Advice on headphone amp

[JANDL100]

It certainly looks sexy!


I've had a few lower priced DOUK items and have been pleased with them.

 

[MF 1000]

Make allowance for potential import duties on goods from China too

 

[brian.davidson.5817]

Make allowance for potential import duties on goods from China too

Indeed, always needs to be factored in!

 

[Lawrence001]

Spotted this - are these Douk Audio amps worth a punt? This one is quite expensive compared to others - it’s a bit of a minefield! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28464729...jTkSSgPTCy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Looks very similar to the Bottlehead crack and Eufonika H5, I think they'd be better.

 

[Sid22]

Spotted this - are these Douk Audio amps worth a punt? This one is quite expensive compared to others - it’s a bit of a minefield! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28464729...jTkSSgPTCy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I'd give that a miss if I was you, are you after a OTL or hybrid tube head amp?
What headphone do you plan to use with it?

 

[brian.davidson.5817]

I’m not quite sure what a want - my latest phones are Beyerdynamic DT990 600 ohm, which take a bit of driving and the amp in my Linn DSM is not the best. I also use Grado 325 and Beyer DT150. I’m also looking at a monolith thx 887, but I have an illogical hankering for a valve amp! Quite fancy the mono thx 887, it gets good reviews.

 

[Sid22]

I’m not quite sure what a want - my latest phones are Beyerdynamic DT990 600 ohm, which take a bit of driving and the amp in my Linn DSM is not the best. I also use Grado 325 and Beyer DT150. I’m also looking at a monolith thx 887, but I have an illogical hankering for a valve amp! Quite fancy the mono thx 887, it gets good reviews.

I had the Monoprice THX 887 before, quite powerful and decent for it's price but I wasn't the biggest fan of it's sonic performance.
It lacked depth and layering, a bit flat sounding and lacked engagement (even when hooked up to a custom linear power supply).

For your DT990 & DT150 I'd recommend either of these OTL head amps:
Feliks Audio Echo 2
Schiit Audio Valhalla 2

 

[brian.davidson.5817]

Thanks so much - great to get this insight. I’ll look up those other options, much appreciated.

 

[griffo104]

Spotted this - are these Douk Audio amps worth a punt? This one is quite expensive compared to others - it’s a bit of a minefield! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28464729...jTkSSgPTCy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I haven't heard Douk Audio myself but they get some decent positive reviews.

For an amp like that it isn't much more expensive from the competition. I've had my eyes on this one for ages:

Amazon product

I have a smaller XDUOO hybrid amp it's a really rather good for the money. There is always the problem when your kit is coming from China with regards to warranty and stuff, it's all a bit of a gamble, but I've bought a few things from Shenzhen Audio and Linsoul Audio and I've had no problems to date, but going over £300 seems to be a little bit of a hurdle for me at the moment. It's ok doing for an £85 amp but £300 odd? hmm more of a gamble.

Some of these tube amps are really very good with some of the higher impedance headphones.

 

[JANDL100]

I've a Feliks Echo mk1, and that worked well with Beyerdynamic DT990 600 Ohm.
I'm a definite fan of valve headphone amps either full valve like the Feliks or hybrid like some cheaper Subaj and DOUK amps I also have scattered around!

I also really like the way the Feliks has stereo outputs so it can be used as a single input valve preamp, at which it excels imo.

 

[brian.davidson.5817]

I haven't heard Douk Audio myself but they get some decent positive reviews.

For an amp like that it isn't much more expensive from the competition. I've had my eyes on this one for ages:

Amazon product

I have a smaller XDUOO hybrid amp it's a really rather good for the money. There is always the problem when your kit is coming from China with regards to warranty and stuff, it's all a bit of a gamble, but I've bought a few things from Shenzhen Audio and Linsoul Audio and I've had no problems to date, but going over £300 seems to be a little bit of a hurdle for me at the moment. It's ok doing for an £85 amp but £300 odd? hmm more of a gamble.

Some of these tube amps are really very good with some of the higher impedance headphones.

Yes, I’m with you on that price threshold. I have found a new Little Dot Mk11 for £160 and a uk supplier too which may be worth a punt. It’s a shame the gain switch is inside the casing, which needs to be removed to adjust. I’m still tempted though by a second hand monolith, at nearly double the price of the Little Dot. My concern overall is I’ve never used a valve amp and not sure how it will sound. I know I can change the valves to tailor it a bit, but it’s still a bit of an unknown quantity. They look much better than a plain black box,though!

 

[brian.davidson.5817]

I've a Feliks Echo mk1, and that worked well with Beyerdynamic DT990 600 Ohm.
I'm a definite fan of valve headphone amps either full valve like the Feliks or hybrid like some cheaper Subaj and DOUK amps I also have scattered around!

I also really like the way the Feliks has stereo outputs so it can be used as a single input valve preamp, at which it excels imo.

Thanks! I’ve looked up Feliks and they get good reviews, quite hard to find - tasty looking!

 

[JANDL100]

Linking this thread with your post on the hearing aid thread, Brian , I'd advise you to try a tonal equaliser of some sort.
I've found it surprising how just a few db dialed judiciously in at varying frequencies can be very beneficial. A 10 (or more) band digital graphic equaliser would be my recommendation.

 

[brian.davidson.5817]

Linking this thread with your post on the hearing aid thread, Brian , I'd advise you to try a tonal equaliser of some sort.
I've found it surprising how just a few db dialed judiciously in at varying frequencies can be very beneficial. A 10 (or more) band digital graphic equaliser would be my recommendation.

Thanks, I’ll look into that!

 

[griffo104]

Yes, I’m with you on that price threshold. I have found a new Little Dot Mk11 for £160 and a uk supplier too which may be worth a punt. It’s a shame the gain switch is inside the casing, which needs to be removed to adjust. I’m still tempted though by a second hand monolith, at nearly double the price of the Little Dot. My concern overall is I’ve never used a valve amp and not sure how it will sound. I know I can change the valves to tailor it a bit, but it’s still a bit of an unknown quantity. They look much better than a plain black box,though!

I've never really bought into the valve sound whenever I've heard them driving speakers based systems. I understand that OTL amps can be beneficial to high impedance headphones but how often am I listening to my high impedance phones to justify the cost?

My only hands on experience is with the two cheap hybrids, I've rolled the valves on both and it did make a beneficial difference but it wasn't the night and day difference some make it out to be but the valves they use are quite cheap so it was easy to justify trying it out.

If i had the money I would much rather get something like this and not worry about valves:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/spl-phonitor-2-preamp-and-monitor-controller-black

 

[Headcoat]

Re. OTL valve amps and high and low impedance headphones. Contrary to many I found it made little difference with my Sennheiser HD6xx @ 300 ohms.

Again contrary to the received wisdom I've had success with a number of low impedance cans using both the Feliks Echo and Elise OTL amps. All of the Audioquest Nighthawk, Meze 99 Clssics, Audeze LCD-2 classics and LCD-2 closed back have sounded better out of these amps than the Senn HD6xx to my ears.

We all hear differently, but it's worth being aware that quite a few lower impedance cans maintain exactly the same fq response regardless of the load i.e. same frequency response across all bands on a 0ohm output as one at 120ohm.

The issue with high out impedance OTL amps and low impedance headphones is potentially bass roll off due to the high output of the amp. If the headphones fq, as mentioned above, remains the same across all frequencies regardless of output ohms then this potential issue doesn't come into play.

There's a lot of myth out there and we all hear differently. As above, my experience has gone against internet lore.

 

[Headcoat]

Linking this thread with your post on the hearing aid thread, Brian , I'd advise you to try a tonal equaliser of some sort.
I've found it surprising how just a few db dialed judiciously in at varying frequencies can be very beneficial. A 10 (or more) band digital graphic equaliser would be my recommendation.

I'll second that, though I use analogue eq as digital wouldn't work in my set up. Don't want to AD and then DA vinyl.

That said I always use the Spotfiy eq when not casting to the hi fi. Only 6 bands but makes more of a difference than any valve or DAC!

I've been pondering an Art 355 31 channel to see if it improves on my Sciit Lokius i.e. offers more control and is as transparent.

How do you integrate the digital eq into your system?

 

[JANDL100]

How do you integrate the digital eq into your system?

I use Bluetooth straight from my phone for headphones, and an equalizer app called PowerAmp.
The app has a user defined number of bands from 5 to 32. For me, 10 seems a good compromise between precise control and easy usability.

The app also has Left Right balance control, which I only use occasionally, but is great when needed!

I also have a Behringer DEQ2496 digital equaliser for non-Bluetooth sources.

 

[Headcoat]

I use Bluetooth straight from my phone for headphones, and an equalizer app called PowerAmp.
The app has a user defined number of bands from 5 to 32. For me, 10 seems a good compromise between precise control and easy usability.

The app also has Left Right balance control, which I only use occasionally, but is great when needed!

I also have a Behringer DEQ2496 digital equaliser for non-Bluetooth sources.

The Behringer looks really interesting.

Can it be used without the DAC i.e. if I fed it an analogue signal, can I output analogue without it going AD and then DA via the eq's internal DAC?

Is it XLR in and out only or does it except RCA?

 

[griffo104]

Re. OTL valve amps and high and low impedance headphones. Contrary to many I found it made little difference with my Sennheiser HD6xx @ 300 ohms.

Again contrary to the received wisdom I've had success with a number of low impedance cans using both the Feliks Echo and Elise OTL amps. All of the Audioquest Nighthawk, Meze 99 Clssics, Audeze LCD-2 classics and LCD-2 closed back have sounded better out of these amps than the Senn HD6xx to my ears.

We all hear differently, but it's worth being aware that quite a few lower impedance cans maintain exactly the same fq response regardless of the load i.e. same frequency response across all bands on a 0ohm output as one at 120ohm.

The issue with high out impedance OTL amps and low impedance headphones is potentially bass roll off due to the high output of the amp. If the headphones fq, as mentioned above, remains the same across all frequencies regardless of output ohms then this potential issue doesn't come into play.

There's a lot of myth out there and we all hear differently. As above, my experience has gone against internet lore.

That's very interesting reading your experiences with OTL amps, at some point I may well end up just giving it a try to see how it sounds.

Regarding your comments on EQ, I use an RME ADI-2 DAC fs which has a 5 band PEQ and I've found this very interesting for various headphones, the M1570 and the HD600 in particular. I would agree I've been able to adjust some of the weaker parts (ok things I'm not keen on) of those headphones with quite small EQ adjustments in the right areas.