Using Roksan K2 as a headphone amp?

[admin_exported]

Hi All, I'm considering buying a set of headphones for late night music listening and tv watching, and for some of the higher end cans it's often mentioned that you need a dedicated headphone amp, unless your integrated amp has a decent headphone out. Can anyone comment on how good the K2's headphone out is?

I mainly listen to rock music and am looking into getting some Grado headphones, haven't quite settled on a model yet; it'll be somewhere between the SR80i and SR325is ranges

lol. I've just been offered the latter at a pretty decent price, so thats a possibility if the K2 will do them justice.

Thanks for any advice you guys can give.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are going to be using the 325i's, then if your going to be doing alot of listening, then go get a headphone amp. It will do the cans full justice then.

 

[Big Chris]

I guess it all depends just how much you're gonna use the cans.

I use my Grado SR125s with my Arcam A85 amp and it sounds great, but I'm the first to admit I use them about once/twice a month. Not what you'd call regular.

Also, factor in your location to your equipment. Dedicatd headphone amps don't have remotes (not the ones I've seen anyway). So if you're a twiddler, you'll be up and down like a Yo-Yo, or you'll have to have the amp near you. This could mean very long interconnects from your source.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies guys, some really good advice. I'm not really a very regular listener either, a dozen times a month maybe, and didn't want to go to the full expense of buying a headphone amp too if it could be avoided. Plus when you factor in the added problem Chris mentioned of most headphone amps not having a remote then maybe i'd be best suited going for a slightly lower spec headphone (prob SR80i or SR125i) and getting some extension cable cus i'll be sat some 3-4 metres from the source.

I'm sure i'll end up getting a headphone amp and upgrading the cans in the future but don't wanna do that just yet til i know i'm gonna get good use from them.

Quick question Chris, are the grado's really as uncomfortable as some people say or is it a marmite love em or hate em kind of deal. I only ask because i've seen threads where people say they can only wear them for an hour at a time, and i plan to watch some movies with them too lol.

 

[Big Chris]

RIP_Kuro: Quick question Chris, are the grado's really as uncomfortable as some people say or is it a marmite love em or hate em kind of deal. I only ask because i've seen threads where people say they can only wear them for an hour at a time, and i plan to watch some movies with them too lol.

I'm not going to say they're the most comfortable headphones out there, but I'll listen to a couple of CDs back to back (so around 90 minutes use) and I'm still happy to keep them on.

And you'll be glad to know Grado do an extension cable and a 3.5mm adapter if required.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I use Grado SR60i with a Kandy K2 amp, sounds really good in my opinion. Not as good as from my PMC GB1i's though (but £1400 speakers, on granite slabs, spikes and brass cones vs £100 ish on headphones).

But there certainly a good pair of headphones for around the £100 mark (I got them in a sale for £88 about 3 or 4 months ago).

Hope that's useful, in some way at least.

Dan.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Dan, thats been a big help and i've just ordered the grado sr80i, i'm sure it will sound great with the kandy k2 amp. I also have a beresford DAC with a wolfson dac upgrade and an op amp upgrade which i'm told would be very good to use as a headphone amp so i'll give that a try too. Will let you guys know what i think when it arrives.

Thanks for the help

Chris