Can anyone recommend a sub $200 headphone amp?

polkapolka · April 2009

Used is OK. I would prefer to get something higher end in the used market, rather than paying full retail for a lesser quality amp.

I have posted that I am also trying to use my Onkyo HT520 AVR for a headphone amp. This isn't a double post. I want to find out what my options are, so I am gathering information on different methods of powering my cans, so that I can make a better informed decision.

Right now I have Sennheiser PC 350 Gaming Headset. However, my plans are either Grado SR60i, or perhaps Senn. 650, if I can swing the $.

So, while these are gaming headsets, they suffice for music for now. I am looking for an above average sounding headphone set up. I am not an audiophile, as I don't have that kind of cash, but I do like good sound. Music will be my primary use for the future cans.

Thanks,
Matt

Fongolio · April 2009

I bought a pair of Grado SR80's off a guy in the forum a month or two back and they are really nice sounding. I don't need a headphone amp with the on my Carver pre or my Yamaha AVR. They are quite low impedence and work very efficiently. However I do have 300 ohm pair of AKG's that need a headphone amp to go to decent listening levels and for that I use a Behringer Amp 800 multy output headphone amp that I bought new for less that $100.00 cdn. Very clean sounding and gives me enough gain to really enjoy the studio quality AKG's. The Behringer needs AC power where some portable headphone amps work on battery.

Ender · April 2009

The Senn 650 are going to want something more than a sub-$200 amp. Your other listed headphones, however, don't require that much of an amp. However, a great budget amp is the Mini3 or you could try grabbing a used Headamp AE-1. The Fiio E5 is great if you just need something to give you a nice bass boost (something a headphone like the AD700 needs). X-Can V3 is nice, especially with some well-known and well-documented modding. Little Dot MKIII and any Eddie Current amp will be awesome. Hotaudio amps are great, but can be hissy with sensitive cans (generally pertains to IEM or earbuds, so full-sized cans are usually ok).

CRESCENDOPOWER · April 2009

Save up for a used Heed CANAMP.

BlueFox · April 2009

polkapolka wrote: »

.... or perhaps Senn. 650, if I can swing the $.

I just ordered the 650s today from Sarjo Distributions for $335. It turned out they are an Amazon seller so I had no problem going with a new online retailer.

http://www.gosale.com/2232/sennheiser-hd650-audiophile?gclid=CNzmrsjq9JkCFRxNagodckU4Rg

For a headphone amp check out Musical Fidelity V Can. They are mentioned in this month's issue, May 2009, of stereophile and got a good write up.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MFVCAN

mhardy6647 · April 2009

Get yourself a soldering iron and build Pete Millett's "Starving Student" headphone amp :-)

http://www.pmillett.com/starving.htm

I have built a couple examples of his earlier low-voltage hybrid headphone amp/preamp and thought it was quite nice. My son's got one of them with at college; he 's using it, amazingly enough, to drive a pair of Polk Monitor 5Bs in his dorm room. (and for headphones, too, occasionally)

http://www.pmillett.com/hybrid_head.htm

heiney9 · April 2009

I haven't personally used one yet, but am thinking of purchasing because of the rave reviews and using it as a pre-amp and occasional headphone amp.

Little Dot MKIII or MKIV. You can find them on Ebay out of Canada or China and as I understand it they are very reputable and helpful. I have not direct experience with them yet.

MK4SE%20ISO.jpg

The All-New Little Dot MK IV is our flagship headphone amplifier/pre-amplifier in the Little Dot MK-series. SEPP (OTL) in Class-A circuit design filled with high quality components such as an ALPS-27 potentiometer, Nichicon, Rubycon, and German WIMA/ERO capacitors, the Little Dot MK IV is truly our best effort yet. Regardless of whether your headphones are 32 ohms or 600 ohms, the Little Dot MK IV can drive them easily with effortless dynamics (45Vp-p!) , subterranean bass, cavernous soundstage, and precise 3-D imaging.

Also adds in user-tweaking options such as two gain switches to delivery maximum compatibility with all your headphones, regardless of impedance or sensitivity. Also available for the very first time in a Little Dot amplifier, is an internal jumper to allow use with a wider range of driver tube-rolling, including the EF92, CV131, WE403A/B, GE5654, M8100, CV4010, EF95, 6JI as well as all equivalents, derivatives, and direct replacements to these vacuum tubes!

The MKIII is very similar and are $189 + $49 shipping out of Canada on Ebay right now.

H9

Face · April 2009

http://www.nuforce-icon.com/Product-Icon.htm

USB DAC, headphone amp, and 12wpc amp. My girlfriend has one in her laptop rig, it sounds really nice.

venomclan · April 2009

Ender wrote: »

The Senn 650 are going to want something more than a sub-$200 amp.

I am looking at the 650's. I have no experience yet with headphone amps. Do you think my Benchmark DAC1 is up to the task for them?
Venom

BlueFox · April 2009

venomclan wrote: »

I am looking at the 650's. I have no experience yet with headphone amps. Do you think my Benchmark DAC1 is up to the task for them?

I specifically ordered my 650s to use with my Dac1. Once they arrive I will give a more detailed answer, but I am going to be MIGHTY surprised if the answer is not "They sound great with the Dac1."

Ender · April 2009

I don't know of the DAC1's amp quality. I've always had separate components so I can pick and choose the quality of this type of amp or DAC except for the one time I got the Zero and a possible grab at the Compass.

mhardy6647 · April 2009

Lasareath wrote: »

Here's a link to check out:

http://www.obadimports.com/page/page/4377302.htm

I like the concept of a Tripath chipset HP amp...

BlueFox · April 2009

venomclan wrote: »

I am looking at the 650's. I have no experience yet with headphone amps. Do you think my Benchmark DAC1 is up to the task for them?

I was just killing some time at work on Stereophile's web-site, and I found this review.

"As a headphone amp, the Benchmark DAC1 Pre really shoneeven with fussy, difficult-to-drive headphones like my reference AKG K-701s, or my affordable faves, the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700s. Again, the sound was crisp, clean, maybe a tad lean. Bass control was excellent."

http://stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/1008bench/

One point to remember is the Dac1 has internal jumpers that allow the user to increase or decrease the total gain. If you find you need a bit more ommph, just change the jumpers. It's in the manual.

CRESCENDOPOWER · April 2009

venomclan wrote: »

I am looking at the 650's. I have no experience yet with headphone amps. Do you think my Benchmark DAC1 is up to the task for them?
Venom

Buy the HD 600s or AKG 701s. The 650s are ridiculously colored.

polkapolka · April 2009

CRESCENDOPOWER wrote: »

Buy the HD 600s or AKG 701s. The 650s are ridiculously colored.

Thanks for that tip. Do you find that the 650s are colored warm, or how so?

I will definitely look into those.

Ender · April 2009

FWIR, the 650 are warm and dark. I have the K701, and I love it coming out of my Heed Canamp. Rocks the sox. Very neutral and reproduces sounds so naturally.

CRESCENDOPOWER · April 2009

polkapolka wrote: »

Thanks for that tip. Do you find that the 650s are colored warm, or how so?

I will definitely look into those.

Warm with bass that takes over the music. They are a failure on Sennheiser's part, and don’t listen to anyone that tells you that purchasing a balanced amp will solve its problems.

polkapolka · April 2009

Fongolio wrote: »

I bought a pair of Grado SR80's off a guy in the forum a month or two back and they are really nice sounding. I don't need a headphone amp with the on my Carver pre or my Yamaha AVR. They are quite low impedence and work very efficiently. However I do have 300 ohm pair of AKG's that need a headphone amp to go to decent listening levels and for that I use a Behringer Amp 800 multy output headphone amp that I bought new for less that $100.00 cdn. Very clean sounding and gives me enough gain to really enjoy the studio quality AKG's. The Behringer needs AC power where some portable headphone amps work on battery.

Thanks, I will definitely look into that. Good tip on the Grados as well.

Thanks again,
Matt

Ender wrote: »

The Senn 650 are going to want something more than a sub-$200 amp. Your other listed headphones, however, don't require that much of an amp. However, a great budget amp is the Mini3 or you could try grabbing a used Headamp AE-1. The Fiio E5 is great if you just need something to give you a nice bass boost (something a headphone like the AD700 needs). X-Can V3 is nice, especially with some well-known and well-documented modding. Little Dot MKIII and any Eddie Current amp will be awesome. Hotaudio amps are great, but can be hissy with sensitive cans (generally pertains to IEM or earbuds, so full-sized cans are usually ok).

I will have to take some time and dig into this some more.
Thanks, Matt

CRESCENDOPOWER wrote: »

Save up for a used Heed CANAMP.

Any more specifics on these? What has been your experience with either/both of these? For example, are they neutral sounding, slightly warm, etc.?

Good stuff,
Matt

BlueFox wrote: »

I just ordered the 650s today from Sarjo Distributions for $335. It turned out they are an Amazon seller so I had no problem going with a new online retailer.

http://www.gosale.com/2232/sennheiser-hd650-audiophile?gclid=CNzmrsjq9JkCFRxNagodckU4Rg

Cool. Let me know how they work out for you.:)

Thanks,
Matt

For a headphone amp check out Musical Fidelity V Can. They are mentioned in this month's issue, May 2009, of stereophile and got a good write up.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MFVCAN

Sweet, I will have to look at that. I appreciate your taking the time to drop the link in there.

Thanks, Matt

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Get yourself a soldering iron and build Pete Millett's "Starving Student" headphone amp :-)

http://www.pmillett.com/starving.htm

Very good stuff. This is very interesting to me. My main concern is, how hard is it to do this? I am willing to practice soldering and getting my technique down. I have been looking at stations for some time now, and this would be the perfect excuse to pull the trigger on one.

Thanks,
Matt

I have built a couple examples of his earlier low-voltage hybrid headphone amp/preamp and thought it was quite nice. My son's got one of them with at college; he 's using it, amazingly enough, to drive a pair of Polk Monitor 5Bs in his dorm room. (and for headphones, too, occasionally)

http://www.pmillett.com/hybrid_head.htm

Sounds impressive. I will have to take some time and look at that as well.
Thanks for taking the time to give me the links and all this information.

Matt

heiney9 wrote: »

I haven't personally used one yet, but am thinking of purchasing because of the rave reviews and using it as a pre-amp and occasional headphone amp.

Sweet, very helpful.

Little Dot MKIII or MKIV. You can find them on Ebay out of Canada or China and as I understand it they are very reputable and helpful. I have not direct experience with them yet.

I have heard a little about these, but this is encouraging...
Thanks, Matt

The All-New Little Dot MK IV is our flagship headphone amplifier/pre-amplifier in the Little Dot MK-series. SEPP (OTL) in Class-A circuit design filled with high quality components such as an ALPS-27 potentiometer, Nichicon, Rubycon, and German WIMA/ERO capacitors, the Little Dot MK IV is truly our best effort yet. Regardless of whether your headphones are 32 ohms or 600 ohms, the Little Dot MK IV can drive them easily with effortless dynamics (45Vp-p!) , subterranean bass, cavernous soundstage, and precise 3-D imaging.

Also adds in user-tweaking options such as two gain switches to delivery maximum compatibility with all your headphones, regardless of impedance or sensitivity. Also available for the very first time in a Little Dot amplifier, is an internal jumper to allow use with a wider range of driver tube-rolling, including the EF92, CV131, WE403A/B, GE5654, M8100, CV4010, EF95, 6JI as well as all equivalents, derivatives, and direct replacements to these vacuum tubes!

The MKIII is very similar and are $189 + $49 shipping out of Canada on Ebay right now.

Very, very good!

H9

Lasareath wrote: »

Here's a link to check out:

http://www.obadimports.com/page/page/4377302.htm

Face wrote: »

http://www.nuforce-icon.com/Product-Icon.htm

Sweet, very helpful!
Thanks,
Matt

USB DAC, headphone amp, and 12wpc amp. My girlfriend has one in her laptop rig, it sounds really nice.

I never would have guessed that a USB DAC would sound good. They have come a long way, haven't they?

Thanks,
Matt

venomclan wrote: »

I am looking at the 650's. I have no experience yet with headphone amps. Do you think my Benchmark DAC1 is up to the task for them?
Venom

Thanks to everyone for all of your input. The links are fantastic. I will be chewing on this for some time!

Please keep the suggestions coming,
Matt

hockeyboy · April 2009

I bought one of these and it works like a champ. You can also search the term "CMOY" amp, or Altoids amp and see a strong variety.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-CMOY-AMP-HEADAMP-HI-FI_W0QQitemZ260393770663QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item260393770663&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Ender · April 2009

I have a Desktop Cmoy if you want, but imo, Cmoys are really really basic entry level amps.

BlueFox · April 2009

CRESCENDOPOWER wrote: »

Buy the HD 600s or AKG 701s. The 650s are ridiculously colored.

Any data for that opinion?

"The HD650 wins "Recommended Component" status in the April 2006 issue of Stereophile magazine, which refers to them as Editor Jon Atkinson's "new reference cans.""

""The Sennheiser HD 650s were so good that I sold my reference headphones and replaced them with the HD 650s, and I haven't regretted the decision for a second," raves Doug Paratore in his July 2005 review for SoundStage! online."

"In his January 10, 2005 review for New York magazine at newyorkmetro.com, Jacob Bernstein lauds the HD650 for its "unbelievable clarity and detail.""

""Very crisp, detailed and even sound allied to superlative build and fine comfort makes [the HD650] all most people will ever want," reports the May 2005 issue of England's Hi-Fi World magazine. "

""The impact of the music is powerful, even at low volumes, but never overdone or bloated," reports Doug Paratore in SoundStage! "The bass is consistently taut and controlled, making for some very enjoyable listening sessions."

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SEHD650

venomclan · April 2009

I hooked up with a local head-fi.org meet. These guys know their $hit when it comes to phones and source. A buddy is lending me a pair of 650's to kick around. I think he has a few different sets of phones. I will keep you posted.
Venom

CRESCENDOPOWER · April 2009

BlueFox wrote: »

Any data for that opinion?

"The HD650 wins "Recommended Component" status in the April 2006 issue of Stereophile magazine, which refers to them as Editor Jon Atkinson's "new reference cans.""

""The Sennheiser HD 650s were so good that I sold my reference headphones and replaced them with the HD 650s, and I haven't regretted the decision for a second," raves Doug Paratore in his July 2005 review for SoundStage! online."

"In his January 10, 2005 review for New York magazine at newyorkmetro.com, Jacob Bernstein lauds the HD650 for its "unbelievable clarity and detail.""

""Very crisp, detailed and even sound allied to superlative build and fine comfort makes [the HD650] all most people will ever want," reports the May 2005 issue of England's Hi-Fi World magazine. "

""The impact of the music is powerful, even at low volumes, but never overdone or bloated," reports Doug Paratore in SoundStage! "The bass is consistently taut and controlled, making for some very enjoyable listening sessions."

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SEHD650

You can post a link to anything; it still doesn't change the fact that the 650s are transducers that are colored beyond belief.

Ender · April 2009

Lol, yeah. You can have colored AND detailed headphones. HFI-780 is another detailed but colored headphone. The 650 are nice headphones... just colored.

BlueFox · April 2009

CRESCENDOPOWER wrote: »

You can post a link to anything; it still doesn't change the fact that the 650s are transducers that are colored beyond belief.

It very well might be true. Let's see the data.

CRESCENDOPOWER · April 2009

BlueFox wrote: »

It very well might be true. Let's see the data.

The data used are my ears, and they are very good.

BlueFox · April 2009

CRESCENDOPOWER wrote: »

The data used are my ears, and they are very good.

Okay. That's what I was looking for. Thanks.

hockeyboy · April 2009

Really the ears would be a receiver, the data was processed using the state of the art crescendopower melon shaped processor.

madmax · April 2009

I don't hear any color from the HD-600's and understand them to have the same basic sound as the 650's. Certainly they are not bass heavy. You do need to have a good amp to drive them.
madmax

polkapolka · April 2009

Ender wrote: »

I have a Desktop Cmoy if you want, but imo, Cmoys are really really basic entry level amps.

OK, thanks Ender.

hockeyboy wrote: »

I bought one of these and it works like a champ. You can also search the term "CMOY" amp, or Altoids amp and see a strong variety.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-CMOY-AMP-HEADAMP-HI-FI_W0QQitemZ260393770663QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item260393770663&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Yeah, this may be a cheap way to start out, until I get my feet wet a little with this type of equipment.

madmax wrote: »

I don't hear any color from the HD-600's and understand them to have the same basic sound as the 650's. Certainly they are not bass heavy. You do need to have a good amp to drive them.
madmax

Thanks, yeah I heard they need some good quality ampage to drive them.
Matt

Can anyone recommend a sub $200 headphone amp?

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