Which Headphone Amp for use with Sennheiser HD-595 & Creative HQ2300D adapter?

[thetargetarcher]

Hi All,

My first post so please go easy on me

I am rather new to high quality headphones and would be grateful if you could offer me some help with the following:

I usually listen to my mp3 player with a set of Creative EP-630 earphones.

For watching Dvds I use my home cinema set-up which consists of:

Celestion F series Centre Speaker
Yamaha DSP-A5 AV Amp,
Eltax Bi-Polar rear speakers
Eltax Symphony 6.2 front speakers
Gale 3090 Subwoofer
Lafayette LFDV971D DVD player

However, I have just bought and received a pair of Sennheisser HD-595 (50 Ohms) headphones and the Creative HQ2300D (Dolby headphone adapter – bought for £39.99 brand new inc. delivery from MX2.co.uk), so I can watch films in the evenings with full DD and DTS sound without irritating the neighbours and the other people in the house!

What cheap headphone amplifier would be best suited for using with the Sennheiser HD595s and the Creative Dolby Headphone adapter?

I have been looking at:

PA2V2 ($56 delivered with lifetime servicing)

Little micro dot + (~$81)

XM4 Headphone Amplifier (~$140)

CMoy Amp from Ebay such as ID 140089770020 or ID 250087180422

Boostaroo Revolution (~ £30)

Xenos 0HA-REP-B (~$108)

Zero Audiocraft (~$62.50)

The PA2V2 seems good as it uses AA batteries and has a frequency range of 5Hz to 40KHz.

I think I would prefer one that has a DC connection and/or uses AA batteries. 9V batteries seem a bit of pain to use as they take ages to charge. But which of the above would you suggest I invest in?

Is there any other amps around the £30 to £50 range that would be better suited?

I may well use the headphone amp connected to the AV amp via the tape loop for evening music listening as well as the headphone amp connected to my mp3 player.

Sorry for the long post but I have tried to cover as much useful information as I can think of, to aid your advice.

Thank you all in advance for your help.

[BrianPK]

You seem to be more knowledgable and better organised than the rest of us put together.Why are you even asking Only joking and welcome .I have seen some good reports about the Little Dot but I'm sure some of the even more knowledgeable people will give advice to a new person.

[thetargetarcher]

Thanks for the reply.

I hope that others here do give me some advice. There seems to be so many headphone amps out there and pairing the correct ones with headphones seems to be a very fine art from what I have read. Pair it wrong and apparently the headphones can sound worse . Get it right and

[DorKnight]

Hi thetargetarcher,

The Senn HD595 are easy to drive and should sound fine driven by your amp, perhaps it would be best to try them out first and then go from there.

[mattski73]

DorKnightwrote:

The Senn HD595 are easy to drive and should sound fine driven by your amp, perhaps it would be best to try them out first and then go from there.

to a certain degree i have to agree with DorKnight (no rhyme intended). i can't see that any real advantage would be gained from buying a headphone amp, with your system.

however.......... i'm going to buy a http://www.go-vibe-headphoneamp.com/ for the simple reason that i want to use my Ultrasone Proline 750 with my ipod shuffle in the art studio at uni.

but as stated your 595 are easy to drive, so unless you want to use them with a portable source, it would be further down on my to buy list.

where did you buy your 595's from? how much?

[thetargetarcher]

Originally Posted by mattski73

DorKnightwrote:



to a certain degree i have to agree with DorKnight (no rhyme intended). i can't see that any real advantage would be gained from buying a headphone amp, with your system.

however.......... i'm going to buy a http://www.go-vibe-headphoneamp.com/ for the simple reason that i want to use my Ultrasone Proline 750 with my ipod shuffle in the art studio at uni.

but as stated your 595 are easy to drive, so unless you want to use them with a portable source, it would be further down on my to buy list.

where did you buy your 595's from? how much?

I got them from a wholesale seller (AC ( Wholesale) Ltd www.wholesale.ac - Ebay ID: electromonster) on Ebay for £74.99 + £9.99 Special Delivery. They sell quite a few headphones at a good price. Just looked and they sell via Amazon £79.99 + P&P (probably ~£5)

Saying that though Amazon now have the 595s for £85 with free Super Saver delivery. They were about £96 on Amazon the other week when I go mine.

Suppose you could try and see if some shops will beat the Amazon price:

www.advancedmp3players.co.uk
Richersounds

[mattski73]

looks like orices are coming down all round. i was looking on ebay a few weeks ago and dolphin music was the cheapest option. thanks, and have you come to a conclusion on the headphone amp yet?

[Holden4th]

A lot of the above advice is specious, uninformed and should be ignored. Regardless of how easy a set of phones is to drive, it is a generally accepted fact that the op amps used to drive headphone sockets on the majority of products are invariably cheap and nasty, produce cheap and nasty sound and I thought that the guys on a site like this would know that!

You should most definitely get a headphone amp if you want to hear an improvement in your 595s and even an inexpensive one will result in a very noticeable improvement in what comes into your Senns.

At this stage I think you should go for either the PA2V2 or the Go Vibe 5. Both are portable amps and can therefore be used with a variety of sources. As neither is terribly expensive you can judge for yourself how effective they are and they can always be used with your MP3 player to great effect.

While I own neither of these products the $AUS40 Behringer MA400 mini amp I bought and connected to both my PC and my HiFi just blew me out of the water with improvement it made to my Sennheiser's.

Go For it!

[mattski73]

While I own neither of these products the $AUS40 Behringer MA400 mini amp I bought and connected to both my PC and my HiFi just blew me out of the water with improvement it made to my Sennheiser's.

interesting ........... alternative!

[DorKnight]

Originally Posted by Holden4th

A lot of the above advice is specious, uninformed and should be ignored. Regardless of how easy a set of phones is to drive, it is a generally accepted fact that the op amps used to drive headphone sockets on the majority of products are invariably cheap and nasty, produce cheap and nasty sound and I thought that the guys on a site like this would know that!

You should most definitely get a headphone amp if you want to hear an improvement in your 595s and even an inexpensive one will result in a very noticeable improvement in what comes into your Senns.

At this stage I think you should go for either the PA2V2 or the Go Vibe 5. Both are portable amps and can therefore be used with a variety of sources. As neither is terribly expensive you can judge for yourself how effective they are and they can always be used with your MP3 player to great effect.

While I own neither of these products the $AUS40 Behringer MA400 mini amp I bought and connected to both my PC and my HiFi just blew me out of the water with improvement it made to my Sennheiser's.

Go For it!

I really wouldn't advise purchasing an amp for the 595s before testing on your existing amp, I would also opt for something other than the PA2V2 if an amp was to be purchased - The PA2V2 goes very well with Grado but I think you could purchase better match with Senns (perhaps check out an iBasso).

The 595s are easy to drive, the AKG K 701s also have a low Ohm rating but aren't officiant, therefore they need a very good amp to get a great sound. No doubt the 595s will improve with a good amp, just like many others, but I still think you should try them on your current amp before purchasing a portable.

This is just my opinion.

[thetargetarcher]

Thanks for the posts.

Partly the reason why I want to get an amp is so I can listen with improved sound in other rooms - can't easily unplug my AV setup and transport it to a different room!

Well after reading here and on the headfi forum I have gone for the.......

Zero Audiocraft

It is supposed to be of a very high quality build and according to others provides a better sound than the PA2V2 and Little Dot Micro+ for Senns. The PA2V2 is supposed to go well with Grados.

A major benefit is the capability of upgrading the Op. amp.

For those that have Senns HD595 (50 Ohms) the OPA2228 option is recommended by the seller. These changes are free by the way.

A downside to this amp is that it does not have a dc jack (it can't accommodate one in the case) and it does not have a recharging circuit.

But looking on Ebay you can get a fast (well up to 5 hrs) PP3 charger for £6.49 delivered. Do a search for 'Intelligent Battery Charger for PP3' and you should find the item I am referring to.

[thetargetarcher]

The Zero Audiocraft Amp. is

No hiss from the amp whatsoever at any volume setting. The only times I have encountered hiss is from a couple of mp3s but that is down to the hiss on the tracks themselves.

Music sounds very clear.

The circuit board and item as a whole is very well put together.

Overall: Superb workmanship, sound and price.

[Lawrenzini]

Isn't the audio craft just a Cmoy?

[thetargetarcher]

Originally Posted by Lawrenzini

Isn't the audio craft just a Cmoy?

It is based on a CMoy but the maker has made several improvements.

[Naqv]

For god's sake, you DO NOT NEED AN AMP, especially since you are using the Creative decoder (which I have) and the HD-595 (Which I also have).

Audio junkies will recommend an amp for absolutely ANYTHING.