Newbie: Best amp for ~$175 for HD600s

Dope · « **on:** 17 Dec 2004, 07:49 pm »

Hi guys. Forgive the newbie question. I'm a member of many different boards out there and I always hate general questions like this one.

I'm buying myself a pair of HD600s for Christmas today (taking advantage of that $200 shipped deal). I currently have HD580s which I will be selling. Anyway, I want to get a headphone amp, and I know nothing about them.

Nothing at all.

Basically, I want a headphone amp to go between my computer (that's all I use headphones for) and my HD600s. I want to spend ~175. What in the $150-200 range should I get? Also, what else will I need to get in the way of cabling, or do they come with everything?

No DIY kits, I have too many hobbies

Thanks,
Dope

BradJudy · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 08:00 pm »

I would check out the amps from Headsave.com. I haven't heard them myself, but they get a lot of good talk on head-fi.com. A Headsave Classic including a nice Elpac power supply is $160. I would consider the $20 upgrade to the 8610/8620 opamps with the HD600.

Other options include:

A Pimeta based amp from the head-fi.com for sale forum or someplace like jmtaudio.com
Headroom Airhead (headphone.com)

Dope · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 08:16 pm »

Cool, thanks. I will pursue those links. Any actual experience with any of them?

Dope

BradJudy · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 09:28 pm »

The Pimeta is a hybrid between the two amps I own: a META42 and a PPA. Both of them work well with my HD-600s.

I highly recommend searching/browsing the Amps forum on head-fi. You should find no shortage of people with direct experience with all of the items I listed.

Songforyou · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 10:12 pm »

I am using a Musical Fidelity v2 headphone amp. It is a very good match with the HD600s (which I also have). The current one is a v3 and is probably around $300, but you may be able find a v2 second hand in your price range.

Good luck!

djbnh · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 10:39 pm »

Go to www.headfi.org, where you can read more about this:

Quote

November 30, 2004: MEIER AUDIO GROUP BUY ANNOUNCEMENT! Meier Audio is offering tremendous savings on the Porta Corda Mark II portable headphone amplifier via two group buys (one for the U.S. members, and one for the European members). The price? Nearly half off the regular price! Find out more about getting in on these group buys by CLICKING HERE.

Quote

Group Buy Pricing (2004-12-06 01:40 EST)

Europe: EUR 111.00 (USD$ 149.13)

U.S.A.: USD $149.13

Canada: CAD $183.75 (USD$ 149.76)

This sounds pretty good for the $, it seems to fit your price very well. Best of luck with your decision making.

mcrespo71 · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Dec 2004, 11:04 pm »

I use a Rega Ear with my HD580's. I only compared it to a Creek OBH 11, but I thought it was better. You can find them used for about $140. I'm no expert here- I just wanted something cheap that had maximum involvement for the price.

Michael

arthurs · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Dec 2004, 05:14 am »

Second the Rega Ear, use it with my 600's quite happily, for reasonable $$