headphone amp?

R

Riddleofsteel

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 4, 2007
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Can anyone recommend an inexpensive but effective headphone amplifier for computer use? Thanks.
 
u can try to find a Pimeta or CMoy based amp. They are cheap and portable. Also if you have about 120 dollars you can get a Mini^3 from Mister_X, just PM him
 
Don't get an amp for a Prelude. The Prelude uses quality op amps to begin with. An amp will make the signal worse by adding an unnecessary stage, and most people use op amps like OPA2134 in them - that is to say good op amps, but not quite as good as Prelude's. The LM4562 in the Prelude is about tied with the AD8599 as the best small signal op amps.
 
hate to thread jack but, What about an amp for some sennheiser HD280 Pros of an Audigy 2? Looking for cheap but good.
 
v8_h8r said:
hate to thread jack but, What about an amp for some sennheiser HD280 Pros of an Audigy 2? Looking for cheap but good.
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Not required. I ran that setup for a while. Just add a decibel or two to the first octave in the Creative EQ (to taste) and you're pretty much ready to rock.
 
pm MisterX for an amp, he makes really good ones. Even if you are using a prelude with nice opamps, for most good headphones you still NEED a good amp. Some can get away w/o one like the AT-A900s or Senns 595, but anything better and you definitely want an amp. To say that hd280s are 'fine' w/o an amp is a stretch, the could definitely use one. My 650s sound a million times better now that I have an amp, and yes I upgraded the opamps on my X-FI (the DAC is the weak link but I can't change that :().
 
PM Mister X and receive no reply. The guy's gone as far as I can tell. Might still be around at Head-Fi, but I just don't know (the guy seems like an asshole to me anyway).

As for the HD280s, I've run them with an iPod, an Audigy 2 ZS (front/headphone output), the headphone out of a Teac five disc CD player (for a time), a Marantz 2240B, an X-Fi Elite Pro, a Prelude and through the Elite Pro to a Darkvoice 332 (haven't tried the Prelude+Darkvoice combo yet, but the Elite Pro and the Prelude sound pretty much identical to me anyway). They were somewhat disappointing only when driven by the iPod and left very little to be desired out of the Audigy 2. Any fluctuations between all of the configurations have been observably minor. If anything, I thought the 2240B's inconspicuous headphone amp got the most out of them in terms of my tastes.

The budget I'd allocate to amping the 280s out of the Audigy 2 is exactly $0.
 
There's no difference from what I've heard. At best, you're amplifying the same (less than pristine) signal coming out of the sound card anyway. Unless you really do have a basic volume issue, and that's rare, you don't need a headphone amp IMO. All the differences I've ever heard using an amp, direct jack on a breakout box, and straight into the card (or motherboard) have always been due to volume differences, not quality differences. Pyschoacoustic tricks, like on some of the headroom amps, are something different.

Perhaps if you have a super-high-end rig it can be an issue, but at that point it's not "do I get an amp or not", you have the cash AND the obsession to just do it. Just my $0.02.
 
If you think that HD650s or equivalent sound the same with and without an amp, you need to go ear doctor im sorry. Many of these headphones have 320ohm drivers, sound cards dont have that kind of muscle. Concerning Mister X, I don't know if he's gone or not, but he was always very nice and helpful to me when I was looking to build/buy and amp. Now im not saying that you absolutely need an amp, for example my AT A900s sounded almost as good w/o one and Senn 555s and 595s are also good, but certain high end heaphones will sound like crap unless you get an amp.
 
shiznit said:
If you think that HD650s or equivalent sound the same with and without an amp, you need to go ear doctor im sorry. Many of these headphones have 32ohm drivers, sound cards dont have that kind of muscle.
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But then you have a volume issue, not necessarily a quality issue.
 
Man you are fast. Yes and no, when certain frequencies are unintentionally weaker than others due to low amplification, the volume issue becomes a quality isssue.
 
For 300 ohm HD650s, I absolutely wouldn't consider running them "unamped", yes. The HD280s are rated at 64 ohms, and most sound cards should drive reasonably sensitive sub-100 ohm cans respectably. Some cards can deliver enough juice to high impedance cans to deliver good SPLs, of course.

The main differences between driving the HD280s in different manners, in my experience, has been low-end response. They seem to suffer in that department slightly when poorly amplified, but otherwise everything seems just fine to me. Different amps may deliver noticeably different qualities of course.
 
phide said:
Not required. I ran that setup for a while. Just add a decibel or two to the first octave in the Creative EQ (to taste) and you're pretty much ready to rock.
Click to expand...

X2..Don't need much for the 280's. An amp just makes the bad sound, louder.
They work fine coming out of an Ipod
 
x2 on the Zero DAC Amp.

You could get the cheapest X-Fi you could find, since it'll only be a transport. Then run it to the Zero DAC Amp. It should be better than the Prelude. The total will probably be about $220 if you go this route, but it'll sound great.
 
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