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Headphone Amp?

E

enelson125

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
Messages
485
Just curious, as I've been looking around on here at people's headphones and amps. I'm not to knowledgeable about audio, but I would like to learn.

First of all, what all does an amp do? I understand it really helps with the quality of sound when using headphones, but I don't know exactly what they do.

Secondly, would it be worth it for me to get an amp for my setup?
I have an Audigy 2 ZS and a set of Sennheiser HD515s.
If so what type would you guys recommend? I understand MisterX makes some great ones.

Thanks
 
It provides more power to make the drivers move. You average minijacks output dosn't give enough enough juice to drive some headphones.

I've not heard them, but because they are on the lower price scale, I would tend to think that Senn designed the HD515 to be driven from your average minijack. You'd probably get better bang/buck by buying better headphones.
 
I have an audigy 2 and HD595s, I havn't expericend Amp-age because I heard that amp isn't that much powerful for my headphones, but each headphone varies, I would suggest you visit Head-fi.org to learn up on some information there before you go spending the big bucks, also I'd consider a CMOY amp on ebay for about 70-100$ more then a MisterX for about 200$ min.... being that your headphones are really old and that they wouldn't help much over the common headphone on an amp.... always upgrade ear, then output, then amp. then cables.
 
also I'd consider a CMOY amp on ebay for about 70-100$ more then a MisterX for about 200$ min
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What?
How do you presume to comment about my prices if you don't even know? :confused:
 
Mysticcal said:
I have an audigy 2 and HD595s, I havn't expericend Amp-age because I heard that amp isn't that much powerful for my headphones.
Click to expand...

While it isn't the difference the 650s see from an amp, the HD595s do sound a lot better with an amp. My first amp was the Pocket Amp V2 running from my Audigy 2 ZS. It was an immediate difference compared to the 595s unamped. I could dig up my head-fi review but I feel very lazy right now, short story, it sounded a lot better :p

I upgraded to an EMU 0404, then after I picked up a Gilmore Lite. The Gilmore made the 595s sound so smooth, acoustic guitars are pure sex.

So yeah, if you are serious enough about audio to get the 595s, and resample the audigy for music, should pick up an amp, even a cheap one is nice :)
 
Because your larger case Pimeta amps and power adapters run 150-200, and I have yet to see another one go for 150.
 
So my understanding from all of this is that its not worth it with my current headphones. I was more curious than anything. Thanks for answering the questions.
 
Mysticcal said:
Because your larger case Pimeta amps and power adapters run 150-200, and I have yet to see another one go for 150.
Click to expand...


I don't make a habit out of selling them for less then it costs to build them so you prolly won't see another desktop one that low. ;)
 
Mysticcal said:
also I'd consider a CMOY amp on ebay for about 70-100$
Click to expand...

Dude, it'd be better to spend that money on a soldering iron, some solder, a CMOY board from tangent and the parts and build it himself. Then he can make his own Pimeta later on if he wants to upgrade :p.

That said, if he doesnt want to wait or cant be bothered, the stuff i've seen MisterX make is pretty damn nice :)
 
I have HD-515's and while they function from an unamped source, they show reasonable improvement from an amp.
 
If you're any decent with electronics or know somebody who is, whip up a small amp using two LM386 ICs.

I built one last year using instructions and schematics from http://www.minidisc.org/headbanger.html - cost about 10 bucks in parts not including batteries. Works like a goddamn charm.. sounds -perfect-, has enough power (375mW into 8-ohms) to just about shred the drivers in the sony MDR-V600s that I'm using.
 
kstokes said:
If you're any decent with electronics or know somebody who is, whip up a small amp using two LM386 ICs.

I built one last year using instructions and schematics from http://www.minidisc.org/headbanger.html - cost about 10 bucks in parts not including batteries. Works like a goddamn charm.. sounds -perfect-, has enough power (375mW into 8-ohms) to just about shred the drivers in the sony MDR-V600s that I'm using.
Click to expand...
CMoys aren't really that expensive... i've seen them go from 40-55 (55 = buy it now) on ebay on a regular basis..
 
OMFG mustang-FAQ time! :p


what an amp does: provides more power.

how can this REDUCE distortion: the headdphones may not be getting enough power from your soundcard/cd player/etc to operate properly. This can be heard in your headphones, how it's heard varies upon design. Grados (my headphones of choice) get extremely harsh treble when underpowered. Adding some power to these particular headphones will often get the headphones within the parameters they need to operate right, and give you the sound they were intended to.

are all amps equal?: No, damping factor, output power and THD will vary depending on the amp's design. Output power is the wattage of the amp. Most headphone amps are in the mW range, with only a few meant for top of the line phones that reach watts. Damping factor is the amp's ability to function with a wide range of loads. Damping factor for the most part is irrelevant with headphone amps, but it is for speaker amps, although most manufacturers dodge this spec. THD is your Total Harmonic Distortion, or, how accurate the output is. You want as low a THD number as possible.

Tubes vs Solid State: Vacuum tubes are popular for two reasons, one is the warmth that is found in tubes is considered pleasing to some. The other is tube amps, when driven to clipping, don't square the wave off as sharply as a solid-state amp...this means they actually sound better than solid states when being over-driven. This is also the reason many guitar amps are still tube based. Solid state has the advantage of imparting as little sound coloration as possible, but when driven to clipping is quite unpleasing. Tube amps also require buying new tubes from time to time, and need a warm up period, and also consume far more power than a solid state amp of the same output power. Basicaly, if you like the warmth tubes offer, then consider tubes, otherwise solid state will serve you better.

my headphone plug is not the size of the jack on the amp, HELP!: radioshack sells adaptors for about $5-6 that will solve this. The type of jack you see on a discman is a 1/8" miniplug, while the larger jacks you see on home stereo equipment is a 1/4" phono plug.
 
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