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What headphone amp to buy-Sennheiser HD 600?

Well, thanks to the kindness and patience of my fellow A'gon-izers, the hook-up "problem" for the headphone amp I have is solved. The amp is a Ramsey SHA 1. The phones are Sennheiser HD 600. I had remembered that amp sounding great. Now I'm spoiled by the new speakers I have, and even though the signal path to the amp is thru the Dodson DAC, I still think it sounds........not so great. Decent I suppose, but harsh on the upper end, yet without the mitigating detail, and you know, just.....unsatisfactory.

OK, OK, so here's the question(s): What's a great, fairly cheap (like, at LEAST less than a grand) headphone amp? Sonically, I want EVERYTHING!!!! (Except soundstage, that has never happened for me with any headphones, ever, I'm pretty sure not even with the expensive Stax I heard a few years ago).
It MUST have: Tight, deep, fast, smooth, tonally correct, musical bass, shimmering, non-fatiguing, emminently smooth yet ultra detailed highs, great midbass punch with no boom or softness whatsoever, midrange that is totally natural, smooth, detailed, and lacking any hint whatsoever of grain or electronic amplification artifact in the upper registers. It should sound great on ALL program material, from classical to rock to bluegrass to new age to jazz, anything and everything.

Other than those relatively modest criteria, there are no other performance demands. :)))

So, fire away!
mdhoover
mdhoover OP
690 posts
 
To anyone and everyone who knows about tubes (including Swampwalker and Marco):

Swampwalker has mentioned "tube biasing" with the Stax 006t. Is that amp a later generation of the SRM T1? That's what I have. Will the tubes have to be "biased"? If so, what's that? How does one bias tubes?
-Bill

Footnote, somewhat tangential and "optional" reading: I recently figured out that the headphones are the Lambda Pro Signature version, not the Lamda Pro. I don't know for sure whether that's "better" or not, but I think it is. Being the brilliant audiophile that I am, I managed to accidentally damage the one of the headphones' diaphragms with the vacuum cleaner, while trying to clean out the crumb from the degenerated foam, so the headset's out at Yamasinc for repair. Based partly on what Swampwalker said and partly what I read in a review, I opted to repair these back to Lambda Pro Signature status (with the thicker diaphragm) instead of trashing them and getting a new pair of 404's, which have a thinner diaphragm. The BEST idea would have been not to damage them in the first place. Oh well.....
audioari1
128 posts
 
Mdhoover,

Without a question the Creek headphone amp sold by Audioadvisor fits all the criteria you are looking for. I have it my system and it sounds awesome with the HD650s
mdhoover OP
690 posts
 
Audioari1:
Thanks for the tip. Those seem to be priced reasonably, too. Now that I have the Stax setup, I'm uncertain about whether to keep or sell the HD600's, but if I do keep the Sennheisers, then there will be a lot of potential amps to consider.

Thanks again, to you and all of the other members who have contributed their insights and shared their experiences on this thread.
-Bill
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,132 posts
 
Bill- If you roll tubes you will probably need to re-bias teh amp. It involves using a multimeter and adjusting a pair of pots inside the amp (if its the same as my 006t). The procedure was somewhat complicated and iterative (had to go back and forth, IIRC). If its not in the manual (ifyou got one) try contacting STax or post on head-fi.org and you will probably get someone there to give you the procedure.
mdhoover OP
690 posts
 
Swampwalker,
Thanks for the information. Tube biasing sounds very difficult and time-consuming. I do have the Stax manual, though. I'll give it a shot after the tubes arrive and the headset returns from being repaired.
-Bill
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