Suggestions for inexpensive headphone amp

[NOLAfishwater]

I sometimes do playback on my computer and was looking for an inexpensive amp to power my Sony 7506 headphones. found some small versions for $30-65. Has anyone had any luck with those models?

Like below: http://www.onheadphones.com/product-reviews/amplifiers/jds-labs-cmoy-bass-boost-v2.00.html

http://www.onheadphones.com/product-reviews/amplifiers/micro-cmoy-opamp2227.html



if you want to spend more cash check out this tube amp
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/review-little-dot-mkii-tube-headphone-amp-pre-amp-284835/

buy them on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Little-Dot-MK-III-Headphone-Tube-Amplifier-Pre-Amp_W0QQitemZ190255151291QQcmdZViewItem

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I've learned that like our gear here (mics and amps), head amps are best paired with headphones specifically. Depending on your budget and how passionate/interested you are about this, I'd consider looking over at head-fi.org if you haven't already. Those people are as passionate about their gear as we are about ours. So while this isn't an answer to your question, it hopefully is another tool that will help you get to your answer.

For my Etymotic ER-6s, I came to the conclusion that the pico DAC/amp was the best thing I could do for what I wanted (not necessarily the price range though), but there were 3 or 4 others in the running.

[George]

I think just about any amp would work well with the 7506's, they certainly are not power hungry so if you just need something to power them.  I'm assuming you can't connect them directly to your pc or sound card, so check out a cmoy amp, its cheap and does the trick just fine, imho.

[noahbickart]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ZERO-24-192-DAC-D-A-CONVERTOR-HEAD-FI-AMP-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ110287172415QQihZ001QQcategoryZ14978QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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http://cgi.ebay.com/ZERO-24-192-DAC-D-A-CONVERTOR-HEAD-FI-AMP-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ110287172415QQihZ001QQcategoryZ14978QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I was convinced by a third party (*cough* wife *cough*) to buy this one, coincidentally from that seller cause it was 1/5th the price of the Pico and there wasn't a waiting line to get one manufactured. One thing to note about this unit specifically is that the opamps are easily replaceable, so if you want to customize the sound, it's very possible with these. The seller in question actually sells 2 versions; one is the stock with OPA2604 chips, the other has a set of OPA627 in it (mine).

It arrived today (10 days?) First impression is that it does the job as intended. I went from the cheap ibook headphone out to this, and there's a smoothness with additional nuances I hadn't realized were on my tapes that I now am starting to pick up on, which is great. The downside is that I'm also hearing the other ambiance thats on my tapes like some of the stuff that people talk about at shows that your mics pick up... So in that regard, this is meeting my needs (a replacement for the headphone jack while doing midside decoding)

Also, it's *loud*, even on the equivalent of a 1, it's almost too loud for comfort with my ER-6s, any lower and I'm not powering the headphones to get a balanced sound output from both earbuds I haven't figured out if it's the amp that causes the imbalance or my 3.5mm>1/4" adaptor... The raw output on the laptop seems to be disabled since I'm sending a signal via USB (not the first time I've had this happen), but I can control the volume in an individual application so I can drop it that way.

[pjdavep]

Also, it's *loud*, even on the equivalent of a 1, it's almost too loud for comfort with my ER-6s, any lower and I'm not powering the headphones to get a balanced sound output from both earbuds I haven't figured out if it's the amp that causes the imbalance or my 3.5mm>1/4" adaptor... The raw output on the laptop seems to be disabled since I'm sending a signal via USB (not the first time I've had this happen), but I can control the volume in an individual application so I can drop it that way.

I have a Zhalou, which is another one of those Chinese DAC/pre/headphone amps, similar to the Zero.  I am using it at home with some Senn 280-HD phones and had the loudness problem as well.  Apparently the headphone amp gain was cranked.  You may be able to adjust the turn pots on the heaphone board to get the volume down a little bit.  I decided to go another route with mine, by replacing the cheap potentiometer with a Goldpoint attenuator.  I'm doing a bunch of other mods as well, and will be recasing the entire amp with some nice wood.  Anyway, now that I have the attenuator in place, the volume levels are far more reasonable.  Other owners of these DACs have replaced the stock potentiometer with a higer quality one, such as Alps.  But maybe you can ask the seller if it is possible for you to adjust the output level with the turnpots.

Later,
  pjdavep

[BC]

Also, it's *loud*, even on the equivalent of a 1, it's almost too loud for comfort with my ER-6s, any lower and I'm not powering the headphones to get a balanced sound output from both earbuds I haven't figured out if it's the amp that causes the imbalance or my 3.5mm>1/4" adaptor... The raw output on the laptop seems to be disabled since I'm sending a signal via USB (not the first time I've had this happen), but I can control the volume in an individual application so I can drop it that way.

You could also use a 1/8" attenuator plug. One came with my UE superFi 5pro's for use with airplane headphone jacks.

[noahbickart]

I have one with which I use with my AKG k701. It isn't too loud with them...

I don't think you can beat it fro the price. The DAC sounds very good, if you only have digital sources, you could use it as a pre as well...

-Noah

[run_run_run]

Does the Zero have analog in for Vinyl playback and such?

[328]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ZERO-24-192-DAC-D-A-CONVERTOR-HEAD-FI-AMP-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ110287172415QQihZ001QQcategoryZ14978QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Audio Panda says:
7) Hi End headphone amp,it is not by a cheap IC.In fact it is amplified by a matched pair Hi End transistors each channel.Absolutely it is capable to be a pre amp output.



All your DAC are belong to us!

[Belexes]

More than you want to spend, but very nice:

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/the-mobile-line/headroom-total-bithead.php

[noahbickart]

Does the Zero have analog in for Vinyl playback and such?

no, digi in only. for a more full featured dac/head-amp/pre, check out the citypulse stuff:
http://www.audio-magus.com/Citypulse_7_2x_DAC_p/cpda72xv2.htm

[run_run_run]

Still think I might get the Zero. For some reason I like never ever listen to vinyl via headphones

[NOLAfishwater]

so I ordered the JDLabs Cmoyw/bass boost. Got it in today and gave it a test run with my Ipod and was completely blown away with how much power it puts out. I only turned up 30% and my ears started hurting. Tried it out with my laptop and it kicks ass. For $65 it can't be beat. I guess the 5 star rating it got on HeadFi.org was accurate.

http://jseaber.com/cMoy/

here is the review http://www.onheadphones.com/product-reviews/amplifiers/jds-labs-cmoy-bass-boost-v2.00.html