Need suggestions on Headphone Amps.

[Cyne]

Hi there,

I bought the Denon AH-D2000's and I can tell you even when they're connected to my SB Audigy 2 ZS, they sound quite superb. I been looking to grab the Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater HD when it's available which has an Integrated Headphone Amp and Headphone Jack. My Denon's are always connected to my PC, so it's usually Movies, Music (FLAC) and high-end games. Do you believe this soundcard would be good enough to provide great quality sound out of my headphones or is there something else equal to or lesser priced than the soundcard that would be better?

Thanks in advance!

[Drubbing]

Originally Posted by Cyne

Hi there,

I bought the Denon AH-D2000's and I can tell you even when they're connected to my SB Audigy 2 ZS, they sound quite superb. I been looking to grab the Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater HD when it's available which has an Integrated Headphone Amp and Headphone Jack. My Denon's are always connected to my PC, so it's usually Movies, Music (FLAC) and high-end games. Do you believe this soundcard would be good enough to provide great quality sound out of my headphones or is there something else equal to or lesser priced than the soundcard that would be better?

Thanks in advance!

For movies and Games you won't get any more SQ/detail. For music a better card can lift the denon's. The STX gets a lot of good user reviews. It has a (very basic) built in map, but that can be bypassed.

[24 P]

I run a Valve headphone amp, and its awesome.. Cost me 200 Squids, thats 400 AUD... 200 was for cartage, but IMO, its much better than anything available out there in its price range.. Weighs 11 KGs.. G & W T-2.6 F...
Google it and you will see what I mean..
I have a set of Sennies HD 600 which are rated @ 300 Ohms.. The amp can produce 1 W @ 150 Ohms. I get 500 MW @ 300 ohm and these babies sing...
Also can act as a pre amp as has pre amp out.. Quite good value and I have had it for 3 years easy...
I can wind it up 3/4 and its too loud with no distortion, bass is tight and sumptuous, treble never brittle, and mids to die for...
Got the 600s for 300 AUD so all in all 700 for the package.. 350 squids, brilliant value for a brilliant sound....



EDIT: This is it here.. http://www.nysound.com/exec/servlet/...01010&formID=0

[Cyne]

A decent headphone amp will do, not looking to spend more than $250 CAD on one, and I still need recommendations for one. The Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater HD looks nice, but pricing may be a little steep at an MSRP of $299 USD (but it may be cheaper than that when it's out). Is the Integrated Headphone Amp/Output on that sufficient for my Denons?

Thanks again.

[Drubbing]

Originally Posted by Cyne

A decent headphone amp will do, not looking to spend more than $250 CAD on one, and I still need recommendations for one. The Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater HD looks nice, but pricing may be a little steep at an MSRP of $299 USD (but it may be cheaper than that when it's out). Is the Integrated Headphone Amp/Output on that sufficient for my Denons?

Thanks again.

What are you trying to achieve? If your use is mostly games and movies, there's no benefit to adding an amp, as suggested from my previous post, and the denons are easy to drive without one.

Amps don't add SQ - they enable hard to drive phone to deliver more of their potential. Going with the better soundcard and built in amp is probably the thing to do, so long a you're looking to get the best from your music use.

[24 P]

+1 for above post, the reason I stated my Amp was that my Sen HD 600s are very hard to drive, your Soundcard should drive your cans, tells us the Ohms of them and we will let you know, anything under 100 Ohms should be easy to drive..
Your Sound card should also have a headphone out jack so all would be good...

My Xfi as a break out box does..

[Cyne]

Hmm, what about a mobile headphone amp for my Laptop and mp3 player that is good enough to drive my Denons and affordable? I was looking at the Total BitHead, which looked decent (at least to me, but I'm not very knowledge with amps at the moment). Would that be good enough or any suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[roosta]

ibasso do some good DAC+AMPs. i own an Ibasso D10, and to the poster who said "amps dont add SQ" im afraid you are flat out wrong. i can change the amping circuits in my ibasso and the sound changes with it. that can be bought for 275USD, and also works as a high quality DAC for a home stereo, with USB, optical and coaxial inputs and with headphone and aux out.

[Drubbing]

Originally Posted by roosta

ibasso do some good DAC+AMPs. i own an Ibasso D10, and to the poster who said "amps dont add SQ" im afraid you are flat out wrong. i can change the amping circuits in my ibasso and the sound changes with it. that can be bought for 275USD, and also works as a high quality DAC for a home stereo, with USB, optical and coaxial inputs and with headphone and aux out.

Sorry I disagree based on my own set up and hearing many differnt combos of amps and headphones.

Amps do not ADD anything as far as SQ goes, and can potentially degrade SQ if used with a poor source - but maybe I should qualify my comments to 'by themsleves'. Changing sound sigs is a subtle difference with amps, and not everyone can tell the difference between different them, and some changes are not for the better, or don't suit the phones/listener. Just changing something doesn't necessarily make it better.

The very best amps are the most transparent, in that they do as little to the source signal as possible beyond boosting it for the phones, so that it brings out more of the phones sound, and imposes less of a sig it may have itself. Many people buy amps for cheaper phones expecting them to do something extra special, and some mistake extra volume for better SQ.

Unless the phone is particularly hard to drive, then a properly matched amp will get them performing as they should. This is not 'adding' SQ, as those sorts of phones were always meant to be run this way, and of course are often underwhelming without.

[roosta]

i can agree with what you said there drubbing, amps SHOULD be totally transparent, and not add or remove anything from the sound, however, life is not perfect, and neither is amping circuitry. theres always going to be tradeoffs and some amps have less tradeoffs than others, so they are better.

however sometimes matching an amp with a headphone can make up for the inadiquicies of the headphone and/or source. putting a "bright" amp with a "bright" set of headphones is going to make it sound overly bright, whereas putting a bright pair of headphones with a darker amp will balance the freqency much better. this is however an artifical improvement and so is not transparent, but it can be used to make up for the imperfections in a chain.

in an ideal world amps would be totally transparent, not adding, not taking, and headphones should reproduce the audio perfectly with no colouration. but life is not perfect, and for the moment, no amp is totally transparent.

[Drubbing]

We've got plenty of common ground there, and I never suggested there was such thing as a totally transparent amp - even the ones that get close and very pricey and not in my league...

But for the less experienced with gear, trying to bring out the best in your source - or brightening/darkening the sound is one aim, but amping average sources (Gaming consoles, laptops, onboard sound) is not a good idea.

And you're right, those sorts of matchings are the fine tune tweaks of people who know their gear very well. But most people go for as cheap an amp as possible, thinking that's part of getting good phones sounding fantastic, and that is not the case, and was the main point I'm trying to make.

[roosta]

aahhhhh OK, i was assuming a good source. apologies. in which case i agree an amp will not make up for a poor source. nothing will really.

anyway back on topic, i suggest an USB DAC + AMP such as an ibasso d2+ or d10 if it can stretch. the D10 has a very good DAC section. dunno bout the D2+.
also the corda 3move deserves a mention.
as do the e-mu series of usb dac's + amps. i had an emu 0202 which was very nice, but it broke so i sent it back. (second hand from a school) then got my D10. still not sure if the D10 was worth the extra 100... the emu was very good.

the improved DAC will make more difference than an amp to a lesser source.