Headphone amp suggestions?

[push]

Hi Folks, I'm looking to purchase a headphone amp for my Senn HD650s. I'm in the UK so looking local, any suggestions?

Budget of up to about £300. I was thinking about something like the Creek OBH21SE.

Thanks in advance!

[Holden4th]

I finally went down the headphone amp path after I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD280 pros. The sound of these is excellent for what they are but while the bass was exceptionally detailed it lacked just bit of welly. So I went to the local musos' shop (none of the HiFi stores here had headphone amps!!!!) and asked what they had. For the amazing price of 39 Aussie dollars I walked out with a Behringer HA400 headphone amp. When I plugged it into both my PC and also directly from my CD player I was absolutely blown away. No more laid back bass now and yet the articulation is just as good. What I also noticed is that the sound stage has improved markedly. And all this from a box no bigger than a sardine tin. This amp also has the facility to take three other phones without any loss of power. At the moment I am concurrently running the 280s and also my old HD540 MkII Golds and it even significantly improved them. The biggest bonus is my music from my PC (I do have a dedicated sound card from Creative) is now so much better.

What I guess I'm saying is get a cheaper (in price but not necessarily quality) headphone amp and try it out. For the price I paid, what can you lose?

All I need to do now is get another one but portable (batteries). Any ideas anyone? Where can I get a CMOY?

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by push

Hi Folks, I'm looking to purchase a headphone amp for my Senn HD650s. I'm in the UK so looking local, any suggestions?

Budget of up to about £300. I was thinking about something like the Creek OBH21SE.

Thanks in advance!

The advice to try as many as you can is very good advice,although I'd say that you'll get more out of the HD600/650 phones using a good quality amp,and also paying a lot of attention to the source.

The Creek is a very decent amp for the price,but you should also try the MF X-Cans,which can be upgraded and modified if you feel inclined,and your budget would also run to used examples of the Earmax Pro,which will work well with the 650s(not the standard Earmax,which will be underpowered for the 650s).
If you can go a little further,then the Slee amps are also very good,and a real step up from the Creek.

I know that Russ Andrews can tend to the pricey end for what he sells,but it may also be worth your while trying one of his HP-1 amps on sale or return if you can...the original manufacturer is a company called Stello.

This is a terrible hobby...the urge to upgrade simply gets worse with time.....my wife still hasnt twigged my last headphone amp purchase.

[DorKnight]

I suggest you take a look at the Corda Aria by Dr Jan Meier, he's a friendly chap who will give you some good advise - The Aria also includes a DAC so you could connect it to your PC over USB;

http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

Another option might be the Heed CanAmp;

http://www.needles-and-spins.co.uk/pd_heed_canamp.cfm

I would probably go for the CORDA in that price range and would definitely take either over the Creek.

[push]

thanks for the replies so far

some great advice there - will add those to my research!

p.s. the HP1 looks lovely ... wonder if I can find a local dealer!

[NicolasB]

Originally Posted by push

Hi Folks, I'm looking to purchase a headphone amp for my Senn HD650s. I'm in the UK so looking local, any suggestions?

Budget of up to about £300. I was thinking about something like the Creek OBH21SE.

Thanks in advance!

It's a teensy bit outside your price bracket, but I can tell you from experience that the Graham Slee Projects' "Solo" headphone amp sounds really very good with HD650s. Sennheiser thinks so too: they use one (or certainly have used one) at audio exhibitions to show off their headphones to the best possible effect.

You could perhaps buy the "intro" version of the amp to begin with. The upgrade to the full "monitor class" version involves no changes to the amp itself at all, it's simply an upgraded power supply.

Mr Slee himself is not only British (you did say local!) but also a very decent and approachable sort of chap.

Some info here:

http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/preamps/headphone.htm

Intro version is £330. MC version is £475.

[StevieDvd]

Originally Posted by push

Hi Folks, I'm looking to purchase a headphone amp for my Senn HD650s. I'm in the UK so looking local, any suggestions?

Budget of up to about £300. I was thinking about something like the Creek OBH21SE.

Thanks in advance!

What part of the UK are you in? Local as in ....?

Steve

[push]

Thanks again guys - heard a lot of good things about the slee amps. Most tempting!

I'm based in North London

[Syler]

Hi am looking to get an amp my self for my 650's and Grado SR325i which r not as good i think but i need an amp to see if it improves alot or not. So i thought about Slee amp but not the monitor class and i got a question here.....if i get this amp will i be able to connect it to my pc? and do i need anything else to get this amp working? am asking because i never had an amp before and all i used was my pc to listen to music so i want an amp that i can be sure that it will connect to my pc.....and what about the power supply in the slee? does it comes with the cheaper version? help...thanks

[StevieDvd]

The slee basic unit is the same as the monitor - just the psu is different. The basic one comes with a psu, the monitor one comes with a higher quality linear one which are if I recall around £140 on their own. if you are handy diy wise or know someone who is one can be made much cheaper but just as good.

As for connecting to a PC - yes you can do it as most PCs will have a line out port. You'd need a suitable cable, probably a 3.5mm stereo jack for the soundcard to the usual L/R phono.
The more important thing though is the quality of the soundcard. If you go to the trouble of using a decent set of headphones and headphone amplifier then feed it with a cheap soundcard you're losing out.

An alternative is to look at the headphone amps which have a usb input, these basically replace the soundcard and have an onboard one.

The main one I would normally recommend for the UK would be the Corda Aria from Meier Audio - very good company based in EU so no hassle with customs duty and a fast delivery time.

A cheaper alternative is the Ibasso D1 which is around £130 and has a multitude of inputs but is mainly portable and has 3.5mm headphone sockets.

Best idea is to have a persue over at head-fi since that forum is dedicated to headphones & amps.

[Syler]

ok thanks for that i have a look at that amps......thanks again

[Syler]

Did anyone try out the Musical Fidelity X-CAN V3 amp?and if yes then just say if it's any good please. Whats the difference between normal headphone amp and a tube amp?

[DennyL]

Anyone thinking of buying a headphone amp in the UK might like to know about the Graham Slee 'Green', which costs just £245 and which he claims is as good as the Solo.

There's a review thread here:-

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=257677

To buy one I think you need to email Graham.

There's more about it here:-

http://rockgrotto.proboards39.com/

I believe the Sennheiser UK use Graham Slee amps to demonstrate their headphones.

[Syler]

Is that the new graham slee then?? give me a link where i can buy it pls?? is it better than the older version 2004?

[alexs2]

If you're contemplating using it with a PC,you could also take a look at some of the Headroom amps from the US,some of which are fitted with USB connections and internal DACs.

http://www.headphone.com/