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In Reply to: RE: Best budget (sub $200) amp for low-impedance 'phones? posted by Caucasian Blackplate on March 08, 2015 at 22:15:18
Grado headphones might not "require" a special amp in order to make noise but, like all headphones, they tend to sound best when the amp is optimized for them.Some people seem to be under the impression that, because Grado headphones are so *easy to drive*, high quality amplification no longer matters for them. To the contrary, I've heard Grados driven by cheap receivers and by dedicated headphone amps and I can affirm that all amplifiers do not sound equally good with Grados. Amplifier output impedance, the tonal balance of the amp, and the quietness of the amp all significantly affect the way Grado headphones sound.
I was looking for a good sounding amp, one that is battery powered, and one that is small enough to carry easily from place to place. Open headphones are not always the best choice for use in public places, but public use is not my objective here.
Ebay seller "biosciencegeek" offers portable, customizable cMOY amps. Tonal balance is an important issue for some, so the JRC4556 opamp (the same one that Grado specifies in their headphone amps) is available as one of several options that might influence the "sonic character" of our Grado headphones. Gain customization is enabled in the design. "Made in the USA", only $49.
Some people feel that tubes amps make their Grado headphones sound warmer and more spacious. The Little Dot headphone amps being sold on ebay are considered to be a good choice if size and "portability" are an issue. Made in China, $150 and up.
Edits: 03/09/15 03/09/15 03/09/15 03/12/15Follow Ups:
"Some people feel that tubes amps make their Grado headphones sound warmer and more spacious."
My tube amp makes my Grados sound crisp, articulate, extremely detailed and in-your-face real. It's the best audio I've ever heard from any system at any price. I built the amp myself, and not one bit of it is Chinese. :)
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Buy Chinese. Bury freedom.
Congrats, I'm sure it sounds good!
Yes, it sounds amazing, but my point was that the marriage of a particular tube amp to Grados doesn't necessarily create this sound or that. There can be huge variations in sound and musicality from one tube amp to the next, and I was lucky to have taken the right one to my local Grado dealer when I bought the phones. The first few seconds of listening told me I'd hit the jackpot, that there was a synergy between the two that I hadn't experienced in audio for at least the last 30 years. These phones don't sound like this with the solid-state amps I've tried since then, nor are they the same with my other tube amps. And just so there's no mistake, this isn't because I'm hearing some sort of warm, distorted tube sound that I happen to like. I absolutely hate the sound of harmonic distortion, including even-order stuff. The tubes in this amp were hand picked by me while measuring THD and IM, and I'm confident distortion is at a level insufficient to color the sound. I realize not everyone wants to build their own gear, but I would certainly encourage you to test your Grados with several different amps before committing to a purchase. That's especially true if you're buying on a budget.
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Buy Chinese. Bury freedom.
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