Price/performance sweetspot for solid state headphone amps?

Discussion in 'Advice Threads' started by Magnetostatic_Tubephile, Sep 15, 2021.

  1. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    in $300 price category THX AAA 887 is a clear winner for me. Did not hear the Drop THX AAA.
    Using 887 with Soekris 2541 I am really impressed by how transparent, but not boring, and versatile it is. The only amp I have, including two DAPs, that is entirely quiet with Ara, but has no problem with AKG K240DF either.
    And they both, Ara and K240DF sound very engaging.
    in $2000+ or used $1000+ it is BHA-1. I have been using it with a slew of headphones, starting with IEM, through large planars (HEKv1, v2, HEKSE, LCDX), and with the stuff that is really difficult to drive like HD560 Ovation, and AKG. It is neutral to the fault but still works with HD800S. Clean, transparent, very low noise floor, even with sensitive IEMs.
    But I think that overall it is SPL Phonitor x. I had a chance to spend a day with it and for me it would be the endgame.
    But I obviously did not hear too many amps
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2021
  2. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Haha, those are very similar to my reference points as well. I currently have both the Phonitor2 and BHA-1, and I used to have THX on the end with the Benchmark AHB2.
     
  3. Alondite

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    Given its performance and utility, I'd say Jot 2 at $400 is a sweet spot, and a tremendous value.
     
  4. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    after serious comparison between Ifi Pro ican (2000$) vs ifi Micro Ican (300$)
    Id say that 300$ is really best value for money for SS amps. I guess fully discrete SS in real life doesnt bring that much advantage in reality as I couldnt hear any difference in SS mode between ifi pro ican vs micro ican and Zen can.

    I much prefer the ifi retro stereo 50 over any of my amps. so I think for tubes the sweetspot is much higher.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2021
  5. rrwwss52

    rrwwss52 New

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    The sweet spot often comes down to what you can afford $$. I own four solid state amps and two tubed amps. If you're on a budget, it's better to buy what you need versus trying to cut costs.

    Bang for your buck Schiit brand is a great choice.
     
  6. eskamobob1

    eskamobob1 Acquaintance

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    I think this exact thing makes this question basically futile to tackle if I am honest. There will always be 3 ultimate places general price points of amps end up
    • Too cheap to realy value as they dont tend to compete with X
    • Best value/the range to be in
    • way too expensive to have proper price/performance
    The problem is, every single one of us will define those differently. Some will have a sweet stop at $250. Others 1500. Others still ~$3k, and it just doesnt ever realy end
     
  7. Armaegis

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    I am frankly ashamed at how far up my "acceptable spending" point has risen in the last few years. :oops:
     
  8. Beefy

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    ORFAS, ho!
     
  9. eskamobob1

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    I find all my hobby's (be it woodworking, cars, audio, or just whatever) tend to quite quickly scale to my "dream" setup being exactly at the point of "I could technically afford that, but oof man....". This has seemed to remain true regardless of changes to my income level. Back in college I was pining over a 4k car. With my first job it was 11k. That "holy shit I want it car" has managed to change alongside my income to forever just barely remain out of reach (though I guess the ones that didnt I've bought and dont pine after anymore tbf)
     
  10. TamHo

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    It is maybe only me because I haven’t heard one Schiit amp that doesn’t have compressed sound or timbre issue. Recently I bought the Zen can signature and while it is not great , I haven’t found any wrong with its sound. I was very happy so that I bought another British amp named Rhead. I bought those amps for $300 each and have been satisfied.
     
  11. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    Once anyone identify what are sought for and what can be sacrificed, it will be easier to find room to save costs. Doing everything right for everyone never comes cheap, say Ravenswood 3F for 3k usd (moreover oop now). At least I believe so.

    That said, as a general rule of thumb, I do still think starting from $200-700 would be worthy. This may not be an end game SS budget for nitpicky audiophiles. Offerings in this price range aren't perfect by any means but come with 1+ reasonable strengths and more importantly great to identify or prioritize tradeoffs.

    And that's what I am concluding a sweet spot for myself. Aa a MZ gen grown with bad recordings and digital media, I found myself relatively insensitive to SS flaws or digitus TBH. What people often blame only matter when done too dauntingly (this applied to many opamp-based ones with some recent exceptions). Comparing to the experience with more matured (thus higher $$$) amps, I found a few budget products whose relative loss was very acceptable to me. I won't list specific names as too much YMMV (eliminating ymmv costs a lot imho as I said in the first paragraph) there but suggest where to tackle from. Maybe I'm answering the question "what will I recommend myself if I should start over from scratch?".

    Also like already mentioned in earlier posts, choosing the right and decent transducers should be prioritized as it can very effectively narrow down price spectrum.
     

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