Do I Need a new Headphone Amp

[Pete Shields]

Since I bought my Sennheiser HD650's, about 3 months ago, I now tend to do all of my serious listening through my headphone amp. I tend to now listen to Spotify or FLAC files through my Sonos/Dacmagic daisy chained through the tape output of my amp.

The amp is a Project Headbox 2 and it does sound great. Using the Hd650's though, should I be considering a better headphone amp to get the most out of the phones?

Would I notice a marked improvement on sound?

Any suggestions and pricing points would be appreciated!

 

[idc]

Is there any dealer near you who has a headphone amp you can audition? Going by WHF reviews amps by Graham Slee and Lehmann would be obvious choices.

 

[Pete Shields]

Could be something to check out at the Manchester show next weekend. What do you use as your main headphone amp, idc?

 

[matengawhat]

i have a little dot mk3 headphone amp, a Graham Slee Solo and two Firestone Audio Fubar IV

Never really compared them all together though to be honest - have the little dot and Fubar IV in the lounge and usually use the little dot unless GF is watching and using the surround amp and outputted to the stereo then use the squeezbox touch with the Firestone acting as dac and heaphone amp both were a def step up on the Project headphone amp I had

Never compared to the Solo though as thats in my bedroom and just use for late night listening can def recommend all three though at their various price points in terms of quality, sonic performance and the fact touch wood never had an issue with any of them and I do love the valve sound of the little dot although I know some complain about colouration by tubes

I used to run hd650s with the project befor upgrading to the littledot - only thing would say about the 650s were they seemed to have a vvery flat response and not the most exciting headphones to listen to but were very true of the reproduction - just be careful not to end up with a flat sounding amp as well

 

[matengawhat]

just to say the fubar has a built in dac which you wouldn't need - but there are other variations without the dac if you have a look on the website - google firestone audio europe

 

[idc]

I have a Musical Fidelity X-CANS heavily modified by Rock Grotto and a standard X-CANV8P. Both are superb and any of the X-CAN range is a worthy investment. They crop up regularly on ebay selling from £100 to £300 depending on version and condition.

As hybrid valve and solid state they major on midrange and detail.