[jazpresso]

what kind of amp u use for grado phone?

 

[ampgalore]

Grado RA-1 pairs nicely with Grado headphones.

Since you are in Macau, there should be lots of inexpensive Chinese made headphone amps available.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I think the Gilmore Dynamic amps do the best job for Grados of all the amps I've tried them with. PS1pro+balanced Gilmore reference =

 

[Norbert]

Corda HA-1 with the SR-80's. I enjoy the crossfeed, and Jan's product is top shelf.

 

[ayt999]

for now I use a gilmore balanced reference with all my grados. (it is based on kevin gilmore's dynamic amp design.)

I'm making a gilmore balanced dynahi since I have heard that it is an even better match for grados.

the balanced part of each amp makes no difference since none of my headphones are balanced so I cannot use that feature... I'll get some balanced headphones one of these days though so that's why I like to have the amps balanced.

 

[sunkist123]

Graham Slee's Solo with 325s. Atfer a week with the amp find it's an exciting combination, solid, detailed and depth.

 

[tortie]

Grado's RA-1 amp. You could usually find it used at about $200+.

 

[gpalmer]

Gilmore's Good, Napster Bad!!!!

Oops, sorry thinking of an old Flash clip! Getting back to the topic, the Gilmore's are very good with the Grado's. You can find out more on them by searching the amplifer forum and you can order them here. Here are some of the alternatives in the family:

1) Gilmore Lite - The Gilmore Lite is the bottom rung in the family and delivers some of the best bang for the buck out there. There are two versions, one which was just released that is probably better than the first version which was released a while ago. These go for about $300 new, though you may catch a version one for as little as $200 in the for sale forum. These consist of a amplifer and a wallwart power supply, everything else in the lineup is pretty much one piece with an integrated power supply, excepting a few one off amplifiers that ayt999 and I own.

2) Gilmore V2 - The "standard" edition. The Lite delivers most of the sound quality of this amplifer for a lot less money but lacks such features as switchable inputs and dual headphone outputs. This headphone amplifier can function in a pinch as a preamp, though it is rather limited since you can only switch between two sources. It has one set of outputs. Pricing runs about $550.00 new though if you're a little patient you may find one in the For Sale forum for as little as $400.

3) Gilmore V2-SE - This is both an excellent headphone amplifier and a excellent sounding preamp. It comes with upgraded capacitors, a stepped attenuator and three inputs and outputs. This is very good but the price goes up to $850 new, you might find one in the For Sale forum for as little as $600 though $650 seems to be more the going rate.

4) Gilmore Balanced Reference - Top of the line so I'm guessing you're not interested.

As you work your way up the line what improves is the smoothness (slightly from the Lite to the V2, more from the V2 to the SE), soundstage (steady improvement in depth), stereo balance (with the SE, the stepped attenuators really make a big difference in how close to nominal values the levels of the two stereo channels are) and lastly the dynamics (pretty much steadily).

 

[N@Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazpresso what kind of amp u use for grado phone?

You didn't say what sort of Grado headphones specifically but for the RS-1, I use & like it with the Cayin Spark Audio HA-1A. However, if I could afford it I'd much prefer it with the David Berning microZOTL.

 

[Rameish]

Several Amps for Grados (and I would recommend the following):

1) Grado RA-1
2) Meta 42/ PiMeta (with OPA-627)
3) Corda HA-2
4) Headroom (Supreme upwards)
5) MicroZotl

Although I do have a Cayin/Spark Audio HA-1A - unlike N@Z I wouldn't recommend it for Grado Headphones. It's better suited for Beyer 880/Senn HD-600. The Good thing about Corda is it's ability to sound good to very good with several headphones. BTW I still prefer the Grado RA-1 with Senn HD-600 (I don't know why but it sounds good to me). The only other person in this forum that I know of that feels this way is Hirsch. In fact it was upon his suggestion that I discovered it lol. And this was before the new version of the RA-1 for higher impedence cans. I don't know what's the difference between this higher impedence Grado RA-1 and the original RA-1 but I suspect the gain has been increased.

If you are going the DIY route and making a Grado clone so to speak do make one using the OPA-627 op amp (you would need 2). Also add some elect caps to reduce/eliminate the pop sound on swithing on/off.
That way it wont be a clone (for ethical reasons) and you'll have an amp more suited for Grad IMO then thier own RA-1.

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rameish If you are going the DIY route and making a Grado clone so to speak do make one using the OPA-627 op amp (you would need 2). Also add some elect caps to reduce/eliminate the pop sound on swithing on/off. That way it wont be a clone (for ethical reasons) and you'll have an amp more suited for Grad IMO then thier own RA-1.

you've tried this? who's amp was it? i'm interested in making my own modified clone.

btw, anyone have any idea what the output impedance on the RA-1 is?

 

[N@Z]

I definitely don't like the Grado RA-1 with the HD600 nor the Grados. Oddly the RA-1 clone sounds ok to me. I prefer the Grado (RS-1) more so with the Cayin than the HD600 although that combination is still significantly better than with my previous MG Head OTL. I think it has something to do with the fact that I like acoustic instruments & vocals to sound a little more accentuated. And of course the rest of our system is totally different from each other.

BTW adhoc, Rameish owns an RA-1 clone. That was the one I tried.

The jury's still out for me on the Corda amps.

 

[Nik]

My Rudistor RP5 was extremely good with Grado RS-1 and PS-1. The RP3 (SS) are also very good!

Best!
Nicola

 

[TheReaper]

If you want to go tubes consider MAD Ear+ Purist/HD.

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N@Z I definitely don't like the Grado RA-1 with the HD600 nor the Grados. Oddly the RA-1 clone sounds ok to me.

Everyone is making "clones" a little bit differently it seems. Like there's one up in the for sale forum right now that has enough changes from the real thing it shouldn't even be called a clone. That's not a slam on the amp, the changes are likely to be improvements, but I think it's a misnomer to call these things "clones"

Rameish's idea for changes sounds interesting, I might try building one for myself (and I don't even have any Grados). But once you change the opamp it's surely not a "clone" anymore.