I just ordered a pair of the 650's with an upgraded cable from Drew at Moon Audio. I have been over at head-fi.org and Headroom Corp. and looked through these forums too and have come up with several possibilities for a new headphone amp. My question is, is there something that would considerably improve upon the Antique Sound Labs MG Head (older version with transformer, and Telefunkens) that I currently use with my Senn 600's? I am tempted by the Headroom new Max, the Grace 901, the Sugden Headmaster, and various other esoteric things I read about at head-fi. There are a lot of headphone listeners here, too. Any thoughts on whether I could substantially improve on the MG Head? Maybe other tubes than the Telefunkens I now use?
I bought a pair of HD 600's with my Benchmark DAC-1 and am very happy with it. The benefits obviously being that for the 850.00 you get a very high quality DAC.
I am forced to chime in with my opinion on the Earmax Pro. I had a Headroom Max (SS amp) and the Earmax Pro is simply superior with HD650s--more liquid sound, less fatigue (crossfeed notwithstanding), amazing bass.
Be aware that the Earmax PRO is NOT the same as the Earmax--the Pro version can drive some of the more difficult headphones that the standard Earmax cannot drive effectively.
Ive used my rkv with my hd600s for four years now, sounds fantastic but I cant compare to anything else as I havent heard any other amps. Ive never felt on the other hand that anything was wrong so never thought about upgrading. Its worked wihout fault for four years but I think I should look for some new tubes for a possible upgrade.
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