2. amps-preamps
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Headphone amp and headphones... ?

I'm thinking about buying a headphone amp and headphones... will i hear a noticable difference if i 'm in the 1500.00 headphone range and around 700.00 for the amp? I have Rouge audio 180 mono blocks and the 99 preamp. The way it is now i can't get any sound / volume out of it with just the headphones
bobmclean
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
Listen to the Sennheisers, Grados, AkG's. Go to Heaphone.com and get their amp. The resulting sound will be much better than your current system....actually, better than almost any speaker system.
mcondon
223 posts
 
Madman, I have custom IEM's, the JH Audio JH16s, and they are really excellent. However, I think the Audeze LCD-2's are even better. The reviews of the LCD-2s are pretty glowing and accurate in my experience.

I would look for a tube headphone amp as well. I use a Woo WA22, which I am happy with. But if I had to do it over again, would probably have bought a Decware or Woo WA2, as OTL amps are really magical as long as the headphones have a reasonably high impedance (at least 50 Ohms).

I would stay away from solid state amps...I have not found them to be as good as tube amps at the same price level. If you absolutely need solid state, I would recommend Blue Circle. Their least expensive headphone amp at $750 was almost as good as the $3000 Luxman P1-u solid state amp I used to own.
tonykay
856 posts
 
Jax2- The Stax headphones I'm using today are the Lambda Signatures with an SRM-T1S driver unit. I'm sure that I'm
biased, but if anyone heard these they couldn't be happy
with anything less. They're that good! They truly sound
like you're listening through a window on the soundstage.
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