I have a set of Sennheiser 595s and Shure e530s. I am thinking about buying a *portable* headphone amp, predominantly to drive the Senns but also the Shures. Been looking around and reading reviews, The Ray Samuel Audio Tomahawk looks like a good piece of kit for a reasonable price.

But, I'd appreciate some advice from any of you audiophiles out there -- would you recommend or does anyone have experience of using this amp with these head/ear-phones?

cheers,
Chris

[StevieDvd]

I have most of the Ray Samuels portable line up. The Tomahawk fits nicely with my Ipod as it's the smallest and designed with iem's in mind.

Battery life is terrific and the size makes it a great portable amp.

It's bigger brother the Hornet is a little better sound wise but that gets lost in a noisy commuting environment but has the advantage of a rechargeable battery and is a bit better at driving larger headphones.

The Granddad of the 3 I have is the SR71 which runs off two 9v PP3 and sounds the best, in my opinion, but it too large for everyday portable use and eats batteries.

The latest advice I'd give is to look at the new breed of usb dac/amps such as the Predator from Ray Samuels or the Pico from Headamp. I've just received the Pico last week and simply love it. These benefit from the ability to run via a portable or PC and give a better range of use. As usual technology moves on and better things are coming in smaller packages - the same is true in hi-fi.

The good news is that this means some reasonable gear should appear second-hand as the early adopters buy the new stuff.

Head-fi.org forums are the best place to look for this type of info & opinions since we don't have the huge numbers of members that they have interested in headphones & amps and I think we are more UK based than they are.

Steve

[Steven]

Another Tomahawk owner here; T115

First off, can I just say that ~ music player > headphones > music format > amp imho in that order of the effect on the sound.

Test kit of HP nc8430 laptop* > Edirol UA25 external sound card > (Tomahawk) > Shure E4G or Westone UM2

*Unfortunately portable players and 5 week old golden retriever puppies do not mix

Now when I first got my Tomahawk I was left feeling distinctly underwhelmed. But Ray advises a burn in time... so I persevered. And round after 30 hours something clicked. Bass was deeper, had that extra kick and impact and growl... mids seemed more milky and smoother... and I noticed greater clarity in the mid~highs. And the more I have used it the better it got

But I have to repeat my above point. Yes it does add to the music... but don't expect it to have as much of an impact as other components in the chain.

Though I will say that it has helped control or in other cases remove the hiss completely that you can get with IEMs due to their sensitivity. Also the sheer small size of it needs to be seen to be believed. The battery life is astonishing

Lastly, Ray marked the value as £69 on the package and RM charged me £10. Ray uses USPS then RM... if you want a courier, you will need to discuss. But its been a year and the strength of the $ means that the Tomahawk costs less now

[Reano]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Another Tomahawk owner here; T115

First off, can I just say that ~ music player > headphones > music format > amp imho in that order of the effect on the sound.

Test kit of HP nc8430 laptop* > Edirol UA25 external sound card > (Tomahawk) > Shure E4G or Westone UM2

*Unfortunately portable players and 5 week old golden retriever puppies do not mix

Now when I first got my Tomahawk I was left feeling distinctly underwhelmed. But Ray advises a burn in time... so I persevered. And round after 30 hours something clicked. Bass was deeper, had that extra kick and impact and growl... mids seemed more milky and smoother... and I noticed greater clarity in the mid~highs. And the more I have used it the better it got

But I have to repeat my above point. Yes it does add to the music... but don't expect it to have as much of an impact as other components in the chain.

Though I will say that it has helped control or in other cases remove the hiss completely that you can get with IEMs due to their sensitivity. Also the sheer small size of it needs to be seen to be believed. The battery life is astonishing

Lastly, Ray marked the value as £69 on the package and RM charged me £10. Ray uses USPS then RM... if you want a courier, you will need to discuss. But its been a year and the strength of the $ means that the Tomahawk costs less now

I have the Hornet and agree mainly with the above except I think the headphones can have a better effect on the sound than the source (unless like all things the source is really bad). The bigger the headphones (as in not portable but full size) the more the amp 'should' make a difference from a portable.

[herrbbiiee]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Another Tomahawk owner here; T115

First off, can I just say that ~ music player > headphones > music format > amp imho in that order of the effect on the sound.

Test kit of HP nc8430 laptop* > Edirol UA25 external sound card > (Tomahawk) > Shure E4G or Westone UM2

*Unfortunately portable players and 5 week old golden retriever puppies do not mix

Now when I first got my Tomahawk I was left feeling distinctly underwhelmed. But Ray advises a burn in time... so I persevered. And round after 30 hours something clicked. Bass was deeper, had that extra kick and impact and growl... mids seemed more milky and smoother... and I noticed greater clarity in the mid~highs. And the more I have used it the better it got

But I have to repeat my above point. Yes it does add to the music... but don't expect it to have as much of an impact as other components in the chain.

Though I will say that it has helped control or in other cases remove the hiss completely that you can get with IEMs due to their sensitivity. Also the sheer small size of it needs to be seen to be believed. The battery life is astonishing

Lastly, Ray marked the value as £69 on the package and RM charged me £10. Ray uses USPS then RM... if you want a courier, you will need to discuss. But its been a year and the strength of the $ means that the Tomahawk costs less now

Thanks for your info, I was debating buying an amp, or upgrading my denon ah-c751 headphones to triple.fi's. I find the sound to be very good, but too clinical, no warmth.
Cheers

[Steven]

Revisiting this thread

Recently purchased the Audio-Technica ESW9's

I know the Tomahawk was designed for IEM's but it is capable of driving much more! I do want to repeat I stand by the order above in effect on SQ

The ESW9's make drums, guitar, bass and piano shine. Make my Westone UM2's sound a little weak and thin now. I know, not fair full sized v IEM. But I want to say with the amp, bass is tightened and deeper. Drum beats have more definition and impact. And the mids become so wonderful. Just so smooth and you become lost in female vocals. Guitars take on another quality. The timbre is just richer. The tone is so much better

Anyway, current FOTM is the RS Predator. Not quite buyer's remorse, I don't think I would buy another portable amp again unless there was a bargain price involved. Door open for full sized amps though, but I would buy another pair of full sized headphones before that