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Need help finding an amp

TomPo

n00b
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Messages
7
I just recently bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 595s. I knew I needed an amp for these headphones, but I never really bothered until now. I've looked around at different amps on the net, but I'm so clueless at this point on which one would compliment the 595s the best.

I was considering getting this for the computer (sound card: Audigy 2 ZS) plus it'll be small enough to use with my Ipod. The price of the headroom amp would be the maximum range I'm wanting to pay for one atm. But I could be willing to pay more if there is an absolute ‘must have’ amp that’s more than $200.
 
those bithead amps are overpriced. You can find a DIYer to make you a better one for the same money.
 
Elderblaze said:
those bithead amps are overpriced. You can find a DIYer to make you a better one for the same money.

May I ask where can I get the kit DIYer? Thanks (A link would be very helpful)
 
vat said:
May I ask where can I get the kit DIYer? Thanks (A link would be very helpful)

I think he was referring to a DIYer as a builder who can build one for you, not a kit. Although if you're interested in getting the parts and doing it yourself, this site may help: http://tangentsoft.net/audio/

If you're looking for a builder, contact MisterX.
 
Stretch the budget $100 and get a Headamp Gilmore Lite for home use. (http://www.headamp.com).

But I would upgrade that sound card of yours first, :). EMU-0404 would be a good choice!
 
Elderblaze said:
those bithead amps are overpriced. You can find a DIYer to make you a better one for the same money.

i bought a MINT in a serpac case thats battery powered from a guy on the head-fi forums (check the FS forum). Love the thing, even though most of the sound cards i use it w/ suck (intel integrated w/ ibm/dell laptops at work where it sees the most use; with an audigy and an x-fi sometimes at home). specs on it:

It has an opa2228 opamp, 330uf capacitors, diodes, all vishay dale resistors, aluminum knob, 3mm white led, all wired in belden silver plated copper and soldered with cardas quad eutectic solder, and biased into class A.

which means very little to me, but it sounds a hell of lot better and it was only like $60 shipped. im running the HD595 50ohm model. bought them from newegg and they were supposedly the 120ohm, but i figured i'll never notice the difference.
 
I thank you all for your assistance and suggestions. I'm currently talking to Mister X about an Amp, so thank you for pointing me in his direction.

But I would upgrade that sound card of yours first, :). EMU-0404 would be a good choice!
Never tried or even thought about this before, but would it be possible to have two sound cards on one system? Or at least does the EMU-0404 perform on par with the Audigy in gaming? I agree that I do need a better source, but getting the headphones and amp out of the way took priority over the source.
 
im running the HD595 50ohm model. bought them from newegg and they were supposedly the 120ohm, but i figured i'll never notice the difference.

I was expecting the same thing when I ordered mine from Amazon and ended up with the 50ohm model. It's faultily advertisement I say!
 
Yeah, you can run two cards together - use the Audigy for games and the E-Mu for music. Apparently there's occasional minor driver quibbles, but it mostly works. This is just going on head-fi reports, I haven't done it myself (my lil Shuttle only has one PCI slot :>)
 
TomPo said:
I thank you all for your assistance and suggestions. I'm currently talking to Mister X about an Amp, so thank you for pointing me in his direction.


Never tried or even thought about this before, but would it be possible to have two sound cards on one system? Or at least does the EMU-0404 perform on par with the Audigy in gaming? I agree that I do need a better source, but getting the headphones and amp out of the way took priority over the source.

You can definitely use multiple sound cards. If you use Foobar2000, it is as easy as just switching the output stream.

The EMU0404, for music, destroys the Audigy. I do not know about gaming performance. But definitely, when you spend that much money on your setup, your Audigy is bottlenecking the system by a huge margin.
 
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