[Rozeqloud]

Im curious and feeling that my HD800s havent performed their best for me yet with
a DX100 and SR71B setup , and now a Cayin ( and SR71B)
 
My MG6 pros sound amazing and im thinking i have all the power to squeeze all they re
capable of .
 
i ve never heard my HD 800s under any other circumstances
 
i ve googled best headphone amp pairings for HD800 and this one has my interest
HeadRoom Balanced Ultra Desktop Amp (BUDA)
It s quite affordable.
 
The balanced option piques my desire
 
I ve went to their website , its confusing at best . i only see cables there . Do they still make that
or any headphone amps ?
 
Now  HiFiGuy528 has me drooling over that woo audio. Im sure its outta my price range tho
 
It also says its single ended but has 4 pin xlr . How does that work , is it balanced as well ?
i ll be using my Cayin N6 to transport music and as dac as well
 
Cheers in advance for all help

 

[nephilim32]

It's amazing how so many out there don't mention the BURSON Soloist amplifier. This is a very good pairing with the HD 800's. You get more than enough power with just 2W into 16OHMS. Not only that, the circuitry pathway through this class-A amp uses only 21 components! This, in other words, is what ensures a pitch black background for most of your listening pleasures depending on the quality of your recording you are listening too. Yes. It is an extremely revealing set up. Both the Burson and HD 800's are extremely neutral sounding, but this is a great way to understand how music is really supposed to sound. All in all, I'm very pro Burson with the HD 800's. You get all that you need, but the only problem is that this set up May piss off a lot of people cause it exposes weak recording in a very glaring fashion; however, when you get that beautiful record sounding proper this set up brings it to life tenfold!!
It's a risk I know cause a lot of sound engineers don't know what the **** they are doing.

 

[jibzilla]

Apex Teton gets my vote. Just amazing with hd800's and I have listened to the Stratus.

 

[stec74]

Hi guys, I finally found time to review my new Amp, the EstroArmonico OTL Signature, here:
http://www.ilgazeboaudiofilo.com/t27363-ampli-estroarmonico-otl-signature
 
The review is only in italian (google translate can help you), but I plan a full english translate next week on this forum...
At now I can say you just... WoW !!!
I cannot compare with other Amps of the same class, but for who know olds EstroArmonico headphone Amps I can say:
You know how they sound good, right? OK, now forget them! the previous models sound like broken radios if compared to this one!
 
Even with HD800 and HD650! The first one are now enough power and quality to express themselves, with cristal clear sparkles-less highs, velvet voices and powerfull deep basses. You do not know how the HD800 can go deep and how they can be strong, thrust me!
 
The second one are incredibly really really close to the HD800 !
I do not know how this can be possibile, but with hi-res music you can still here the different setting but more open, defined and definitively close to her big sister.
Put the Doug Macleod (There's a Time, HDCD) disk in your player and you cannot prefer an headphone over the other!
 
Really amazing, the definitive OTL Amp for my HD800 imho...

 

[stec74]

  it really depends on what you like

 
Oh YES, absolutely, but not only! It depends what you like for sure and what you can try and compare and match with your source and gears!

 

[vnmslsrbms]

I like my Auralic Taurus MKII.  I think the main thing is to make sure that you're feeding it enough power.  Anything with enough power will drive it sufficiently, then it comes down to your personal tastes.  

 

[DirkB]

I intend to get a Schiit Bifrost Multibit DAC together with the Schiit Valhalla 2 Amp to run my HD800. Any thoughts on that combination?

 

[Wildcatsare1]

I intend to get a Schiit Bifrost Multibit DAC together with the Schiit Valhalla 2 Amp to run my HD800. Any thoughts on that combination?

The Valhalla 2 is supposed to be a pretty good match, the Bimby is a little to new. Through I will be sending in my Uber Bifrost for the upgrade to multi-bit.

 

[kapanak]

  I intend to get a Schiit Bifrost Multibit DAC together with the Schiit Valhalla 2 Amp to run my HD800. Any thoughts on that combination?

Probably the best Schiit stack starter pack

 

[LoutishXY]

I have been powering my HD 800 with an Asgard 2 w/ Bifrost Uber for the past year. To my ears everything sounds very clear, there is absolutely no floor noise or distortion even with the volume cranked. Although you will probably need to EQ the lower end to be more pronounced.

 

[kapanak]

I recently responded to another Head-fi'er regarding the comparison between the Schiit Valhalla 2 and Bottlehead Crack w/Speedball upgrade. I thought I'd share that here.
 
The Bottlehead Crack and the Valhalla 2 are both arguably the best under $1K-1.5K amps for the HD800.
 
Do keep in mind, both of these amplifiers are OTL (output transformerless headphone amps).
 
Let's assume that the Bottlehead Crack was preassembled, as I think you already know it is a DIY amp that must be assembled by you. There is no question that the Speedball upgrade is necessary and crucial for pairing with the HD650 or HD800.
 
The Bottlehead Crack is as stereotypical as a tube amp gets: It gives a warm, smooth tone to the HD800. To my ears, the warmth was too much for the dark sound of HD650, but still a great pairing. The crack has an output impedance of 120 ohms, which is massive. This is an amp only meant to be used with 150ohm and above headphones, no questions. Compared to higher priced options, it is not as resolving and controlled enough to take full advantage of the HD800 capabilities, but almost there. The choice of tubes in this amp, given it is entire tube driven, plays an important role in how your sound is coloured.
 
The Valhalla 2 is a whole other story. This is not a typical fully tube driven amp. It is very resolving, even for HD800. It has fast, neutral sound, and the clarity is astonishing at this tier of amps. The Crack is definitely a few notches warmer. I prefer the HD800 with Valhalla 2, as it takes advantage of all the capabilities of the HD800. The output impedance is 3.5 ohm on low, and 14 ohm on high setting, so it pairs a lot better with other headphones, though I do not recommend this with low impedance orthodynamic headphones, as it does not deliver enough power for orthodynamics. Lyr 2 or Asgard 2 would be a better pairing if you want to use Audeze, MrSpeakers or Hifiman products (they are far more versatile).
 
At the end of the day, I vastly prefer the Valhalla 2 with both HD800 and HD650. You really won't find a better fully tube driven output transformerless amp until you seriously increase your budget by three to four times. However, I also own the Bottlehead Crack for two reasons. It is easier to listen to when I am tired and do not want to be attentive to my music (kind of hard to explain). And also, I love to DIY electronics (physicist by practice, work in a quantum computing lab, so electronics are kind of my life), and the Bottlehead Crack allows me to tweak parts as I see fit, and observe if there are any changes to the sound (usually only tubes and capacitors make a small but noticeable difference).

 

[high-fidelity]

Hello guys,
 
How is the performance with Sony Pha-3? Did anybody use it?
 
Thanks

 

[stec74]

Hi guys, I finally publish the review of my EstroArmonico  Amp here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/785927/estroarmonico-otl-signature-headphone-amplifier
 
It is my very first review here, so be patient for my english... and me too

 

[wikifi]

I am using HD-800 with PHA-3 balanced out and it sound fantastic and crisp. this is with a little tweak though. Gain set to low and  following settings on EqualizerAPO.
 
Channel: 1 2
Preamp: 0,00 dB
Filter : ON  LS     Fc 53 Hz   Gain 5,14 dB
Filter : ON  PEQ     Fc 6505 Hz   Gain -7,14 dB  BW Oct 0,396
Filter : ON  PEQ     Fc 9004 Hz   Gain -2,00 dB  BW Oct 0,105
Filter : ON  PK     Fc 55 Hz   Gain 1,43 dB  BW Oct 0,260
 
Also has Gustard 10 with AD797 op amps and compare to PHA-3 it's sound less detailed, especially in highs but sounds better without above tweaks.

 

[Shetzu]

It's amazing how so many out there don't mention the BURSON Soloist amplifier. This is a very good pairing with the HD 800's. You get more than enough power with just 2W into 16OHMS. Not only that, the circuitry pathway through this class-A amp uses only 21 components! This, in other words, is what ensures a pitch black background for most of your listening pleasures depending on the quality of your recording you are listening too. Yes. It is an extremely revealing set up. Both the Burson and HD 800's are extremely neutral sounding, but this is a great way to understand how music is really supposed to sound. All in all, I'm very pro Burson with the HD 800's. You get all that you need, but the only problem is that this set up May piss off a lot of people cause it exposes weak recording in a very glaring fashion; however, when you get that beautiful record sounding proper this set up brings it to life tenfold!!
It's a risk I know cause a lot of sound engineers don't know what the **** they are doing.

I intend to buy the same setup shortly. First the Hdfc 800 then the burson