[OctavianH]

Hello all,
 
After a lot of reading and browsing I am .... totally confused. This is why I come to you to ask for an advice and help.
I really like my headphones, I really like my DAC, but I feel that I need to add something to enjoy my music at full potential.
 
What I have:
 
- High end gaming RIG and a lot of FLAC encoded music
- External DAC - audio-gd NFB11 (neutral, detailed, Sabre 9018)
- Headphones - Beyerdynamic T5p (neutral, cold)
 
What I need:
 
- a recommendation for a Headphone amp to give some "colour" to my music (budget can be 500EUR but we might discuss if I will find what I really need)
 
- the current setup sounds very detailed and netral, but I think that these headphones would need a warmer amp for better sounding
 
What I listen:
 
- digital encoded (FLAC) music, especially rock and metal
 
What I used before:
 
- internal DAC (ASUS XONAR Essence ST and STX II with MUSES op-amps) and sounded warmer
 
What I would like to have in the recommended model:
 
- the best would be to include the power supply (otherwise I have to buy it in addition)
- it needs to have some RCA output to connect some additional speakers, these speakers are active and I use them in parallel with the headphones
 
Connection will be:
 
PC -> audio-gd NFB11 via USB -> [this amp I search for] via RCA -> 1) Beyerdynamic T5p on 6.3" and 2) speakers on RCA output
 
I hope I provided all the details.
 
I thank you in advance for your help. 

 

PS. I have to oportunity to buy a Creek OBH 21SE at a good price (200EUR) but I think that it will be neutral like my current setup. so better to ask first and act later.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I do like my Darkvoice 336SE tube headphone amplifier.

 

[buke9]

Hello all,

After a lot of reading and browsing I am .... totally confused. This is why I come to you to ask for an advice and help.
I really like my headphones, I really like my DAC, but I feel that I need to add something to enjoy my music at full potential.

What I have:

- High end gaming RIG and a lot of FLAC encoded music
- External DAC - audio-gd NFB11 (neutral, detailed, Sabre 9018)
- Headphones - Beyerdynamic T5p (neutral, cold)

What I need:

- a recommendation for a Headphone amp to give some "colour" to my music (budget can be 500EUR but we might discuss if I will find what I really need)

- the current setup sounds very detailed and netral, but I think that these headphones would need a warmer amp for better sounding

What I listen:

- digital encoded (FLAC) music, especially rock and metal

What I used before:

- internal DAC (ASUS XONAR Essence ST and STX II with MUSES op-amps) and sounded warmer

What I would like to have in the recommended model:

- the best would be to include the power supply (otherwise I have to buy it in addition)
- it needs to have some RCA output to connect some additional speakers, these speakers are active and I use them in parallel with the headphones

Connection will be:

PC -> audio-gd NFB11 via USB -> [this amp I search for] via RCA -> 1) Beyerdynamic T5p on 6.3" and 2) speakers on RCA output

I hope I provided all the details.

I thank you in advance for your help. 

 

PS. I have to oportunity to buy a Creek OBH 21SE at a good price (200EUR) but I think that it will be neutral like my current setup. so better to ask first and act later.

The T5p is a 32 ohm 102db headphone so a OTL amp is out of the question. I would recommend looking at aProject Ember or the like maybe a Schiit Lyr 2 would be a good choice.

 

[OctavianH]

Lyr 2  sounds interesting but it seems that it is not easy to find in Europe. If I order it from USA I will have to pay additional shipping and other taxes and it might be over 600EUR.
I will keep it in mind, thanks for mentioning it. Other oppinions?

 

[OctavianH]

I found a Schiit dealer in EU but I see that I can order with different tubes. The options are LISTT and 6BZ7. Any advice on this?

 

[Dulalala]

Lyr and Valhalla barely adds any color to you're music. It sounds more neutral than anything else.

 

[OctavianH]

I will keep my eye on several amps (Lyr 2 and Project Ember, as well as some Woo Audio which are quite expenssive), and please feel free to make any suggestions, but I found at a good price a Little Dot MK II and ordered it. Let's hope it will make some "magic" on my setup. This does not mean I will stop here, it just means that a discount on that one made me order it. We all know that in this area you stop when you are dead.
 
Why I took it:
- app. 150 EUR
- exchangeable tubes
- has pre-amp
- all say is warmer (we will see)
- all say it has a good price/value
 
I will see if it was a smart purchase or not. For sure the Schiit or Woo Audio are a different class, but first I need to see what this small one does.
 
I know the theory:
- high impedance and low current
- low impedance and high current
- tubes cannot provide enough current, like solid state
 
But... MK II seems to be in "spec" with 32 Ohm. In the future I might add some HD650 to my collection as well.
 
Setup will be:
 
PC -> audio-gd NFB11 -> Little Dot MKII -> Beyerdynamic T5p and Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II (future upgrade will be Audioengine A5+).

 

[OctavianH]

The unit arrived today in good condition, directly from Hong Kong.
 
It looks like this:
 

 
The first impressions are good, it does what I was expecting: give some warmth and bass and soundstage to my setup:
 

 
I tried to use a simple RCA splitter to connect directly to the DAC the Littledot and also the speakers but I observed some loss in quality. It might be placebo or I really loose sound quality via those splitters, so I removed them and connected the speakers to the output of the Littledot.
 
Mission accomplished, I will continue to listen to it in the next days to see further impressions.

 

[OctavianH]

Ok, some impressions after some days and tens of hours of listening:
 
- Little Dot MKII works perfectly with Beyerdynamic T5p and started to sound very good after some "burn in"
- I had a very good offer for a discount to Sennheiser headphones and bough HD650 and HD 600 at more than 25% discount. I returned HD650 because they sound too warm and veiled for me, but HD600 was a good option to plug directly to audio-gd NFB-11. These headphones sound quite good on it.
- Still, the best setup I have is the Littledot MKII + Beyerdynamic T5p, makes me rediscover music.
 
Future plans are maybe to buy also the Schiit Lyr 2 and try it with the equipment I have, and of course, some tube upgrades.
 
HD600 remains the "all day headphone" and sound very good, and Littledot will be the "audition" one with the Beyers. Both great headphones.
 
HD650 was a downgrade, at least for me, hard to understand why Sennheiser considered them an upgrade, but maybe I used the wrong amplification.
 
And now, let's wait for some Schiit discounts

 

[Ulises]

You don't know how useful this was  
 
I'm currently pairing my T5p with my schiit stack but it still sounds a bit harsh, thin and bright. My T5p haven't been broken yet, though, about 50 hours in them. Let's see how they change. i will keep the little dot in my radar.
 
Cheers buddy