Headphone amps

[2chris]

Having recetnly changed my integrated amp to a rega elicit-r I am now after some advice re headphone amps. I have a pair of Grado SR125 headphones and am looking for something up to about £300. The obvious choice seemed to be the Rega Mk11 headphone amp but actually this does not seem to feature on any recommended equipment site so I am not sure how it would perform. Does anyone have any experience of this combination? Other options in this price range seem to include Graham Slee novos and some beyerdynamics and rhinelanders but nothing seems to stand out so again feedback would be welcome!

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

At the moment, I'm using rega ear mk2 with grado sr325i and akg k550, used the Sr125i previously. 125's were an exciting listen but found myself a bit fatigued after an hour or so, hence the 325i purchase. Sounds smooth and very detailed with the 325i's, but I don't have anything to compare the rega ear mk2 to, as this is my first h/a, but for a couple of hundred quid I'm not complaining. It definitely sounds a bit soft with the akg's, can listen all night long with them on but I find I'm bored quickly,it's just too smooth and cuddly. Lol. I am of the thinking that the best bang for buck is within the headphone itself and not the amp. Some people seem a bit disappointed after paying £300-400 on a h/p amp and not getting much gain from it. So I'd spend £300-£400 on the cans and £200 on the amp. But that's me and I'm sure others will be able to give more words of wisdom.

 

[SteveR750]

I had a Musical Fidelity MF100 for a short while until I got the Hegel. Extremely capable amp, and a good used selection off ebay (where mine came from, and went back to).

 

[ifor]

Why not join the Graham Slee forum and try a Novo for a couple of weeks with your headphones?

I'm not into headphones so have no experience of it myself.

 

[Audiofoolius]

Rega makes fine products, but their headphone amps aren't very special imo. Other brands offer a lot more bang for the buck. This German webshop f.i. sells excellent and affordable HP amps: http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

I have bought two Meier Corda amps (one portable and one desktop) and I love them both. Balanced is the word I would use to describe the soundsignature of Meier amps.

Grado headphones don't need a very expensive or powerful amp btw. No need to spend more then £200. An upgrade in headphones would offer a better value for money if you'd spend £300 or more. In that case I can only repeat what has been said before in this thread: buy the marvellous Grado SR325e.

 

[paulsue38]

November Hi Fi Choice reviews six headphone amps. Group winner was Creek OBH - 21 mk2. Graham Slee Solo also did well as did Alpha Design Labs GT 40a.

Hope this helps

 

[Paulq]

The Graham Slee amps are great pieces of kit - I had the Novo for a while. When recently buying a new HP amp I borrowed the Solo UL Diamond edition and liked it a lot. However I stumbled upon NJC Audio by accident and did a fair bit of research and ended up buying one of these instead:

http://www.njc-audio.co.uk/html/headphone_amplifier.html

They get hand built to order and I am extremely happy with mine and the personal service I received from Nick who is the guy that builds them. If anything I prefer its sound to the Slee but you won't go wrong with either. Both are English audio businesses, NJC just being a lot smaller.

I don't have any affiliation with NJC just for the record. I actually really rate it and their marketing is done by word of mouth/keyboard. I'm all for supporting UK businesses.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[MajorFubar]

...However I stumbled upon NJC Audio by accident and did a fair bit of research and ended up buying one of these instead:

http://www.njc-audio.co.uk/html/headphone_amplifier.html

They get hand built to order and I am extremely happy with mine and the personal service I received from Nick who is the guy that builds them. If anything I prefer its sound to the Slee but you won't go wrong with either. Both are English audio businesses, NJC just being a lot smaller.

Fair respect to his website showing you what goes inside, you can see it's not just a pair of 50p op-amps inside a pretty tin box.

 

[Paulq]

...However I stumbled upon NJC Audio by accident and did a fair bit of research and ended up buying one of these instead:

http://www.njc-audio.co.uk/html/headphone_amplifier.html

They get hand built to order and I am extremely happy with mine and the personal service I received from Nick who is the guy that builds them. If anything I prefer its sound to the Slee but you won't go wrong with either. Both are English audio businesses, NJC just being a lot smaller.

Fair respect to his website showing you what goes inside, you can see it's not just a pair of 50p op-amps inside a pretty tin box.

That was one of the things that convinced me to buy it and I haven't been at all disappointed. The guy emails you to give you a build date and then lets you know when it's built and is being tested and finally when it's been shipped. On delivery he also supplies the printouts of the graphs that he uses to test every element of its performance. Build quality is tank like. I've told him I'll be ordering a DAC next year

 

[MajorFubar]

The HiFi market needs more people like him tbh to balance against all the Russ Andrews of this world selling hifi nirvana in the shape of voodoo cables and audiophile mains fuses; give me a break.

 

[Paulq]

Agree. But as long as there are people who believe that nonsense there will be people who make a fortune bacause of them....