Any recommendations for head phone amplifier?

S

SNYP40A1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Messages
253
My new headphones arrived today (Sennheiser HD555) and I think I need an amplifier. If I upgrade my PC sound from onboard audio to Creative Audigy, will this be sufficient or will I still need a standalone amplifier? Can anyone recommend a good headphone amplifier? The impedance is 120 ohms.
 
go to headfi.org and learn all that you will ever need to know on the topic. I personally think that a cmoy would be a good choice (look for one on ebay).
 
I was going to say http://www.shellbrooklab.com/ but they just shut down due to, get this, high demand. A quality product is discontinued due to high demand. This has happened to me before with a custom paintball marker company.
 
if you need something cheap the LDM+ has good synergy with the HD555/595's
 
Budget? DIY? Use? (portable?)
What do you want out of it? (just for volume boost?)

If you want off the shelf, all I can suggest is check out www.head-fi.org and search around.
DIY can be cheaper but it can also be more expensive if you get carried away.

For DIY:
You can build a simple opamp based amp for $20 and this should be good for giving you a boost in volume and signal quailty
http://headwize.com/projects/showfile.php?file=cmoy2_prj.htm
http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

There are many other opamp based amp designs like the A47, Pimeta, PPA... More cost and more elaborate (active ground channels, buffers..) and also there are tube and hybrid (opamp and tube) based amp designs
http://headwize.com/ubb/showpage.php?fnum=3&tid=6339 for some ideas on where the cost is.
Check out the library at www.headwize.com

I would probably say a basic opamp cmoy if you want volume and some quality boost.
If you are using it a lot, you may want to look into using a wallwart (AC->DC outlet mount) for the powersupply (althought they are not the best for sound quality, it will be better than having to buy a ton of batters) or go for rechargeable batteries.

If you want to really make your cans sing, then you need to give some idea of budget or swing by head-fi.org and do some recon and ask there.
 
Just note, no amp is going to fix what comes out of most of your standard onboard audio solutions.
Amp's are not a magic bandage. If volume ain't an issue, look at upgrading your headphones and source first.

~CHeers
 
towert7 said:
Just note, no amp is going to fix what comes out of most of your standard onboard audio solutions.
Amp's are not a magic bandage. If volume ain't an issue, look at upgrading your headphones and source first.

~CHeers
Click to expand...

Good point. Some of my comments may have been misleading about quality but sometimes if you try to push a soundcard too much, you will get bad out of it so if you use an external amp, you don't have to stress the card and will get better singla for the same volume. However, if the sound is bad in the first place, then an amp will only amplify bad.

SNYP,. what motherboard do you have (what type of onboard sound is it?) I have used nforce2 and now soundmax and it seems to be decent quality (for a computer source)

Are you using these headphones for audio or gaming purposes?
 
Thanks for the comments. I posted over at headfi and got some good advice there too. I think I am going to upgrade my audio source first. So far I have only tried my laptop IBM T42 audio out, which seems to be plenty loud and powerful, and I think the issue was mostly burn-in related anyway. After listening for about 6-7 hours so far, it has cleared up a bit. My next move will be to buy a Sound Blaster Audigy or X-Fi card first and then see how the sound is. I have three desktop PCs, two LGA775's with onboard audio: RealTek and Soundmax, and an Athlon system with Sound Blaster Live audio card.
 
SNYP40A1: If you talk to Mister X I'm sure he can hook you up with a nice custom-made Pimeta like mine:


It really brought my Senns to life even though they're the fairly efficient 64 Ohm versions. I sold my iRiver but I still use the amp on my desktop setup all the time.
 
Had one of those..Should have never sold it...

SilverMK3 said:
SNYP40A1: If you talk to Mister X I'm sure he can hook you up with a nice custom-made Pimeta like mine:


It really brought my Senns to life even though they're the fairly efficient 64 Ohm versions. I sold my iRiver but I still use the amp on my desktop setup all the time.
Click to expand...
 
yeah MisteX makes some tanks for real. I was very impressed with a pint he made. build quality and detail work is done with pride.
 
How does one get in contact with him? (retarded question, but I'm tired, and my brain doesn't care) :D
 
Sigh.. I really need to go to bed..

Thanks thought.. however, something that obvious really adds insult to injury.. :p
 
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