Audiophile cans amp and wires?

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Vandal

Forerunner
I'm new to the so called "audiophile arena". I spent some time with a set of grado sr60's in office and was quite impressed by the quality of sound. I alos happen to have quite a music collection, mostly original CD's a lot of them from Australia (mastered in singapore I believe) and quite a few .flac files.

I'll be getting a set of cans from the US - audio technica ath a900. With a rated impedance of 40 ohms they should drive without amplification, but I think an amp will get me a little better sound.

Here's the query. Anyone suggest a decent amp with charger? My budget is 150 US dollars, extendable to a maximum of 200 US. Also link the site where it can be ordered (if possible).

Also suitable cabling/wires? Any sites that specialise in this? I don't know much about audiophile grade stuff so looking forward to lots of help.

btw these are the cans - AudioCubes.com - Audio-Technica ATH-A900 Art Headphones - ATH-A900 -

Thanks!
 
what will be your source ? Pc or cd player or pmp.
are you looking for desktop or portable or both.

a900 wont benifit a lot from amping . if you are using it with xfi-platinum , you can manage with that. but if you still need an amp , tell your requirements.
wiring / cabling is not necessary & will be expensive.
 
^ LOL, you need custom wiring for $500+ Cans ;)

Firstly you can't buy a headphone amp off the shelf cause their not sold :P, if you really need one, get it custom made, a low powered Class-A should do the job.
 
puns said:
what will be your source ? Pc or cd player or pmp.
are you looking for desktop or portable or both.

a900 wont benifit a lot from amping . if you are using it with xfi-platinum , you can manage with that. but if you still need an amp , tell your requirements.
wiring / cabling is not necessary & will be expensive.
Click to expand...

Hi puns, thanks for your advice to get an HD595. I am also getting those but later in the year when I will sell off my hd555 to a hometown friend for 4K.

I will use the A900 on the x-fi platinum, so primarily desktop. The HD595 will be used at home (jabalpur), on an audigy 2 ZS

Puns how good is this - HeadRoom Total AirHead Clear @ HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears

But this is only for PMPs right? Also remember I will probably use the amp on the hd595 since as you've mentioned the a900 doesn't really need extra amplification.
^^Anish, better sound doesn't necessarily mean "perfect audiophile sound" friend. I've stated my budget with respect to the sound quality above in case you didn't notice. In case you do not know of anything that will be suitable for me at the price range why not reserve your comments :) or be more helpful by telling a n00b like me what a class A amp is? I don't know much but am eager to learn!! :)
 
^ Hehe, no issues. What I basically meant is sound quality difference will be negligible with the cans your investing in, so it doesn't make sense to spend on an amp.

Also building a headphone amp is not a costs affair since we're talking about a few watts of power, so it certainly wont costs more than $100 unless your going for gold circuitry ;)

If you getting the 595, then you should build yourself one, Google is your best friend and will throw up more than enough info you'll need.

All the best, don't forget to get soldering done by a pro and post back if you need help! :D
 
Anish said:
^ Hehe, no issues. What I basically meant is sound quality difference will be negligible with the cans your investing in, so it doesn't make sense to spend on an amp.

Also building a headphone amp is not a costs affair since we're talking about a few watts of power, so it certainly wont costs more than $100 unless your going for gold circuitry ;)

If you getting the 595, then you should build yourself one, Google is your best friend and will throw up more than enough info you'll need.

All the best, don't forget to get soldering done by a pro and post back if you need help! :D
Click to expand...

^^Thanks. I will definitely post here. btw these cans are supposed to be quite good, and pretty close to HD600 territory. Keep in mind that they're closed, so the fact that the soundstage is nearly as good is itself a big thing. Sennheisers as puns pointed out tend to be warm, these are somewhere in between them and the neutral sounding grados both in terms of SS and sound.
 
^ Ohh okay, I have no clue about any A-Tech cans since I've never heard 'em :(

Best is, let them arrive and see how they sound. And try to demo them on somebody who has a ready headphone amp (some high-end electronic store owner maybe, whose really passionate), and note the sound difference.

IMHO, it wont be much ;)
 
vandal , give your headphones a try with the xfi. if you are not satisified , then i could suggest you some commercial amps in the price range.
the airhead has good reviews but if you can spend upto 150 , you can get the bithead ... made by the same airhead guys which is a usb dac & headphone amp ( airhead + dac ). it will bypass your xfi dac & its a great solution if you have a laptop also and for portable use and a good desktop amp. but if you dont want to spend extra , the airhead will do well.

there are other amps but first give your cans a try with the xfi.
 
Well forget amps, for that headphone, the limiting factor will be the shitty analog outs of the xfi. I'd say dump the xfi or get an external dac and then think of an amp.
 
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