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I have recently lost my headphone amp, a rebuilt/restored Fisher 500c.
I decided it would be of better use at the cabin. There is no way I'm going schlep that thing back and forth.I loved the sound of the 500c driving my cans late at night when the rest of the family was asleep. The Telefunken smooth plate 12ax7's combined with the Sovtek 7591's produced a very spacious and powerful sound.
So, here I am with no headphone amp, as I do not have a headphone jack on my integrated amp, DAC, or cd player.
I would like to go tube again, but I am not dead set against solid state either as long as it can give me a sense of space that tubes do so easily. I tried a Creek OBH-11 awhile back and it didn't last a week.
My headphones are relatively easy to drive; Sennheiser Momentum (over ear), V Mode 100's, Audio Technica ATH-M50, House of Marley Exodus.
I would like to stay under $400 and am not opposed to DIY (I have soldering ability), however, I can find better things to do with my free time than soldering.
Also, it seems that I receive 30% off of Sennheiser headphones through my employee discount sooooo......I may get a pair of 650's down the road and I have been lead to believe these require quite a bit more juice.
Thanks.
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
Edits: 11/25/14Follow Ups:
If you are listening to CDs, consider the Marantz CD-5004 CD-6004, or CD-6005 player; the built-in headphone amp is very, very good. The 600x models have a USB input for a music player or a phone.
The 5004 is discontinued, but it's still available, e.g., today you can get it from an authorized dealer for $280:
http://www.musicdirect.com/p-13125-marantz-cd5004-cd-player.aspx
The 6004 is also discontinued--I didn't check prices
A headphone jack on a cd player is not really an option as it kind of defeats the point of having a nice DAC.
Basically, I want to hear the cd after it goes through the DAC.
That's what I liked about the Fisher 500c as a headphone amp; after the signal went from the cd player to the DAC, and then on to that wonderful tube amp chock full of Telefunken smooth plates - it was very good sound without a hint of digital nastiness.
I think I may drop the hammer on Bottlehead Crack, but I am keeping my options open for a bit.
Thanks anyway.
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
Problem I had with the crack was it is mainly for high impedance headphones,the 650's will sound fine, but if you have any other lower impedance phones, it is not the best route. The Project Ember can be used with any phones, with plenty of power.
The Crack is very nice and is going to work very well with your HD650s -- if you go that way. I don't think it will be quite the match for the lower impedance M50s and Momentums, though.
I have a Fisher 800 and, yeah, those tubes make an ATH M50 sound like an open back headphone. Big sound.
I highly recommend looking into the Marsh headphone amp from an article in Linear Audio magazine.It has zero capacitors in the signal path, no servo only a trim pot, as the DC offset is by design and part selection, inherently thermally stable, and zero NFB in the audio band. THD without matched devices is less than -100dB. I'm a long time tube guy, but this elegant design is solid state done right.
About $70-80 to breadboard DIY from Jack's TechDIY kit (parts, matched devices, PCB) with a Mean Well DC-DC switcher and Ebay wall wart. Even with the puny PS, it sounds excellent.
Compared it to several commercial solid state and tube headphone amps and tube DIY (a DIY cloned Poindexter PP triode wired 6V6 with Electraprint partial silver OPTs. The Marsh amp was easily my favorite with my LCD-3Fs.
Edits: 11/25/14 11/25/14 11/25/14
So for those not familiar with this DIY site, where could the kit be ordered, or is it just a schematic,-parts sourced on yer own...?
Thanks,
K.
The full kit of parts and PCB are at the link below.I have no connection with TechDIY except buying the kit and building it on my own.
Edits: 11/28/14
..
I guess I should email the site, but for the parts, I can't tell if both parts lists need to be ordered or the second one is to provide for the caps, resistors, etc. if you don't want to source them yourself.I read it again. I see that the second parts list is for everything, if I am reading it right.
Looks like a very worthwhile project. In reading some of the last posts on the thread relating to the amp board, it appears that some modifications are being attempted or have been done.
iBasso DX100,DX50 DX90. Chord Hugo. HiFiman 901 balanced. RSA Intruder, The Lightning. Fostex TH900 balanced, Hifiman HE-6, 560, 500, JH13 Pro balanced. Lyr2, Audeze. All phones balanced mostly with Whiplash cables.
Photo gallery: www.pbase.com/j
Edits: 12/02/14
.
Thank you.
iBasso DX100,DX50 DX90. Chord Hugo. HiFiman 901 balanced. RSA Intruder, The Lightning. Fostex TH900 balanced, Hifiman HE-6, 560, 500, JH13 Pro balanced. Lyr2, Audeze. All phones balanced mostly with Whiplash cables.
Photo gallery: www.pbase.com/j
..... even checked Junk Folder.
Try emailing me at we300b////at////yahoo////dot////com deleting //// and replacing with ampersand symbol and period.
I did get the kit. Now to figure out the simple DKA30A-15, which embarrassingly, I have not got configured correctly. Feeding the DC-DC converter with 12 volts for now but somehow I am not siring the converter correctly.
iBasso DX100,DX50 DX90. Chord Hugo. HiFiman 901 balanced. RSA Intruder, The Lightning. Fostex TH900 balanced, Hifiman HE-6, 560, 500, JH13 Pro balanced. Lyr2, Audeze. All phones balanced mostly with Whiplash cables. Photo gallery: www.pbase.com/jamato8
I have been using a Project Ember hybrid tube amp for my Sennheiser hd650's and loving it. They have them available in kit or pre built, I chose the pre built as Jeremy will choose the best parts available and it is tested to be sure everything is right. I found using a Bugle Boy 12ax7 suits me more than the Telefunkens.
Auto bias. Simply plug in a tube from a long list of 6 & 12V dual triodes and it will bias itself
Bias continuously adjusts itself so ageing of a tube is constantly corrected, within limits of course
Auto heater selection. Plug and play with a 6 or 12V tube and the heater voltage arrangement will be automatically set
Startup protection circuit with thermal shutdown
Advanced cooling design to keep temps nice and low
Three output resistance settings from 0.1, 35 and 120 Ohm
Input capacitor bypass possibility for more tuning options
Selectable gain
Pre-amp output so it can double as a volume controlled tube buffer
Very efficient, low power consumption, low temperatures
Awesome choice for headphones from 32-600 Ohm but can also drive 16 Ohm headphones
Lots of headroom and more than enough output power up to 2.4W, depending on headphone and settings
Comes with tube and power supply. Plug in your source to the RCA jacks, plug in your headphones and fire her up!
Specifications:
Solid state output stage
Non overall feedback - triode voltage gain stage
Power consumption: 5W continuous, 15W peak
Power supply: 48VDC (0.10A cont, 0.32A peak)
Input Resistance: 20k or 40k depending on gain setting
Input Sensitivity (6N23): 0.8V or 1.6V (dependent on gain setting and used tube)
Gain: 20- 26dB (selectable and dependent on tube)
Max Output voltage: 15.7Vrms at 300Ohm
Output Resistance: Selectable 0.1, 35 or 120Ohm
Frequency Response: 3Hz – 65 KHz (-0.5dB) with 32Ohm load
Frequency Response: 1.5Hz – 190 KHz (-3dB) with 32Ohm load
Signal to Noise ratio: 92dBA (dependent on tube)
Crosstalk: -89dB (dependent on tube)
THD: > 0.010% (dependent on tube)
Suitable for: 16-600ohm Headphones
Dimensions:
6.25L X 4.75W X 2.75H in inches
Garage 1217 looks like exactly what I have been searching for.
Now, I have to decide on which - Sunrise or Ember.
It looks as if they are pretty equal in quality with the Ember being more flexible in that it will drive about anything from benign to pigish loads.
The price is certainly fair, although I'm not really crazy about the looks (plexiglass).
Another thing; It appeals to the tweaker in me with tube rolling options - hurray!
Thanks for the link and information.
Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
I have been really happy with this amp. My 650's sound really great with this amp. I have found increasing the volume doesn't just make it louder, it makes it fuller and and more enjoyable. Just downloaded and listening to Moody Blues Days of Future Passed in 96hz flac and I am hearing things I did not hear on any other version, mp3, original cd or original LP all of which I have. This amp has helped open up the music and makes it very enjoyable, the Senns really shine with this amp. Jeremy is very easy to work with, make sure you get the super charger option as this will open up even more tube rolling posibilies. Allows you to use tubes up to 1A.Have fun, Don
A few old names come to mind (Little Dot, Bellari, Antique Sound Lab,) right off the top of my head but almost everyday it seems like another "value packed" tube headphone amp is born in Asia somewhere. Fournier on ebay used to make the HTA-1 that was "Made in the USA" but I believe that Fournier has dropped out.Ebay is good place to check, there are dozens of obscure brands listed. If you need recommendations from buyers the best place to check is at Headfi. I'd say that Headfi is composed of a much younger crowd then AA is, and it contains a much higher percentage of college age, extreme budget-minded people. When any new budget tube headphone amp comes to market, you can be sure they'll zero in on it faster than most of us can open our eyes and get out of bed in the morning.
Edits: 11/25/14
I hear ya.
The only thing I do fast in the morning is race to take a piss. It sounds like I'm walking on bubble wrap with all the popping and cracking - I couldn't sneak up on a deaf guy.
I'll go check head-fi.
Thanks.....
I was a vegetarian for 15 minutes, until the main course.......Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
The Little Dot tube amps sold on ebay seem to be highly recommended at Headfi.Here in the AA Trader, there's an older model Musical Fidelity X Can for sale, cheap. The X Can is a pretty good sounding hybrid tube amp, the only possible problem might be finding the miniature tube replacements if/when needed.
Edits: 11/25/14
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