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Topic: Inexpensive headphone amplifier? (Read 8102 times) previous topic - next topic
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Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Anyone know of an inexpensive (under $100) headphone amplifier (or just a small amplifier that can be used with headphones), readily available in the USA?

Benefits would be small size (but doesn't need to be portable), and flexibility/features (maybe bass/treble controls, or a volume control).  Drawbacks would be anything USB-powered, although I'd remotely consider it.

Please, nobody say "Boostaroo" (hiss-aroo...  )

Thanks...

Edit -- anyone have any experience with this one?

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #1 –
Quote
Edit -- anyone have any experience with this one?

I don't have experience with that exact unit, but I did buy a small integrated amp very similar to that from Radio Shaft a while back and discovered that it had un-defeatable loudness compensation! I took it right back. But give it a try; they take stuff back if you don't like it.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #2 –
Also found this one.  Anyone with experiences with this product (or even hearsays), I'd be grateful to hear from you.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #3 –
Perhaps a secondhand receiver or intergrated amp? I found this to be a bigger bang for the buck as I can power a pair of speakers aswell.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #4 –
Quote
Perhaps a secondhand receiver or intergrated amp? I found this to be a bigger bang for the buck as I can power a pair of speakers aswell.

Well... it's an idea if I don't find anything else (perhaps Ebay).  I've become exclusively a headphone listener, so doubt I'll ever have the need to power speakers (and am looking for something ultra-small to sit on top of the computer). 

Thanks for the suggestion, appreciate it...

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #5 –
If you don't want to spend too much and still want it to sound decent, I'd recommend building your own.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #7 –
Try this for $100.00.

Later.
"Did you just say he contacts you through a bird? Did I just hear you say that?" Sonny Valerio (Cliff Gorman). Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #9 –
Thanks... have you guys actually heard these amps you're recommending?  If I was going to buy from an electronic hobbyist (vs. an established company) I'd definitely like to hear some "testimonials" first, especially: Will the product last for any length of time?

Also, these amps you guys suggested may be a bit higher-end than what I'm looking for -- really I just need something that sounds adequate (minimal hiss) and hopefully uses some sort of external power rather than having to replace batteries.  Suddenly I feel I have entered a minefield (WTF is a "Meta42" and "stacked buffers?"  ).

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #10 –
Just browse around the head-fi amplifier section. META42s happen to be probably the most recommended amplifiers under $300 or so.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #11 –
Quote
Just browse around the head-fi amplifier section. META42s happen to be probably the most recommended amplifiers under $300 or so.

They just look like a bunch of home-brew electronics boxes (in Altoids tins???) with in-grown reviews.  I've seen nothing external to the actual group, unless there's something you can show me.  I don't know any of these people, and haven't seen any of their names elsewhere.  I wouldn't trust my money to any of these strangers without some further contact.

I suppose there's some benefit to having been a member of the head-fi community for a long time, but it's really of no benefit whatsoever to a newcomer.  Even HA seems to march to a different drummer (in some respects) than does the rest of the world, and perhaps so does the head-fi.org community.

I hope this honesty on my part is not disconcerting to anyone -- I suppose all web communities are like that to a certain extent.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #12 –
META42 is probably a quite good headphone amplifier. However, I think that a good headphone amplifier can be built or bought spending much less money than $300. Headphones are relatively easy to drive.

BTW, I think most (or at least many) Head-fi people are quite clueless in what respects to audio, in a similar way to AudioAsylum people and such.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #13 –
Quote
META42 is probably a quite good headphone amplifier. However, I think that a good headphone amplifier can be built or bought spending much less money than $300. Headphones are relatively easy to drive.

I'd sure like to find something better than the Boostaroo, but less pricey than the Creek OBH-11 (but still well known as a good performer).  So far, no dice... 

P.S. what seems strange with those head-fi reviews is that I don't see any links to actually finding or purchasing those amps.  Is everyone there an electronics whiz, or does everyone have each other's phone number? 

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #14 –
I own the fixup v4 mini amp... I am probably going to upgrade to the current v6 one sometime soon... it really is a great little amp... it works portably.. and basically i use it at work, plugged in to the lineout of my  nomad jukebox3 mp3 player... playing mostly lame --alt-preset extreme mp3s... sounds great... ohh and my cans... the perfect work cans Beyer dynamic 250-80s....

Only if you have something like Sennheisers HD600s would it not really have enough power to do it justice... you get about 30-40 hours with 3 NIMH batteries and you are isolated from dirty mains in the process...

Meta42s are superior but are not as good portably and are 3x as much.... there is a new type of headphone amp coming out to replace the meta42 which i will probably get but its not due out for another 6-12months..

So in short... highly recommended fixup amp... its good for everything.. and sounds great

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #15 –
Quote
META42 is probably a quite good headphone amplifier. However, I think that a good headphone amplifier can be built or bought spending much less money than $300. Headphones are relatively easy to drive.


META42 is highly regarded... ok $300 may seem a lot to you but there are commercial amps up to $4000+ just look at the headphone.com range... the point about the meta42 is its a well designed spec... and fully customisable (some say this is a problem as you can break the great sound by custimising too far) .. basically a commercial amp will go for a spec at a given cost and thats it... DIY amps let you get the top of the range of every single component... the OPAMP in particular contributes a lot to the type of sound you want... some META42s have it so you can actually just take out and swop op amps to do your own ABX-ing/testing of what you prefer...

Saying that headphones are easy to drive is a bit of a misconception.... most integrated amps/cd players have poor headphones out as by demographic few people will ever use the headphone amp so money is allocated to features that will most likely be able to be appreciated (by placebo or not without ABX-ing  but regardless of that cans do vary.. i'm not fully up on the tech of it but i own my HD600s which have 300ohm impedence... my audiolab 8000s integrated amp actually breaks the mold and has a fairly respectable headphone socket but i have no doubt that i am not driving the cans to their fullest.... few cans are this high an impedence... most cheapies are in the 10-50ohm region... but still headphones do take some driving... ok not as much POWER as huge speakers but still to be driven well it does need to have certain things in reserve... but yes you can get them cheap... the fixup as i said is great... some meta42s are cheap just without maxing out the specs (maxout metas are around $300) ... the guys that make these amps are easy to talk to just email them and voice your concerns.. they are a great bunch and dont charge a lot for what you get... minimal profits being made.. and when you see the work they've done with microsoldering in the case of the tiny tiny supermini you know its not something that is easy to do...

I dunno.. its like building your own PC or buying from Dell.... the DIY route does reap rewards... and there is nothing like the supermini which is the only one i have experience of yet...

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #16 –
Quote
I own the fixup v4 mini amp... I am probably going to upgrade to the current v6 one sometime soon... it really is a great little amp... it works portably.. and basically i use it at work, plugged in to the lineout of my  nomad jukebox3 mp3 player... playing mostly lame --alt-preset extreme mp3s... sounds great... ohh and my cans... the perfect work cans Beyer dynamic 250-80s....

Only if you have something like Sennheisers HD600s would it not really have enough power to do it justice... you get about 30-40 hours with 3 NIMH batteries and you are isolated from dirty mains in the process...

Thanks.  This sounds good for portable operation, but I keep my computer on 24/7 and will be using any amp I get only with my PC soundcard -- that could mean recharging the batteries once/day every time I forget to hit the power off switch on the amp (actually, since I have no AAA charger or rechargeables -- it would mean buying a new charger + batteries too, or buying three new AAA alkalines every couple days).

Appreciate the suggestion.  I'm starting to lean toward just buying a cheap boombox or vintage amp with aux-in jacks and a headphone jack, and wondering if there would even be any audible/ABX'able difference.  Seems to me this is just a matter of some very basic "electronics 101" circuitry.  What really surprises me is the lack of commercial stuff between the $19.95 price point and the $299.95 price point.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #17 –
fair enough.. my old amp will be being used thru a computer by my brother but turning it off is an issue... batteries and charger isn't too much but yeah if you want convenience go for mains... i believe you can use mains with the fixup amp too, not sure how...

there are no commercial options cause sadly not a lot of people use headphones, and those that do make do with their devices headphone out...

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #18 –
Quote
META42 is highly regarded... ok $300 may seem a lot to you but there are commercial amps up to $4000+ just look at the headphone.com range...

A $4000 headphone amplifier is pure snake oil. A $4000 speaker amplifier is already snake oil, and a headphone amp is way easier to build.

Quote
the OPAMP in particular contributes a lot to the type of sound you want... some META42s have it so you can actually just take out and swop op amps to do your own ABX-ing/testing of what you prefer...


A $1 dual 5532 op-amp is already transparent if well configured, and all that op-amp tweako-gibberish is most of the times just speculation and placebo effect.

Quote
Saying that headphones are easy to drive is a bit of a misconception....


I don't think so. Headphones require little power. Headphones don't require to be driven with very low output impedances, since they are pretty high impedance in comparison with speakers. More to follow...

Quote
most integrated amps/cd players have poor headphones out as by demographic few people will ever use the headphone amp so money is allocated to features that will most likely be able to be appreciated (by placebo or not without ABX-ing


Anyway, a dedicated headphone amp is easy to build. Some cheap soundcards have good built-in headphone outs.

Quote
but regardless of that cans do vary.. i'm not fully up on the tech of it but i own my HD600s which have 300ohm impedence... my audiolab 8000s integrated amp actually breaks the mold and has a fairly respectable headphone socket but i have no doubt that i am not driving the cans to their fullest.... few cans are this high an impedence... most cheapies are in the 10-50ohm region...


In fact, high impedance headphones are easier to drive, since they require little current capability.

Quote
but still headphones do take some driving... ok not as much POWER as huge speakers but still to be driven well it does need to have certain things in reserve...


Little things... Speakers need around 1 W to sound more or less loud. Headphones require just 1 mW to sound loud, and are very high impedance in comparison, so require even less current. Just compare sensitivities of speakers and headphones, compare impedances, use Ohm's law and do your maths.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #19 –
KikeG,

What do you think of something like this:

http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...ID=92&brandID=2

Specs are on the page in a PDF document... they look good to me, except for crosstalk (I can't figure if that's any good or not).  The reason I ask about this model is that I've seen it on Ebay numerous times (so I could probably get one fairly cheap).  A bit larger than I want though... but it isn't built inside a mint can. 

Not sure if I could find the right sort of cable to output from my soundcard (RCA to 1/4" 3-conductor male "TRS")... that looks a bit confusing too.  One 3-conductor plug for each channel?

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #20 –
Well, I don't know for sure:

Crosstalk is not very good, buth the truth is that our ears are pretty insentitive to crosstalk, and I think this value of 54 dB is more than enough. If I'm not wrong, vinyl playback has poorer crosstalk than this.

THD+N is measured in presence of a quite high impedance (600 Ohm), so real-world values with the lower impedance of a headphone will be worse, but I don't know how much. They should be not much worse if the amp has good current capability, as it seems to have.

Output impedance is a little bit high in my opinion, but I'm not sure how much of a detrimental effect would this have in practice. Probably not much, but I can't say for sure. I want to learn and experiment a little bit over this on different impedance headphones.

But, thinking again, I'd say that if you don't need best possible performance and it's cheap, it could be a good buy.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #21 –
Thanks... will add it to a list of considerations.  I think I'll just look around casually for awhile, as it seems decent, inexpensive headphone amps are as difficult to find as decent inexpensive phono preamps. 

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #22 –
Another thing... with that amp you will need to buy or build some connector adaptors, since the inputs are balanced.

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #23 –
Thanks for the info kikeG.. i did study physics for a while but its been so long ago and my electronics knowledge and memory of formulas is poor...

wierd that you conclude that higher impedence phones are easier to drive... i believe you from the maths of it.. perhaps there are more things than just current that other people use to describe difficulty to drive.. I dont know enough on it it argue...

It has got me thinking... my jukebox3 has 100mw amp, my fixup amp is 250-300mw ... i may try and attempt a blind AB test at home with this... setup the phones out of my jukebox and the level on my fixup amp to be similar and get someone to change them round randomly for me whilst i keep my eyes closed (blind folded) ... be interesting to know if it placebo  yeah will have a go.. and post results as and when...

Inexpensive headphone amplifier?

Reply #24 –
thing is this will just identify that i CAN spot the difference... not really discerning which is better... and i guess you can't have the equivelant of the original wave in codec ABX testing when testing equipment