QN5 Music

TimmWith2Ms said:

gunnelcr said:Anybody have a recommendation for a good headphone amp that isn’t too pricy

Portable or one of those massive desk amps? Assuming you probably want a portable amp, I would suggest looking at either the Meier Headsix/XXS (you can find good/like-new used ones for around $100-120) and these provide fantastic sound quality improvements similar to if not better than other amps around the $200-300 range. If you’re looking to go up a step closer towards $350, I would suggest the Meier Audio Stepdance, hands down the best portable amp for the price. I won’t get into the nuances of portable amps, as I’m rather new on using them myself, but there’s a ridiculously comprehensive thread here: http://tinyurl.com/4yzxwux.

There are a ton of compared portable amps and pricing on there all reviewed. Just search for whatever interests you on the thread. Hopefully this helps!

Awesome. Yeah I was talking about portable ones. I don’t have 350+ to spend on an amp but i’ll definitely look into that “Meier Headsix/XXS”. Thanks

Hopefully you’re not under the impression that a headphone amp will magically make the sound quality better on headphones. They are pretty necessary if you have hard to drive headphones like the HD650s and HD800s, but if you don’t need added volume, then you don’t need a headphone amp. This assumes, of course, that whatever you’re currently driving them with doesn’t cause distortion or noise, but my cell phone is perfectly capable of driving my HD590s.

I used to believe in the home theater amp myths that somehow getting a more expensive amp would improve the sound of my speakers, but it’s all crap. Basically if you have sufficient distortion-free (audibly) power, then you can not POSSIBLY get an improvement in sound quality/transparency/whatever with any other amp. So many people online swear there is a difference that it’s ridiculous, but perceived differences are often due to one being set a bit louder than the other. If two sources aren’t set to within .1 dB of one another, then even though we might not be able to audibly tell the difference, the louder signal will “sound better” to us.

Same thing goes with aftermarket cables, those don’t even come close to making an audible difference. The only thing you can possibly gain from buying one of those (aside from length) is better build quality, therefore the probability of the cable lasting longer through wear and tear.