WTD: Headphone Amp

[gninnam]

As title - looking for a headphone amp to work with my HD600 & HD545 Reference.
Would prefer something that is tweakable (valves or dip switches) to alter the sounds/gain etc. but prolly not essential - also like an RCA out.

Seen a few an Evil Bay (Creek OBH-21SE, Musical fidelity X-Cans, Schiit Audio Lyr 2 or even a Little Dot MK III)

Have up to £120, but may creep a smidgen higher.

Anyone got anything they want to part with that would fit the bill or any of the above in the list worth a punt??

Cheers

[Lawrence001]

Little dot mk3 definitely worth a punt, got mine for £120 boxed as new, love it. Upgraded valves make all the difference, it now outperforms my previous mk4 (stock) by quite a margin.

[gninnam]

Little dot mk3 definitely worth a punt, got mine for £120 boxed as new, love it. Upgraded valves make all the difference, it now outperforms my previous mk4 (stock) by quite a margin.

Thanks Lawrence - I do quite fancy the Little Dot, the one currently on ebay is at £130 so might be a bit out of what I want to pay so may just wait until one turns up at the right price?

[Lawrence001]

Thanks Lawrence - I do quite fancy the Little Dot, the one currently on ebay is at £130 so might be a bit out of what I want to pay so may just wait until one turns up at the right price?I got mine on gumtree, lucky really, if it had been an ebay auction I think £150 would have been closer with the new valves.

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[gninnam]

Will have a look at Gumtree then and see if they have anything!

[Lerxst]

I'd have a look at the little dots as well for that money.

[gninnam]

Thanks Chris
I notice on evilbay that there is one currently at £50 (2 days to go so who knows what it could end at), but the seller mentions the following:
"Little Dot MkIII in good condition. Buzzing on right channel until warmed up. Probably dry joint"

Worth a punt or steer clear?

[gninnam]

No one?

The one in good nick went for £152 so missed out on that one:(

[Lerxst]

Thanks Chris
I notice on evilbay that there is one currently at £50 (2 days to go so who knows what it could end at), but the seller mentions the following:
"Little Dot MkIII in good condition. Buzzing on right channel until warmed up. Probably dry joint"

Worth a punt or steer clear?

I would steer clear. You have some nice headphones there and you don't want a faulty amp doing anything nasty for the sake of £50.

Anyway, that's what I think.

The little dots are quite ubiquitous, so I would wait a bit myself

[gninnam]

Thanks Chris. Advice heeded.

[Lawrence001]

I would steer clear. You have some nice headphones there and you don't want a faulty amp doing anything nasty for the sake of £50.

Anyway, that's what I think.

The little dots are quite ubiquitous, so I would wait a bit myself

I would take a punt myself, could be the valve, or my old once had a slightly loose clamp in the valve socket that sometimes made a noise. I fixed it by expanding the joint with a pin.

[sumday]

Watford Valves offer a few kits of matched tubes for Little Dot range, each with its own particular sound...and price
I currently use a MK3 with a set costing under 35quid purely as a preamp.
It's way better than its price point would suggest....quite shockingly so.

Of course the single RCA input could be an issue....I route all my sources digitally through a DAC.
It warms them up nicely.

[Lawrence001]

I'm waiting for my delivery of several matched sets of Russian gold pin EV valves for the LD mk2/3 maybe they also work on the 4. Will report back with findings and can sell on a couple of them if they work nicely.

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[gninnam]

Hmm. Do I wait for one that is reported as having no issues or, like you say, take a punt..............
Decisions, decisions!

[Lerxst]

I have 2 little dots MK II and MK IV. They all take the same kind of valves - Watford valves do a few kits, yes.

Ask the guy selling it if he swaps the left and right valves over (big ones, test, then little ones, test) does it now buzz from a different channel? If so, it's the valve or valve connectors - maybe corroded. If not there is something else wrong. If the fomer, go for it, if the latter, leave it. Be aware a whole new valve set with a halfway decent set of valves, even unmatched, costs about £85, with VAT, which Watford Valves don't seem to mention until it is checkout time on their webpage.

These things are massive value for money - upto the MK IV (not the SE). They are asking almost regular prices after those models.

[Lawrence001]

If it's the socket, the problem won't follow the valve. I could do my valve sets for about £25 plus postage!

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[gninnam]

I know in the add he is shipping it with other valves so I assume that the problem isn't these.
After the unit has warmed up the noise goes so could be caused by a poor solder or connection (once warmed up the sound goes)?

Cheers

[gninnam]

Just got this from the vendor when asked about moving the valves:

"I have yes. If you tap the case of the amp lightly the buzz disappears temporarily until warm"

[Lawrence001]

Probably dry solder joint.occasionally I think a dodgy capacitor can do this too?

[gninnam]

Punt or not - that is the question.
Currently sat at £52 with 2 hours to go - if it goes over £80 then I think I should hang on for one with no issues so will make a bid in the next few hours and see where we end up!

[Dylanthecat]

Hi, I have used a G&W Tsinghua T-2.6F Tube 6922 Class A headphones amplifier for 5 years now using numerous high end cans (Audeze, Grado, Hifiman, AKG etc) with great results. Stock tubes are decent. Worth a look if you can find a secondhand one on the net. Martin

[gninnam]

Search continues - outbid - went for £82.
Someone possibly got a bargain or a nightmare...........

[gninnam]

Hi, I have used a G&W Tsinghua T-2.6F Tube 6922 Class A headphones amplifier for 5 years now using numerous high end cans (Audeze, Grado, Hifiman, AKG etc) with great results. Stock tubes are decent. Worth a look if you can find a secondhand one on the net. Martin

Thanks Martin - will keep an eye out for one!

[vinylist]

Hi Andy, I’ve a Neco Bossfet v3 dual mono that isn’t seeing much use, so was thinking of putting up for sale. I’ll need to check what a sensible price is but certainly less than £100 delivered. Do PM if you’re interested. There seems to be a bit about them around the web, e.g. http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/thread/9139/neco-bossfet-v3-review-complete

(Mods - I hope that’s not breaking any rules - if needs be, happy to delete this post & list properly with pictures etc in due course.)

[gninnam]

HI Rick - sounds interesting. I note they do not make it anymore but lets see what you want for it first :)

[Dylanthecat]

http://www.tomergabel.com/HeadphonesAndTheArcaneArtOfSound.aspx

I have mine hooked up via a CA DacMagic too. Great combo. Martin

[gninnam]

http://www.tomergabel.com/HeadphonesAndTheArcaneArtOfSound.aspx

I have mine hooked up via a CA DacMagic too. Great vombo. Martin

Will have a read and see what they say.

[Stratmangler]

If you don't mind building it yourself https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/headphone-amplifiers/dak-novo-headphone-amplifier-kit.html

[spm]

would this be any good? Not heard one but reasonable review in HiFi Choice for what it's worth

http://petertyson.co.uk/index.php/teac-z40-headphone-amplifier.html

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/news/article/myryad-z40/23134

[gninnam]

If you don't mind building it yourself https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/headphone-amplifiers/dak-novo-headphone-amplifier-kit.html

I had seen that one before - had enough of DIY'ing at the moment so was looking for something ready built - will continue to bear in mind though!

[gninnam]

would this be any good? Not heard one but reasonable review in HiFi Choice for what it's worth

http://petertyson.co.uk/index.php/teac-z40-headphone-amplifier.html

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/news/article/myryad-z40/23134

Thanks Sean. Sounds interesting. In the HiFi Choice review it states it costs £395???

[Landloper]

I recently bought the Myryad Z40 from Peter Tyson for £99.90 inc delivery. I liked it straightaway and have no hesitation in recommending it: superb sound, great build quality, outstanding functionality. I would have been delighted with it at the original asking price of £395.00.

Just to put things in context I use Sennheiser HD700s and 650s as well as a pair of Grado 325s and have a variety of headphone amps including a Lehmann Rhinelander, a Lehmann Linear, a Bereford Capella, and a Little Dot Mk III.

The Myryad is a fabulous headphone amp in my opinion and an absolute steal at under a hundred pounds.

[gninnam]

John - very interesting - think I will take a stab at it then - £99 is not a fortune so nothing to loose.

Thanks everyone :)

EDIT - Just gone down to £94 :)

[gninnam]

Ordered. Should come in the next few days so will report back.

[struth]

decent bit of gear that for money. no dac but it is class a

[Landloper]

Love mine. Hope it hits the spot for you chaps too!

[It is also reassuringly heavy]

[willbewill]

I recently bought the Myryad Z40 from Peter Tyson for £99.90 inc delivery. I liked it straightaway and have no hesitation in recommending it: superb sound, great build quality, outstanding functionality. I would have been delighted with it at the original asking price of £395.00.

Just to put things in context I use Sennheiser HD700s and 650s as well as a pair of Grado 325s and have a variety of headphone amps including a Lehmann Rhinelander, a Lehmann Linear, a Bereford Capella, and a Little Dot Mk III.

The Myryad is a fabulous headphone amp in my opinion and an absolute steal at under a hundred pounds.

How does it compare to the Capella?

[Landloper]

Much as I love my Capella I prefer the Z40. Both have a warm presentation, both can be used a preamp, and both are produced by British companies. I tried both with a Beresford Caiman SEG fed by a Cambridge CXC transport and felt that the CXC-SEG-Myryad pairing performed the best for me. The Capella is now in a second system with a Caiman Mk II, so it is a case of 'as well as rather than instead of'. The Myryad has a High/Low gain switch on the rear of the unit, with 'low' being anything up to 200 Ohms resistance according to the manual, whereas the Capella has a gain control on the front so you can dial in the amount you feel works best with the particular set of cans you wish to use. The Myryad has also four inputs [to the Capella's one] so it is very easy to do side by side source comparisons &c. The Capella has a greater ability to tailor the sound with various settings which can be useful, but I find with the Myryad I don't feel the need to twiddle (which for me is a constant temptation with the Capella). The Capella has a smaller footprint and you can run a Caiman MkII with a single 15v DC source from the Capella as it has DC out. The original cost differential between the units was substantial - the Capella at around £160, the Myryad at just under £400 - nevertheless the Capella is no country cousin and is worth rather more than the asking price IMO. The Myryad has a more luxurious and solid feel but how much of the price differential between the two amps is accounted for by the luxury of Myryad's aluminium fascia?

[gninnam]

Arrived today and for £94 including delivery its seems just in weight and build worth it :)

Been on for around 2 hours, used as a pre and the last hour as a head amp.
So far so good as its straight out of the box and sound pretty good.

Probably after more use will give a full report. (Also like the 2 phone jacks on the front so I can do very quick comparrisons to see which artist/track/style sounds best with the 545ref 600 :D

Thanks one and all.

[daws0n]

Looks like a real bargain for the money! Wonder how it compares to my qdac's class a headphone output?

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[willbewill]

Thanks for the review John, I have a Capella and agree with you regarding the 'warm' presentation which I was disappointed with, I also have a fully upgraded Bushmaster which I prefer. I was debating trying a Myriad but if presentation is similar to Capella then maybe I will pass.

I also have at present: Bottlehead Crack which although good my favourite cans are now low impedance; Burson Soloist which I need to check out afresh, a MF v-can which I rather like, an O2 which I really like and now a friend has lent me a Graham Sleep Novo with PSU 1 which I am smitten by...but given the price difference...

[Landloper]

Glad to be of service, Malcom. The Myryad seems to be within the British analogue sound tradition, pace Arcam. Done poorly 'warm' can come over as stodgy and leaden-footed. I have at the moment a Myryad 210 CDP which paired with the Z40 is coming over as too warm for my taste. They ought to go together like Ginger and Fred, but something is amiss!

Like the look of the Burson Soloist - and the idea of simplicity that informed its layout.