Affordable Headphone Amp (With DAC?)

[thetawave2]

My wonderful girlfriend just bought me a pair of Grado SR80i headphones for my birthday! (Thanks to my brother and best friend for guiding her in the right direction ;) )

Anyway, I'd like to have something to drive them that will do a little better job than my MacBook's soundcard or my iPod. I don't want to spend too much money on a headphone amp, though (~$200), but I do want to get some serious sound out of these headphones. Is there a headphone amp that will offer me serious performance at a very low price?

If it offered digital to analog conversion via USB and/or toslink, that would be even better (and would allow for some increase in the price I'm willing to pay). The ultimate would be a preamp with a DAC and headphone output so I could use my computer with either my headphones or my amplifier, but I'm not sure if there's anything like that within my price range. I'm not too afraid of the used market, if that will make a difference....

Thanks for the help!

[steveinaz]

Check this list....

http://www.audioadvisor.com/products.asp?dept=43

If you can squeak $25 more bucks out, the Creek OBH-11 would be a nice budget rig. $225.

[heiney9]

http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/...products_id=32

A little out of your range, but I have been extremely impressed with the build quality, quality of parts and sound of Keces products. This would be a serious performer, no doubt

H9

[txcoastal1]

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMEF2A get tubie for $169 the review even spec's your Grado's

"This $169 little dude will deliver performance of amps twice the price once you find that right pair of headphones that match up (we highly recommend the Grado SR-80's, though we've heard the Sennheiser HD580/HD600's are a nice match too). And if looks are your thing, you'll certainly be the cool kid with one of the sexiest amps around."

[Face]

A little above your price range, but sounds nice.

http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconhd/index.php

[thetawave2]

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMEF2A get tubie for $169 the review even spec's your Grado's

"This $169 little dude will deliver performance of amps twice the price once you find that right pair of headphones that match up (we highly recommend the Grado SR-80's, though we've heard the Sennheiser HD580/HD600's are a nice match too). And if looks are your thing, you'll certainly be the cool kid with one of the sexiest amps around."

I do like tubes, and the price tag too. Have you had any experience with this amp yourself?

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations! I've been looking at all your links. I have a bit of research to do I think....

[thetawave2]

Ordered the HiFiMan EF2!

[chumlie]

Ordered the HiFiMan EF2!

Well, how do you like it ? Any buyer remorse ? Thinking about one myself.

[thetawave2]

Well, how do you like it ? Any buyer remorse ? Thinking about one myself.

It's pretty darn good. Soundstage and bass are much much better. I can see how the bass might be a little much with some headphones, however. The channel imbalance I heard about in some reviews is really at the extreme low end of the volume knob, but if you have 32 ohm headphones like me and want to keep your computer on full volume, that's where you'll be. I'm pretty surprised at how much power this thing has and may look for some tube equivalents with lower gain ratios.
Any other questions? :)

[chumlie]

Well yes, one more. I see in your original post your getting the Grado SR80's. In your blog its the 60's. What are you useing with this amp ?

[thetawave2]

Well yes, one more. I see in your original post your getting the Grado SR80's. In your blog its the 60's. What are you useing with this amp ?

This thread refers to a pair of sr80i headphones I got for my birthday. My blog refers to a pair of sr60 headphones that belong to my friend. From now on, I'll be using the sr80i, unless I find time to do a shootout '80i vs '60.

Thanks for visiting my blog! I really appreciate it :)
By the way, the post about the sr60 headphones on my blog is a little funny. What I heard seems inconsistent with the things I've read and the things I've heard from my sr80i's. I don't know if I had some kind of equalizer on iTunes messing with the sound and didn't notice or if the headphone output of my laptop colored the sound enough to take that much detail away from headphones many others describe as "forward," but it's something I'll be revisiting in the future.

[evhudsons]

I was looking at the hifiman online when looking for headphone amp info. There are also lots of diy "Cmoy" amps that you can make yourself or buy premade. Then I saw the hifi man tube amp and was rethinking what I would want. One review said that he upgraded the actual tubes themselves and had a big improvement.

[thetawave2]

I was looking at the hifiman online when looking for headphone amp info. There are also lots of diy "Cmoy" amps that you can make yourself or buy premade. Then I saw the hifi man tube amp and was rethinking what I would want. One review said that he upgraded the actual tubes themselves and had a big improvement.

I'm looking forward to trying some tube upgrades too :)