Differences in headphone amplifiers

[@tototronic2]

The correct pronunciation of Audeze sounds like "Odyssey". I met Sankar Thiagasamudram, CEO of Audeze a number of years back and he told me the origin of the name and how it's pronounced.

[@bobd7634]

Audeze head phones

[@MrFivehead99]

I concur. Shame on Paul for mispronouncing the name!

[@dell177]

I bought a pair of Sennheiser 600's over a decade ago and while now dated they still sound great to me. I have them paired with a Schitt class A headphone amp and I'm very happy with the sound. My Rogue RP-5 has a dedicated headphone output that is also quite good.

[@jlm8699]

Q. What is the source of music? AVR, ipod, iphone? I have the 600s also. Thanks

[@dell177]

@@jlm8699 MOSTLY I USE MY MAC MINI (USB OUTPUT) TO DRIVE A SCHIIT MODI-2 AND THAT DRIVES MY ASSGARD-2

[@uncleb8181]

I also bought the sennheiser 600 in 1999 absolutely fabulous, source is Marantz cd17 KI and musical fidelity m1hpa , the detail retrieval and its sweetness is staggering, and by the way I love your videos Paul 🔺

[@housepianist]

The headphone/IEM/amp/DAC market is HUGE! For those seeking to enter into this niche really needs to do a lot of research and spent time discovering all the ways of enjoying this hobby. And most importantly, discovering one's own sonic preferences. While it's easy for any headphone enthusiasts to "recommend" certain brands and types, take the time to discover what works for you. And don't forget about the cost! There's good and bad audio in every price range.

[@davidfromamerica1871]

That reminds me of some of the Audio reviewers on KZbin with their reviews. 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀 “THIS IS THE LAST HEADPHONE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY” Two weeks later..another different headphone and headphone review. “THIS IS THE LAST HEADPHONE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY” They do the same thing with other audio products they review..LOL They have to keep the hysterical hype going for KZbin Click Bait.

[@mattrismatt]

@@davidfromamerica1871 And they’ll be sure to remind you that a link to purchase said product is in the video description… an affiliate link, of course.

[@charlesurias]

The backbone of these audiophile KZbinrs’ financial success is dependent on them sensationalizing the differences between these products.

[@davidfromamerica1871]

There you go, you heard it correctly from Paul. Invest the money one time for the future. Instead of buying 30 different headphones and 300 different headphone amplifiers.

[@arthurkillen396]

A near field setup on decoupled speaker stands, away from a shared wall, will be fine in an apartment. Get the listening triangle no larger than 3 feet per side, and it'll sound much louder than it actually is.

[@TheRealAudioDidact]

Paul you are such a positive influence keep it up!🎉

[@zackw4941]

+1 for Audeze. I have LCD-4 and I love them. Had the LCD-2c before that. Both have a big, satisfying, speaker like presentation. They both have a similar signature, the 4 just do everything that much better, if you can swing the cost and actually find a set. They discontinued them so people will buy the awful sounding new 5's. To drive them, I prefer Audio-gd. I've been in and out of more expensive gear, but happily settled down with an R1 DAC and Master 19 amp. I also have a nice tube amp from Audiovalve. Alternatively, my friend recently bought a Schiit Folkvangr it sounds just as good! It just has less power and features. But it's much more affordable and easier to get. (My Audiovalve kinda fell into my lap by accident.) If you're looking for a smaller, more cost effective amp just to plug into your existing system, the Topping A90, or the newer A90 Discreet, would be a great choice! I have an A90 as well and it's unbelievably good for its size and price. It's distressingly not that far off from my Master 19. Not quite on the same level, but not far off.

[@Nephilim-81]

Terrific advice. Headphone amp really matters!!

[@nj9888]

Thinking. Can headphones produce a soundstage and disappear like traditional stereo speakers ??

[@la7yka]

I guess the optimal "super headphone amplifier" is a class A configuration with several amplifiers stages in parallel. Class A of course (no crossover distortion), low output impedance (high damping factor) and perhaps not negligible - the overall noise will be reduced due to the total noise will be lower than the noise in each amplifier. Am I on the right track here? Making it DC-coupled all the way will also get rid of any phase shifts.

[@violin-schwerin]

Feliks audio make fantastic otl amps, from relatively affordable to expensive, but always excellent

[@carefortops8976]

Even their entry Echo MK2 is amazing

[@violin-schwerin]

@@carefortops8976 I very much agree, that's the one I've got:)

[@geddylee501]

Will be looking into these, nice suggestion, steve gutenberg likes them, now there's something

[@HiFiInsider]

people often are confused about headphone impedance. IMHO, the more important spec is the sensitivity rating, not the impedance when you're using a real headphone amplifier. Should never buy a product based on the specs.

[@damianhgn]

Running Topping D50s/A50s stack (was previous using the D10s which also sounds fantastic) with some Sennheiser 6xx's. They sounds amazing. Also sound really good with the pair of Beyerdynamic dt 700 Pro X I recently got as well.

[@Thomas_A_H]

I have the same stack, paired with Hifiman Sundara and Sennheiser HD 560S headphones, and love it 🎧 (and some UHU patafix to keep the stack aligned when changing headphones)

[@damianhgn]

@@Thomas_A_H Very nice. Just got my gf a Liquid Spark and the DT 700 Pro X (being paired with the D10s I had before the D50s). Waiting for the Liquid Spark to come in can't wait. For my setup, I'm curious as to how the P50 would affect it. I've heard good things. May have to get that in the near future.

[@Thomas_A_H]

@@damianhgn I'm not sure if the P50 would have any relevant effect, but it looks nice and convenient, so I already had it in my shopping cart at some point, but then decided against buying it and bought the M50. Now the P50 would make the stack too big 😀

[@damianhgn]

@@Thomas_A_H The convenience of having one plug on the wall vs 2 is a big draw for me lol Plus the fact that it just looks so good when stacked with the matching DAC and amp. I'm not typically one for aesthetics but there's something very satisfying about how those pieces stack.

[@joeythedime1838]

Headphones can be another rabbit hole. I recently decided to start my headphone journey. Research is important. Low vs. high impedance headphones. Headphones sensitivity. Open back vs. closed back. My use case called for closed back and after watching a ton of reviews I decided on the Focal Stellia's. Beautiful headphones, but when I plugged them into my Luxman L-509x integrated amp they didn't sound right. After some research (called Luxman) I found out the L-509x has a very high 800ohm impedance headphone output while the Stellia's are a 35ohm low impedance headphone. I also discovered that Luxman taps the main amp and puts resistors in-line to feed the headphone output - not ideal and the out is 45mw at 32ohms. So now I am shopping for a dedicated headphone amp...solid state, tube, hybrid....audiophile rabbit holes....

[@gotham61]

Does the headphone amp section of the BHK preamp really cost “several hundred dollars”??

[@forrestp33]

The Gain Cell DAC is a fantastic headphone amp. It effortlessly drives my high ohm Sennheiser 6xx and 660s.

[@stonefree1911]

I have a SGCD as well and it does have an excellent headphone amp, BUT if you get into harder to drive headphones, like HiFiman or Audeze planar headphhones, it will be a bit lacking in power and you'll need something more robust. I use a Schiit Jotenhiem 2 for my HiFiman Anya's and it is sublime.

[@forrestp33]

@@stonefree1911 I dipped my toes in the wrong pool for planar, Monoprice. They were awful headphones. I just have dynamic, now.

[@espresso1967]

I just finished testing a Toppi g A90d against my Technics SU-G700 with Meze 109 Pro and I found that the Technics sounded as good the dedicated headphone amp. All I know is I sent the Topping a90 back and very happy with my Technics integrated headphone output.

[@russellzauner]

See the Headwize/Head-fi archives for a LOT of info/data.

[@johnnytoobad7785]

"Shiit" Makes an entire line of headphone amps. I am using the "Magni" and with Sennheiser 599 phones.

[@stonefree1911]

Jotenhiem 2 here. Yes Schiit makes excellent headphone amps.

[@TheBlissfulWalrus]

My first headphone amp was a Magni Heresy, but in < 1 year it malfunctioned and fried my IEMs...I stood up to go get something and when I came back the left IEM was very hot and no longer worked...I shudder to think what would've happened if I'd had it in my ear....never again.

[@stonefree1911]

@@TheBlissfulWalrusThat sucks. I have not heard of that ever happening before. The Magni heresy can produce up to 3 watts of power, were your IEM's rated for that?

[@TheBlissfulWalrus]

@@stonefree1911 Yeah I haven't either, seems I might have gotten unlucky. Well no, I assume if I hit the IEMs with the full power of the amp it would fry them for sure, but I was listening at comfortable volume levels. In fact the low-level channel imbalance on low gain on the Magni Heresy is such that I had to reduce the digital volume significantly going to the DAC upstream of the amp, to get out of the channel imbalance zone on the amps analog volume control, while also keeping it quiet enough to be comfortable for listening. Anyways it was a very strange incident, but put me off the brand for good.

[@paulstubbs7678]

Most integrated amp's I've come across don't actually have a headphone stage as such, then just take the main amp out and run in through some resistors to drop the level down to something appropriate, like 1 watt etc. So any damping factor etc. specs are completely lost with headphones. Also, why do people call those little earbuds 'headphones'.... Most annoying when shopping online for headphones and you get all this other stuff bunged into your search results.

[@kautkascitadaks]

The best hp out it speaker output going through two resistors. All dedicated circuit means for integrated amplifier is that Zou as a manufacturer know its not quite enough or good enough to power headphones, or you want to power low impedance ones. If you speaker output is so great than use that, if not than that's telling you something about their speaker output quality. But most being class d today can see it being completely unacceptable for headphone use this way(noise levels, thd, general quality of it and it's driving ability), just shows that class d is not the way to go, if it was than why not plug headphones directly into speaker posts? Any class a or ab amp will do it and make them sing, just watch out with volume control

[@modemmark421]

*Chord* *MoJo2* is the best sounding headphone DAC-Amp I've ever found, for under $1k.

[@endrizo]

SMSL.. Topping.. Fiio.. Earmen.. ifi etc and zillon more nice and affordable headphone oriented gear. no need to spend fortunes

[@stonefree1911]

And Schiit

[@ThinkingBetter]

I recently bought an iFi ZEN CAN headphone amp for my planar Hifiman Sundara headphones that I use while working, and yeah, you can get very high-end audio for little money nowadays.

[@rwgamer]

Fiio E10K if you're on a budget ($75)

[@terryjefferylee6314]

Pity he didn't suggest some good brands of headphone amps. Maybe Audeze have some?

[@Fastvoice]

Violectric, SPL?

[@terryjefferylee6314]

@@Fastvoice Thank you, I had a look at both. They seem very good. I like the Matrix feature on the SPL.

[@343ramana]

@@terryjefferylee6314 The Matrix on the SPL is so good that listening to headphone amps without it, sound wrong to me now.

[@turboboost99]

Just as with regular audio, buy the headphones FIRST, then buy the best amplifier to drive them. Don't focus on the amplification before you've chosen the most important thing (headphones or speakers).

[@dayfornight88]

I was on a trip to Montreal renter my favourite record store there and found shiit MAGNI 3 got it just came back home today. Hook it up to my nakamichi ca pa 7 . and ath r70x and hd 414 headphone

[@djoetma]

Interesting way of pronouncing 'Audeze'....

[@christof8704]

Ah-Deez 🤣

[@gotham61]

@@christof8704 Correct pronunciation kzbin.info/www/bejne/maSopZmXjrida68

[@mohankrishnasamy1456]

Thanks for the tip

[@vincentellsworth7905]

its pronounced like someone slurring "odyssey"

[@justinhardyj]

Really wish this video actually explained the elements of amplifiers that matter and then actually explain some of the 'audible' effects these can have. Just saying "yes" over three minutes doesn't clear up any mystery, probably even reinforces the snake oil many perceive overly expensive amplifiers to be (as far as the research I've found is concerned, I'm still siding with snake oil until tangible, material characteristics are explained).

[@dixter1652]

let me save everyone some money.... its simple... just get the best Tube amp you can afford and then you are done... make sure it puts out plenty of power...

[@gtrguyinaz]

I use my modified Oppo to play my Grado 1000 headphones.. Are the better..Yes.. but I have real speakers still … maybe 1 day headphones only..

[@ronaldfriedline9297]

Bought a Flux amp to power my audeze LCDX s. Complete waste of money. Didn't even come close to my NAD 7175 PE reciever. So if Flux is a good example of a headphone amp, what a joke. Foolishly spent over $600 on it, gonna try and sell it to get some of my money back out of it

[@SAMR33]

I'm using HD600 on my pc to watch movie and youtubes, and I just notice the outro music of PS audio videos sounds pretty awesome!

[@antoniojoseandreomartinez9710]

Like 💙👍

[@richardt3371]

Hang about - 3 months ago you said headphone jacks on most integrated amps are "generally pretty good" and said not to worry too much about getting a dedicated headphone amp! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWOpq2OLqZKjadU

[@hugobloemers4425]

That is if you are listening to speakers but this dude is going to listen to headphones as first choice, different circumstances, different choices.

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

😞 WE HOPE VICTOR HAS SUCCESS FINDING THE QUALITY HE NEEDS,…MUSIC 🎶 DOES ALOT TO SOOTHE THE SOUL 😊💚💚💚

[@digggerrjones7345]

And another name (Audeze) gets butchered by Pay-ool!! What is said in this video contradicts what he stated in a video a few months ago! Bottom line; unless you will *never* use speakers, just use the headphone jack on your pre-amp/integrated.

[@davidstevens7809]

any real class A or AB amp can be padded down and run headphones...What was known 60 years ago has been lost..most real amps didnt run +-12v or +-15 volt preamp . the good ones ran +-18 or +-20v.. modern surface mount parts cant run that voltage.. yes.. junk.. stay simple and buy vintage audio..

[@AccuphaseMan]

Audeze nuts

[@ZeusTheTornado]

Some real Schiit right there