[Sourcey]

Some time ago I decided to get myself a decent headphone, and the sennheiser hd580 has cought my eye. I didn't know much about headphones and I only today realised that earphones don't work directly on line-outs and mp3 player headphone plugs. I'll need a headphone amp. But when I see the pricings on those things! Most of the amps are more expensive than the earphones.
My question is, do there exist headphone amps that are 50 dollars or less (or euros, as i'm european) and that still have good quality?. And, are non-portable models cheaper? I don't necessarily need a portable model and i'd prefer a model that works on the european powergrid.

thanks in advance

 

[MASantos]

Hello, welcome to head-fi and sorry about your wallet!!!

for $50 you could get yourself a cmoy, which is an entry level amp and can be battery powered or, if you want through a wallwart. There is also the PA2V2 which is sold at www.electric-avenues.com ( it costs 60$). I have a cmoy that i did myself and also a PA2V2 and both of them are good value for the money.

 

[Sourcey]

Thanks for your recommendations. Which of the two would you select as the best in combination with the hd580? Or is there no noticeable difference

thanks for the advice and i'll check out these amps

 

[kramer5150]

Cmoy... dont under estimate its potential. Pic the right OP amp and caps and youre in RA-1 territory.

Garrett

 

[Kassem]

RA-1 Terroritory? Hm.

I have hd600's and a vintage Marantz 1060 amp.

Edit::

didnt see you're price range.

Cmoy seems like the choice for you. Or you could spend a little more and have a Mint42.

 

[Andrea]

Have a look at the Xenos 0HA ...

www.aptecpro.com

 

[Sourcey]

mmm, I was offered a really good deal for a sennheiser HD600 headphone, for only 169 euro's a brand new one is mine

My plan is to get a PAV2 to go with it right now. Would this also work well in combination with the hd600?

 

[Andrea]

Yup, I guess so.


Btw, also look here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zero-Headphone-A...QQcmdZViewItem

 

[kramer5150]

I just saw a used evilfire cmoy go for $35 on ebay. I passed it up but dayum thats a good deal.

Garrett

 

[sxr71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea Yup, I guess so. Btw, also look here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Zero-Headphone-A...QQcmdZViewItem

I bought one of those a couple of months ago and it sounds quite good. I haven't really broken it in all the way as I was using a XIN Supermicro for the summer and it serves as my only basis for comparison. After coming back to the Zeroaudiocraft Dual CMOY, I prefer it for it's stronger bass and richer sound. If anything I think the Supermicro is pretty bright and the Dual CMOY was a welcome change. I wonder what the CMOY can do with some OP-AMP rolling.

I also wonder what might happen if I give it 18v instead of 9v as I can get the amp to distort at the highest volumes even with a fresh battery.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea Yup, I guess so. Btw, also look here: http://cgi.ebay.com/Zero-Headphone-A...QQcmdZViewItem

I am -THAT- close to pulling the trigger on one of these... wanting sometihng warm and open sounding for my Grados.

Garrett

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sxr71 I bought one of those a couple of months ago and it sounds quite good. I haven't really broken it in all the way as I was using a XIN Supermicro for the summer and it serves as my only basis for comparison. After coming back to the Zeroaudiocraft Dual CMOY, I prefer it for it's stronger bass and richer sound. If anything I think the Supermicro is pretty bright and the Dual CMOY was a welcome change. I wonder what the CMOY can do with some OP-AMP rolling. I also wonder what might happen if I give it 18v instead of 9v as I can get the amp to distort at the highest volumes even with a fresh battery.

And think of what it could do with AD8397 (self-buffered) opamps (which incidentally I'm waiting for a couple samples of) in there (on brown dog adapters, as they are the SO8 type) + external power supply ...


I also happen to have a couple of AD823's, which would be well worth trying; other interesting options being the AD8066, the AD8620, ...

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zero-Headphone-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Bought one! With Wima caps, DC jack, blue LED

and 'standard' gain setting.

 

[skysaxon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sxr71 I bought one of those a couple of months ago and it sounds quite good. I haven't really broken it in all the way as I was using a XIN Supermicro for the summer and it serves as my only basis for comparison. After coming back to the Zeroaudiocraft Dual CMOY, I prefer it for it's stronger bass and richer sound. If anything I think the Supermicro is pretty bright and the Dual CMOY was a welcome change. I wonder what the CMOY can do with some OP-AMP rolling. I also wonder what might happen if I give it 18v instead of 9v as I can get the amp to distort at the highest volumes even with a fresh battery.

The Zeroaudiocraft is a nice warm-sounding amp, quick excellent with acoustic guitars. It is really a fine match for the HD 580's. I found it to be on par with the Power Amp V2 (which I lost on an airplane - little bugger was really nice, too). Better than the Little Dot Micro, which sounds a little thin to me. The Zeroaudiocraft comes with a handy little instruction sheet and seems to have a long battery life. I haven't yet totally burned in this unit and already it sounds full and musical to these ears.

 

[Sembiance]

Hi folks, I have myself a pair of HD600's and I listen to mostly classical music (orchestral, choir).

I'm looking to get myself an amp and was wondering what sort of amps are good for something about this fellow's price range.

The max I'm willing to pay is probably about $200

Is there a big difference between $200 headphone amps and $60 headphone amps?


If so what headphone amps do you advise for the HD600's, $200 or under, with classical music?


Also, I'm using the cables that came with my HD600 headphones.
Will getting different cables make any notable difference in sound quality?

Also what cable should I get to go from the stereo mini-jack source to the amp?