) work well, it's not like your source has THAT low of a voltage output and you likely don't need more voltage gain.

 

[Il Mostro]

If they react anything like my UM3X, there is no "need" for an amp. However, a high quality portable, preferably with a low-medium-high gain switch, will open things up and squeeze the nth degree of SQ out of them. Having low gain is the critical factor in my case. I am perfectly fine without an amp, but if I am settling down for a long flight, I will piggyback the D10 and SR71-A -- very nice indeed. This and a few adult beverages makes the flight so much shorter.

 

[FallenAngel]

I don't think you understood what I meant - there MUST be an amplifier somewhere, but what exactly an "amp" does is generally 2 things - voltage gain and current gain (current buffering).

Some may choose to use the built-in amp (which definitely does both) within their DAP, or they may use the line out functionality to feed a standalone "amp". I still suggest the latter, but that "amp" does not really need to be a "voltage amplifier" as you don't need any more voltage (so you don't get "too loud, too quickly"), just a current buffer.

It is simple that a standalone "amp" will be of higher quality than one built-in, so yes, it's still recommended.

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you sure you even need an amp for these? Wouldn't a current buffer (unity gain) work well, it's not like your source has THAT low of a voltage output and you likely don't need more voltage gain.

+1

jisbos would be a fine driver for something like this. and you'll still have LOTS of money left, plus you can splurge on a sigma22 PSU for very low noise (a bit overkill but low-noise PSU is quite useful on something semi-high end like the jisbos)

 

[unl3a5h3d]

If you are going to get an amp I want to suggest a RSA amp. Maybe a Shadow, Predator or something. I have read these sound great with the JH 13's. And I am suggesting portable because like Il Mostro said they don't really need a great powering amp, just maybe something to make everything a little better.