Portable headphone amplifier

[iaudio]

psychotropic, I would think you wont need an amp for Grado SR60. They are very easy to drive and are mostly used without an amp. I can expect it for SR80 . So, unless you want to just have fun and experiment I would not recommend you purchasing a Fii0 for it.

Yes, gopi, its me and not psychotropic who was talking about the grado sr60
I know the grados are just 32ohms and no big load, but as you said its more of an affordable experiment to see if it can produce more detail.
Also the headphone amp, will help me boost the output from low power sources like my cell phones 3.5mm port.

 

[psychotropic]

for 20 dollars including shipping, how wrong can you go? I am getting it as a birthday gift for a friend of mine who has a set of Sennheiser CX95 IEMs (16 ohms, so a bit pointless) and a pair of Sony headphones, but he's planning to pick up an Audio Technica AD700 or a Grado SR60 / SR80 or Alessandro MS1, and this is a good low-cost experiment.

My benefit is also that I can test run it with my Audio Technica ATH ANC7 (which has a rated impedance of 260 Ohms, which I suspect is with noise cancelling off), and see if it offers a good enough enhancement for me to go ahead and order one for myself.

Yes, gopi, its me and not psychotropic who was talking about the grado sr60
I know the grados are just 32ohms and no big load, but as you said its more of an affordable experiment to see if it can produce more detail.
Also the headphone amp, will help me boost the output from low power sources like my cell phones 3.5mm port.

 

[iaudio]

jai, if thats the case my bad. I had E5 myself infact still have one. Don't remember the boost switch. Let me check today. By the way, it costs about Rs.350 in Singapore. Infact I got one free when I bought my headphones there.
But I would recommend this only if you are looking for something cheap. If your budget allows then there are definitely other options.

Can you please suggest some? And how much would those cost over the e5?

 

[Jith77]

sorry...wrong info..deleting

 

[gopi]

I am not aware of headphone amps that are really cheap like E5. The ones I have been looking into were above $100 and infact closer to $200 or above. The one I used was Meier Audio 2move which costed about $270. You let me know your budget exactly and I can recommend you some items.

 

[iaudio]

I am not aware of headphone amps that are really cheap like E5. The ones I have been looking into were above $100 and infact closer to $200 or above. The one I used was Meier Audio 2move which costed about $270. You let me know your budget exactly and I can recommend you some items.

gopi, I was asking for information sake. I dont think I will be able to spend more than $50 on one as of now. More importantly the kind of headphones I will be using it with atm do not warrant such expensive headphone amp( i might be wrong on that count, i am not sure)

 

[kangarooman]

Someone in this thread told me that you have some amps on sale. Need some more info.

 

[psychotropic]

Slightly off topic and definitely not portable, but the Asus Xonar Essence STX (costing under 10k INR) apparently has a superb headphone amp for the price, people looking for headphone amplification should definitely consider this as an option, especially if they have a desktop PC with a spare PCI-e slot.

 

[gopi]

kangaorooman, couple of us have asked whats the budget and whats the headphone and you still haven't replied that. where are you located?

iaudio, I understand that you cant spend much. Anyway, one of the best places to know the list is Head-Fi.org: Headphones, iPod earphones, portable audio, MP3 players, high-end audio. And a very good starting point is the extensive review of portable headphone amp review by skylab
Review: Portable amp roundup! 37 portable amps reviewed and compared - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

 

[kangarooman]

3000-5000 Rs for amp and 1000-4000 Rs for HP ...I'm currently using my player with Sennheiser cx 400...also suggest a good HP....

 

[gopi]

kangarooman, then my sincere advise is to avoid buying headphone amps and allocate that cash for a better headphone. At around 2.5k you will get Sennheise PX100 which needs no amp at all. At around 4k you will get Grado SR60 or even SR80 and they don't need amps. While you can amp them, I have found that a better headphone will easily kick these. So, if your total budget is around 8 to 10k, please check for headphones around that which doesn't require and headphone amp. I have used headphones ranging from 1000 rs to 20000rs. I can say for sure, that only if the headphones are better the amps come into picture at all. At lower end there is almost no need for an amp and also, the headphones are built taken this into consideration. Thats why you almost never come across a 600ohm headphones for the cost of couple of thousands. My Denon AD2000 (costing 18k) easily sounds better without a headphone amp than my Senn PX100 or AKG K81DJ or Grado SR60/80 with a costly headphone amp like Meier Audio 2Move.

 

[kangarooman]

But i have already tested px 100 for some reason I don't like that HP. Never heard of Grado and other brands that you've mentioned. The player I'm using is a Sansa Fuze, I use it mainly for playing FLACs. It cannot drive huge heaphones. My idea is to buy a Sennheiser HD 201 and a HP amp. The one I'm currently using is Sennheiser CX 400 its super sensitive. Tell me some more about Grado and other HQ stuff. I'm in Chennai

 

[grubyhalo]

But i have already tested px 100 for some reason I don't like that HP. Never heard of Grado and other brands that you've mentioned. The player I'm using is a Sansa Fuze, I use it mainly for playing FLACs. It cannot drive huge heaphones. My idea is to buy a Sennheiser HD 201 and a HP amp. The one I'm currently using is Sennheiser CX 400 its super sensitive. Tell me some more about Grado and other HQ stuff. I'm in Chennai

IMHO, adding an amp to a HD201 would not improve things much for you...

 

[kangarooman]

My friend owns a 201 and I used them before, why is that ? I tried that HP with my player but I have to adjust the volume to Max to listen.

 

[gopi]

I am sorry man, but HD201 is really nothing. I am sure PX100 is better than that. I didn't suggest PX100 to you. But rather said that PX100 is fine for its price. But a Grado SR60 will just trounce the PX100 and doesn't require an amp at all. But different headphones have different signatures. So, you need to tell why you didn't like PX100. PX100 is not warm . Its mids are slightly recessed while the freq extremes are exaggerated to some extent. Neverthless its a nice one. Grado is a very different sound. Some will like and some wont. People hearing other phones will first comment that the bass is not there at all. But actually its there, but its not there much. It however gives the sound a very fast agile peppy and exciting signature. Also, it retrieves a lot that HD201 will only dream. The detail is not that you hear a ting here and a ting there, its not that the details are audible but they are legible or rather understandable. You can also try higher end of Senns instead of just HD201, you can get HD555. but simply Grado is the one that can be driven easily without amps compared to other models. There is Denon AD1000 which also a very good choice. There are many more, if you can tell me the type of music and why you didn't like PX100 I'll suggest further

 

[kangarooman]

I cannot hear any mids in px 100. But 201 is good when compared with my cx 400. Never heard of Grado. You know where to glance them and what about the cost of ownership ?

 

[psychotropic]

like GOpi said, with that kind of combined budget , you're better of buying a good pair of headphones that are easy to drive, rather than a pair of less good headphones and an average headphone amp.

The HD555 is available for 7,000 bucks in India, and is supposed to be quite good for its price, and with its 50 ohm impedance shouldn't be too hard to drive without an amp, or even with the Fiio E3/ E5. If you want to go up a notch you can go for the HD595 which is 11,000 bucks....anything above this in the Sennheiser line you will definitely need an amp.

These are the models available locally. Now if you are able to pick up something abroad, there's a whole range of stuff from Audio Technica, Denon, Grado (or their cousins the Alessandros), Beyerdynamic and so on.

 

[marsilians]

Look at little dot micro on ebay. The seller is a reputable one. I read earlier that you dont have a CC, for most online purchases, you would need one, so plan for having that alternative.

 

[iaudio]

like GOpi said, with that kind of combined budget , you're better of buying a good pair of headphones that are easy to drive, rather than a pair of less good headphones and an average headphone amp.

The HD555 is available for 7,000 bucks in India, and is supposed to be quite good for its price, and with its 50 ohm impedance shouldn't be too hard to drive without an amp, or even with the Fiio E3/ E5. If you want to go up a notch you can go for the HD595 which is 11,000 bucks....anything above this in the Sennheiser line you will definitely need an amp.

These are the models available locally. Now if you are able to pick up something abroad, there's a whole range of stuff from Audio Technica, Denon, Grado (or their cousins the Alessandros), Beyerdynamic and so on.

A am also thinking along the same lines now!
Any other suggestions/options comparable to grado sr60 in the same price bracket?

 

[psychotropic]

The Audio-Technica AD700 is a superb easy to drive headphone in the sub-100 dollar category. (about 91 dollars on amazon, or 6900 bucks on Shop in the US from India @ 20North - Millions of products, Thousands of brands including duty and air mail), should be easily superior to the HD555 and possibly able to duke it out with the HD595.

A am also thinking along the same lines now!
Any other suggestions/options comparable to grado sr60 in the same price bracket?