Headphone amp advice required

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

My system is a Naim cd5i - 2, into an Arcam A65+ amp into which are plugged a pair of Sennheiser HD 650's.

I'm relativly new to headphones and have had my Senn's for about 3 months. I absolutely love them and find they work really nicely in the above system.

However i'd like to free up the Arcam amp so i can either sell it or use it as part of a second system so was thinking of buying a headphone amp. I'm only going to do this if its going to make a difference to the sound though. I'll hopefully be auditioning the Naim Headline in due course but think this might be a bit expensive (£500 inc a power supply), so i was thinking of something a bit cheaper £150 max so the Project Headbox mk II seemed interesting.

So my question is would the Project Headbox be likely to offer a sound improvement over the headphone socket on my Arcam? If not how much would i have to spend on a headphone amp to get a decent improvement? Has anyone had any experience of the Headline, and if so would it be worth waiting to audition that and saving some cash?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Big Chris]

Ta da!

http://www.firestone-audio.eu/shop/products/allproductslisted/cutebeyond.php

Many here purchased the Fubar 4 (Which is a headphone amp with a DAC), a couple of months ago when Firestone had a great deal going on.

They've gone down a storm, so no reason to believe this wouldn't be a great bit of kit too.

Maybe one of the guys with the Fubar 4 could advise what they've done about the power supply. (coming from Europe and all).

 

[Anonymous]

Little dot all the way!

http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=815&sid=b3c87008120d499c0641a9fc63f10fc8

 

[matengawhat]

i've just bought a Vita Audio R4 for my bedside table so I am going to plug my little dot into that and use that as my primary headphone amp in my bedroom instead of the firestone - just hope the R4 live up to expectations

 

[Big Chris]

matengawhat:i've just bought a Vita Audio R4 for my bedside table so I am going to plug my little dot into that and use that as my primary headphone amp in my bedroom instead of the firestone - just hope the R4 live up to expectations

My mate has just treated himself to an R4. Not had a chance to hear it myself yet, but he says it's a vast improvement over his old Nakamichi micro system.

 

[John Duncan]

Big Chris:Maybe one of the guys with the Fubar 4 could advise what they've done about the power supply. (coming from Europe and all)

They include a UK adapter. It's a bit of a flimsy arrangement but haven't had any issues so far.

 

[matengawhat]

JohnDuncan:Big Chris:Maybe one of the guys with the Fubar 4 could advise what they've done about the power supply. (coming from Europe and all) They include a UK adapter. It's a bit of a flimsy arrangement but haven't had any issues so far.

no issues either - also you can buy a supplier for about £100 which you can use any figure of 8 cable with as an upgrade

 

[matengawhat]

Big Chris:

matengawhat:i've just bought a Vita Audio R4 for my bedside table so I am going to plug my little dot into that and use that as my primary headphone amp in my bedroom instead of the firestone - just hope the R4 live up to expectations

My mate has just treated himself to an R4. Not had a chance to hear it myself yet, but he says it's a vast improvement over his old Nakamichi micro system.

mines on a truck somewhere as we speak on its way to me - not heard it yet but trusting the guy in ths shop that says he feels it sounds better than the zeppelin - also wanted the cdp and the audio out to connect my headphone amp to

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice so far, so many headphone amps to choose from! I must admit i'm finding it difficult to justify going much over £100 at the moment so the Project Headbox is probably the current leader, although auditioning the Headline might change my mind!

One point i would welcome some comment on is if a headphone amp will actually improve the sound i'm currently getting from the headphone jack on my Arcam? Has anyone had any experience of adding a headphone amp to the Arcam 65+. Did it make a lot of difference?

 

[idc]

Are you happy with the sound out of the Arcam? How is the detail, bass, treble etc? How often will you listen to headphones? If the answers are yes and not much, I dont know if you will get much by adding a headphone amp. If the answers are no and a lot, then you will. Whether that headphone amp is the Pro-ject I don't know, it did not get the best review from WHF, but I know others on the forum are happy with theirs and reviews elsewhere are pretty good.

 

[Anonymous]

I listen to the headphones for at least half an hour every evening.

In terms of sound i am happy with the Arcam its warm, bassy and detailed, although i sometimes think it is a little laid back and i'd like a bit more pace and timing, i suspect the Headline would do the business here but cost would be an issue.

The problem is since i'm new to headphones i haven't got much to compare to which is why i was hoping someone might have had the same problem!

 

[idc]

Trying to audition headphone amps is virtually impossible. Hardly any hifi shops have them in stock. That is when you trust reviews. It sounds like you want extra dynamics. So I would read loads of reviews to see which amps are generally regarded as dynamic. Funnily enough the MF V-CAN, even though its write up by WHF was three stars makes it 'poor' may be what you are looking for. See here

http://whathifi.com/Review/Musical-Fidelity-V-CAN/

 

[Sizzers]

idc:
Trying to audition headphone amps is virtually impossible. Hardly any hifi shops have them in stock. That is when you trust reviews. It sounds like you want extra dynamics. So I would read loads of reviews to see which amps are generally regarded as dynamic. Funnily enough the MF V-CAN, even though its write up by WHF was three stars makes it 'poor' may be what you are looking for. See here

http://whathifi.com/Review/Musical-Fidelity-V-CAN/

Agreed. I bought my Head Box purely on reviews, and it was a toss up between that and the Creek OBH-11.

At the time they were both priced at £89-95, and after quite a bit of agonising I settled on the Pro-Ject. As happy as I am with the Head Box, maybe (and just maybe), perhaps I may have been better going with the Creek. I have a feeling that it may have matched up a little bit better with my little Denon and Grado's to give a tad brighter, more detailed sound. Not that I am in any way complaining about what I've got, but a little bit of one of those "if onlys" (still a great little amp though!)

(Footnote: Within 2-months the Creek has shot up in price by £55!!)