Help me with sub $1500 headamps

Discussion in 'Leaderboard, Overboard, and Deals' started by TheIceman93, Dec 18, 2016.

  1. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    Thanks Guys! I'll get back to you later. It's past by bedtime in the UK.
     
  2. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    It's a possibility. I hesitated on mentioning it because it can be a bit bright, hard, or sometimes rough sounding depending on tube choice. It also has a very wide but also flat stage, flat like the Jot. It is a slamming amp though and worth consideration, I suppose.
     
  3. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    Okay, I've done a bit more reading and thinking and have decided to go with the Valhalla 2 and / or Freya . I will be buying a turntable soon to try out some vinyl (already have a TC-750 on the way). In the short term I don't mind just swapping the cables in and out of the Valhalla 2 until I decide if I need a Freya. Valhalla 2 is out of stock in the UK at the moment so I will have to wait a little while.

    I don't think the Cayin will suit my tastes, the Violectric doesn't seem that great and for some reason the Burson Conductor V2 costs 1800 Euros in Europe but only $1000 in the States.

    There are other amps I looked at: The usual British suspects: Creek, Graham Slee etc. but not too keen on them and I don't trust reviews in the British Hi-Fi magazines. The Lehmann Audio Linear SE and Pathos Aurium looked promising. Has anybody any experience of these two?

    Going off at a tangent, I was looking through Hi-Fi Choice in the newsagent. There were a great number of hardware reviews (probably 2 or 3 dozen at least), I counted three products that received 4 and half stars all the rest received 5 stars. I thought, hmmmmmm - is every product really that great? Maybe.....

    I am very interested to know how development of the Eddie Current Copperhead is progressing? Is it still on the drawing board? I could be interested in purchasing one whenever it becomes available, despite having to pay import VAT and duty. Thanks Marvey.

    And thanks to everyone for your guidance and expertise, especially @k4rstar .
     
  4. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    I have shipped the Octave MK2 Dac back to the freight consolidator (zenmarket) in Japan. Zenmarket would only cover my return shipping and will send the Aurix amp to me once they have received it from the shipper. I also ask zenmarket to take picture of the Aurix before shipping so I can be sure the condition is OK. Still waiting for the time being.
     
  5. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    Aurix is supposed to be a passive amp with current boost. The sound should also reflect how the source signal was like (at least it is what it supposed to be). I hope the 2.5Vrms RCA output of my audio-gd Ref5.32 DAC will give it extra punch. My EPA-007, an amp with only 2W power consumption (not output), actually sounds quite dynamic when connected to the 5Vrms XLR output of the Ref5.32.
     
  6. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Everything has its own sound, even the Aurix. I tried it with a couple different DACs, though I can't remember which, and always felt the same way. The deficiencies became more apparent as I started trying other amps next to it. Not that it has no good or unique qualities, but my tastes are elsewhere.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Sorry to burst your bubble, but you can't boost current with passive devices. This is nonsense.
     
  8. TheIceman93

    TheIceman93 El pato-zorro

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    Some kind of EC Copperhead update would be sweet. This is the first I'm hearing about this but it seems the last word on it was around December of 2015.

    Edit: Back in March of 2016 Craig said the Copperhead would replace the BW and that it would drop late 2016 or early 2017. Since the BW has been officially discontinued, I'm going to assume the Copperhead is still in the pipeline and hopefully coming to market very soon.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2017
  9. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    I should have said it better. The Aurix is indeed a active headphone amp with no or 10dB gain (via transformer). The "passive" is part of the design philosophy, not part of the circuit design.
     
  10. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    I find myself pursuing/liking headphone gears which are generally disliked here: audio-gd DAC, Beyerdynamic headphones, Japanese low output power headphone amps etc. :p My tastes of music is nothing special but I am after different sound qualities like delicacy, fluency, with my low volume listening headphone setup. When I want ultimate dynamic, bass slam and sound stage I shall turn on my speaker amp. Much higher price/experience ratio with speaker setup for those qualities. All my headphone gears are single ended, but my speaker setup is fully balanced. Why bother hurting your ear drums if you can feel the bass with your chest and butt instead?
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2017
  11. mrflibble

    mrflibble Friend

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    I was thinking, if I were to increase my budget to $1500 (the same as @TheIceman93 ), would this increase my options at all? Or have all the options already been covered in this thread? My apologies if that is the case.

    Are there any opinions of the Sennheiser HDVA600? One would imagine that being made by Sennheiser it would be a good match for their headphones?

    Many appreciative thanks.
     
  12. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    I finally received my Metrum Aurix this afternoon.

    [​IMG]

    Early impression some listening with E-mu Teak, T1, HD6XX and HE500: It is a very transparent amp at its 0dB gain setting. Its sound signature seems to be a mixture of my other amps: With transparency and imaging of my EPA007, plus dynamic of my KA-10SH, and power of my SA-31SE. My HE500 sounds the best out of the Aurix (dynamic, bass punch, etc).

    Short coming identified so far: a bit grainy, not as smooth sounding at 0dB gain as my other amps with low impedance headphones. It is smooth at +10dB gain, and with high impedance headphones

    Difficult time for me to decide which amp to keep now.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2017
  13. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    The Aurix does not sound grainy from my Yamaha DVD-S1800 player.

    I tried my T5p with the Aurix after dinner, it is not grainy at all. It puzzles me now. The Aurix may just need more burn-in as the previous owner says it has been used for less than 100 hours.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2017
  14. Robert777

    Robert777 Acquaintance

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    Any further comparisons between the Aurixand the SA31SE would be greatly appreciated. I have the latter, but always wanted to try out the former.
     
  15. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    With my HE500, the Aurix sounds more dynamic, transparent than the SA31SE. The SA31SE sounds smoother, more relax, and has bigger sound stage width and depth. The Aurix also has better imaging.
     
  16. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    The grain came in waves for me and eventually stuck around to the point where I couldn't keep the amp. That and it's pretty middle of the road in terms of dynamics, slam, and especially staging, compared to really good amps.
     
  17. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    Not sure if it is the non feedback design giving it having low dampening factor. My E-mu Teak sounds quite grainy, but the T5p sounds smooth enough.
     
  18. neogeosnk

    neogeosnk Friend

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    How about the iCan Pro? My "current" end game. It goes on sale at Adorama for $1299 . Better system synergy than any of the Schiit/Cayin amps I tried. It does have a bunch of do hickeys for bass/3D, but it sounds better with all those things turned off. @Torq did a detailed write-up on it recently.
     
  19. CoLdAsSauLt

    CoLdAsSauLt New

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    What about an Auralic Taurus Mk2? For sale now for $1500, can be had for a lot less used.
    I'm very interested in @Hands ' take on it...
     
  20. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Buy it for me to test and I will let you know. ;)
     

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