Not happy with new headphone amp

DarkWhisper

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Went out and bought the Pro-ject s headphone amp to replace my xcan v2. well ive let it run for over 200 hours now and am really not liking it at all. to be honist i get just the same quality from my cd player headphone jack as i do with this amp. looks like am selling this and going more ££.

Any suggestionons what to look into. Budgets £500
 

Audiofoolius

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What headphones will you be using with the amp?

This German guy makes some wonderful amps: http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

All prices include free shipping (world wide!).
 

NHL

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Mags will give you some direction, the plethoria of choices will be narrowed down to 3 to 4 candidates.

:type:

why am I typing on a Saturday night evening?
 

ellisdj

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There is only 1 in my mind - Graham Slee SRGII and for £500 you will get the proper power supply rather than the wall amrt version.

I have the Novo for £250 and its like a good power amp for your cans, however the SRG is apparently where its at.

Google for opinions and review - is comparable to other £1000 amps and is specially designed for any impedance headphone - it adapts to the impedance and you just use the volume knob - guy knows his stuff
 

toyota man

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DarkWhisper said:
Went out and bought the Pro-ject s headphone amp to replace my xcan v2. well ive let it run for over 200 hours now and am really not liking it at all. to be honist i get just the same quality from my cd player headphone jack as i do with this amp. looks like am selling this and going more ££.

Any suggestionons what to look into. Budgets £500
Hi I have a Graham Slee novo I dont use If you live any where near norwich You can borrow it if you like its been run in but I just don't use it:) :)
 

eggontoast

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Have you considered a valve amp, I would start by recommending a Woo Audio WA3. It would be a good match for your high impedance HD600s as it's an OTL configuration and it sounds excellent (haven't tried one with a pair of HD600s though) for the money. The only caveat is you will either have to buy second hand in the UK or direct from the US.

I was never over enamoured with my Meier Audio cantate, it sounded thin and really struggled with high impedance headphones.
 

shafesk

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Senns in general are notoriously hard to drive headphones, I think the Can Amp or the Woo Audio range is a good match. I would be looking at spending at least 250 or more.
 

ifor

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ellisdj said:
There is only 1 in my mind - Graham Slee SRGII and for £500 you will get the proper power supply rather than the wall amrt version.

I have the Novo for £250 and its like a good power amp for your cans, however the SRG is apparently where its at.

Google for opinions and review - is comparable to other £1000 amps and is specially designed for any impedance headphone - it adapts to the impedance and you just use the volume knob - guy knows his stuff

If you join the Graham Slee Owners Club you can arrange a two week home loan of his kit. I currently have his Reflex M phono stage on loan. It's superb!
 

ifor

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eggontoast said:
Graham slee novo's are ten to a penny on eBay, I personally don't think the novo is going to gain you much.

A bit of an exaggeration methinks. I can find 4 of them on eBay; 2 new and 1 nearly new with buy it now prices and 1 second hand with a starting price of £50.
 

eggontoast

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ifor said:
eggontoast said:
Graham slee novo's are ten to a penny on eBay, I personally don't think the novo is going to gain you much.

A bit of an exaggeration methinks. I can find 4 of them on eBay; 2 new and 1 nearly new with buy it now prices and 1 second hand with a starting price of £50.
Maybe but four this week, four more last week etc, there are always plenty to be had.
 

BronC

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With a budget of £500 you could get a 2nd hand Beyerdynamic A1. That really is a great Class A amp.

One other thing - and this is going to open up a can of worms - it comes with a really good interconnect. Have you thought of getting a better interconnect on your current headphone amp? That may be what is limiting the SQ?
 

ifor

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eggontoast said:
ifor said:
eggontoast said:
Graham slee novo's are ten to a penny on eBay, I personally don't think the novo is going to gain you much.

A bit of an exaggeration methinks. I can find 4 of them on eBay; 2 new and 1 nearly new with buy it now prices and 1 second hand with a starting price of £50.
Maybe but four this week, four more last week etc, there are always plenty to be had.

I'm struggling with the logic here. You seem to damn the GS Novo simply because it found in numbers on eBay and then go on to recommend the Beyerdynamic A1 which can be found on eBay in greater numbers. Definitely flawed logic.
 

eggontoast

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Well don't think about it too much, it might hurt.

Simple logic really, the eBay quantities have nothing to do with it. I only mentioned that they regularly come up on eBay as second hand purchases as the OP was leaning towards the GS Novo. FYI the A1's do not come up second hand very often. The other thing is, I personally don't care much for Graham Slee's or Meier Audio products but I do rate the A1 and the Woo gear. Obviously other opinions may vary.
 

ellisdj

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The Novo used gets close to new money on ebay - says a lot! Listening to one now - its smooth, but alive - controlled and enjoyable - there is nothing not to like.

They are cracking headphone amps - so clean until you ears hurt - however you didnt even realise it was so loud - not many amps you can say that about - normally your ears hurt as the sound goes to pieces.

Then the Solo SRGII is supposed to be a big step up and I am sure it will be, I will get one at some point in the future - it has 2 switchable inputs - one for my Pc sound the the other for my Meridian MC200 thats in my upstairs office - that will be a cracking heaphone setup - good enough for most

Their service is excellent and he now has many products - the ones I have sampled have been of exceptional quality - much better than equivalents costing 5x as much from the competition - More on that another time
 

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