Best amps for orthos

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by rhythmdevils, Oct 20, 2021.

  1. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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  2. elwappo99

    elwappo99 Friend

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    I made some brief comments here on SS amps and I have a section on planar drive: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/spl-phonitor-x-e.3574/page-9#post-358710


    Cayin iHA6 had a lot of grip with planars, but the tuning could be polarizing. Alex Cavalli's Liquid Gold, Glass, Crimson all sound great (crimson had less power output though). Liquid Platinum is OK for most planars, but doesn't really compare to original CA stuff.

    Audio-GD Master 9 has tons of power and grip, but the tuning/sound was strange to my ears. Kind of disappointing.
     
  3. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    The big Krell power amps were fantastic with the HE-6.

    For less power-hungry planar, the Bakoon HPA-21 has been great. There was a HPA-01 for sale for $850 recently (USAM). That's a good price for a current-mode amplifier.
     
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  4. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Original circlotron Schiit Mjolnir seems like a good candidate. I listened to Yggdrasil + MJ2 + Audio Zenith modded PM-2 at a meet once and it sounded nice.

    I've been seeing MJ1 floating around used at $250-$400. Totally worth it at that price IMO
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2021
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I'm a poser with an HE-6. These were my rough price point recommendations:

    <$100: some cheap Topping (not sure if they even make their cheap speaker amps anymore)
    <$400: NAD D3020 (if you need a small form factor) or Bryston 2B, any old school receiver
    <$1.5k: Schiit Rag, Bryston BHA-1
    <$3k: Benchmark AHB2
     
  6. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    This amp is interesting. A current mode amplifier interests me because I use all modded Audeze at this point which are pretty efficient.

    But how does the battery work? Do you have to plug it in and out all the time or does it intelligently charge while powering from the battery or something?
     
  7. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    It charges when you turn the amp off. There's no trickle charging while ON on this one, unfortunately. After ~5-8 hours, it just turns off :D
     
  8. oqvist

    oqvist New

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    Yamaha rds-v440 vintage receiver. 20$ payed for one and 50$ for my backup

    Thx789 aaa and nfb10. 32 the most powerful headphones amps I got. Maybe not enough for lcd-2 and ether c Flow or aeon 2 noire.

    Its still very good from its phono output though. I do get some hiss from the speaker output but in some weird way I seem to like it?? Make it sound more analogue and maybe adds a tad of warmth. Only noticable with no music. The amp itself dont appear to colour the sound though it just make my orthos sound so real.

    I cant say I sense the thx and nfb to not power them properly but its just not the same.
     
  9. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Any recommendations for amps with high current output? I'm thinking due to some recent experiences that Audeze headphones really shine with lots of current and I'm interested in finding an amp that has gobs of current. Specifically for Audeze headphones, not HE6 or low efficiency orthos.

    I'd like to try the Bacon HPA-01 but the battery operation is a big turn off.
     
  10. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    I've always liked my Makoyi for playnars, but at 4.5w it's not suited for the hungriest of hungry hungry hippos.
     
  11. Jerry

    Jerry Friend

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    Personally I love what Schiit has done with Jot 2. Kinda wish they would take it further and use it to build Mjolnir 3, and make it much more powerful and improve the staging.
     
  12. dBel84

    dBel84 Friend

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  13. CharlesM

    CharlesM New

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  14. loadexfa

    loadexfa MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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  15. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

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    I have a Monoprice Gold X that recently finished burning in. I've used it with 2 planars by now: the Final D8000; and the ZMF Ori. The Ori is a power hog and the D8K is not.

    They both sound terrific on the LGX. I use it in low gain only (I've never used high gain on any amp), and there's way more power than I'll ever use. With the Ori I almost got up to 10:30AM on the dial (very loud).

    So far I'm really liking the sound of this amp. Mechanically & operationally it's not a world class design...it has a few quirks. But for $799, it's a deal.

    Next I'll compare it with the Liquid Carbon V2, an amp I really like the sound of. I can't exactly match volume, but I can get fairly close. And courtesy of a DAC with 2 pairs of RCA outputs that work just fine simultaneously, it should be a pretty good test.
     
  16. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    With my inefficient code-x, I use dual Aegirs FWIW
     
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  17. TamHo

    TamHo New

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    In my experience, my 70ohm LCD2 r2 doesn't really need the power that much. And I like it through many small amps even though I owned a few powerful ones
     
  18. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    You wanna act like a winner your gotta amp like a winnner!
     
  19. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    some demo time happening this month with Ferrum Oor + Hypsos + LCD-5 / Susvara.
    more then.
     
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  20. eskamobob1

    eskamobob1 Acquaintance

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    A couple I have enjoyed on susvara specifically are the HSA-1B, A&S Forge (though note my desktop tube experience is fairly minimal so all I can say is I like it and not its a good value), Oor + Hypsos, OG LAu (though tbh i admittedly didn't like it all that much the first couple demos until I threw it on a much much nicer dac).

    Any chance you have tried liquid crimson with Susvara specifically? I'm quite curious how it stacks up against OG LAu for this use case tbh.

    I own both the HPA-21 and HPA-01M. I love both quite dearly. The HPA-21 also so happens to be my favorite HD800S amp to date (though I haven't experienced a lot of the greats here tbf). The way it allows the entierty of HD800S stage to be used is not something I've found outside of current drive amps currently. It also has fantastic imaging on planars. I'm not a super loud listener but I found it quite satisfying on susvara even if not the end all be all of detail.
     

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