I’m sorta kinda newer to the whole headphone avenue since I primarily listen to speakers.
But I have listened to a few headphone amps and have two.
I’m a bit fan of Benchmark products as I find them to not just be engineered well, but I find they also sound excellent. ( more on why I brought this up)
I bought an Ifi Zen Can Sig about 2 years ago and really like it. Along with my Benchmark DAC3 , it sounds great. ( yes there are some things I would like potentially a touch better)
The benchmark DAC3 I have is the DAC3B for those who know it does not have a headphone amplifier. So I got the DAC3 HGC to try the headphone amp. It is good but I prefer the Ifi Zen Can Sig. it sounds more open, a touch brighter , better soundstage depth and layering.
And I don’t know why. ( this is the recurrent theme btw).
I’ve also tried the RME ADI2 and liked it less than the DAC3 headphone amp.
Pretty flat sounding.
Most recently I got a Schiit Midgard and this one I disliked more than the others by a long shot. Very flat , narrow soundstage and unnatural sounding. It’s the 3rd Schiit product I’ve tried so I’m pretty sure my ears hear things a bit differently than the fine people at Schiit.
All of those Amplifiers measure very well. Some better than others. I would actually say the Ifi may measure a touch worse.
Btw, I use measurements more as a tool to see if there is something very wrong with a product. I don’t partake in any ‘ SINAD’ wars.
My question is, are there any factors that contribute to a good headphone amplifier ? Some measurements I am not paying attention to that matter more?
I don’t understand what makes me like the Ifi more than the others listed.
Is it that it runs mostly in Class A?
Speaker amps are so much easier to choose.
The distortion in the Ifi is super low so that is not coloring the sound. So that can’t be it.
I know that most measurements do not actually correlate to an open sound, soundstage and a natural tone.
Any ideas?
It’s a bit frustrating when looking for a new headphone amplifier, since now I’m kind of ‘ shooting in the dark’ so to speak.
Pardon for the rant, but I’m sure others may have had the same questions as I.
Since you’re in the general discussion, I’ll venture my general opinion that it’s not any measurement.
More of what kind/style/quality amp you’re matching with which headphones. And what kind so sound you like. @Lothar_Wolf might give you some alternates since he has listened to more amps than I can shake a stick at, and knows the iFi line pretty well. And you do like the Zen Can.
If you want to go down a tube rabbit hole, you can buy one amp and swap tubes until you imagine you hear what you like.
With high impedence cans I have been happiest using an OTL Tube amp. OTL being output transformerless.
My other usual amps are both hybrid. I have the last generation LYR, the Lyr3, that I run with either a tube or the LSSST FET, and a modified STAX older amp for e-stats.
Sometimes I use a solid state DAC/AMP, depending on where I am. The solid state stuff doesn’t seem to impart much character, perhaps a touch on the clinical side, but I find the DAC seems to make more difference to soundstage, etc than the amp.
Well I do like a nice low noise floor and black background. So I don’t know about tubes. Unless the have really low noise ?
I’m not sure.
Again I’m sure you understand that I’m reluctant to get anything Schiit just cause I seem to not agree with what they like. Cause I didn’t like the Midgard at all. I was kinda suprised at how much I didnt like it.
The Benchmark DAC3 HGC headphone amp was the best out of all the rest I tried but it didn’t sound as open and natural as the Ifi Zen Can Sig.
I have also made a supercapacitor for the Ifi zen can Sig to offer more current for lower impedance phones and it does make a small diff in general. Makes it a bit more punch even for higher impedance phones
Many of us have used ultra-measurement amps in the Benchmark class. They don’t sound bad, but per @pennstac, harmonics and cohesiveness can be missing.
Many of us have moved on to tube amps and never went back. I use tubes most of the time, and haven’t even turned on my desktop solid state amps for ages.
Still, if you try tubes understand that they fall into several categories (1) dry, clean, and neutral, (2) hot/overdriven like rock guitar, (3) wet/audible harmonics, and (4) noisy and distorted nightmares.
Like you (if I “read you” correctly), I don’t get too hung up on measurements, except to the extent that they may alert me to an amp (or headphone) that I can pretty much guess I will find sonically unpleasant (e.g., greatly boosted treble). Living in the middle of nowhere, as concerns high quality stereo stores go, I have been forced to buy DACs, headphone amps, and even speakers and headphones without auditioning them (Be grateful, those of you who can).
The good news is, while I do notice clear differences between my speakers/amps/headphones, etc. — and celebrate the fact that some are audibly superior to others — each has a place in my listening world, inasmuch as some are easily portable, or don’t require amplification, or may even possess noise canceling capability. Thus, I own both closed back and open back headphones, as well as planar and dynamic driver models.
What I’ve found is that if I am using headphones that are in the “middle tier” of quality (such as Focal Clears… I don’t own anything in the “bottom” or “top” tiers), my ears adapt fairly quickly to each pair of headphones’ sound signature. And, possibly because I don’t engage in A/B testing of my amps and headphones (though I have done so with speakers, which tests were inconclusive because I am unable to match volumes), I am (arguably, blissfully) pleased with my Cobalt Dragonfly, my Pro-Ject Head Box S2, my Topping A30 Pro, my Cambridge Audio AXA35, and my ifiXCAN. Indeed, I have yet to return anything for a refund (or sell anything as used), because everything sounds (at least to my untrained ears), at minimum, very good; at their best, a few of the combinations I’ve stumbled upon sound exceptional (even though combinations in the ultra-high end realm might be capable of delivering that “final 10%”). I can achieve sonic nirvana at that 90% level, and regularly do so.
Regardless, Schiit doesn’t really have a “house sound” with their amps. Their tubed amps won’t sound like Midgard.
The Vali (hybrid) @ $149 and Valhalla (OTL) @ $249 are nice, inexpensive ways to experiment with tubes. And they both have preamp outputs so you can connect them to your speaker-based system for more tubey fun.
There might be some more thoughts on synergy if you post what headphones you’re using.
Both. Didn’t really make a difference.
I mean I’ve tried a tube pre of theirs. Can’t remember which one. The Bifrost DAC 64 now he Midgard. And I didn’t like any of them unfortunately.
Chifi usually has been a bad experience for me as well. Aka topping.
I have zero qualms for my speaker system. That sounds awesome. Haven’t felt the need to change a thing for years.
The Ifi unit I have doesn’t have harmonics which are audible at all. So I don’t know if tubes are the answer.
What makes a good amplifier a “good” amplifier depends on how it recreates magic when paired with a particular headphone. When a headphone can sound more comparatively pleasing than it does from any other amplifier, I have then found a “good” amplifier.
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That same “good” amplifier that I have then labeled as a good amplifier may very well the following headphone become a “bad” amplifier when it produces unpleasant sound with a different headphone.
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Now, perhaps you would change the wording of your question to; What attracts you to decide which amplifiers become worthy of separating you from your hard earned dollars to purchase? Then, I would begin to look at measurements. BUT! Not frequency response measurements. Not quantified electronic, nor audible measurements nor their academic graphical representations. More important to my rationale are the measurements of hype and reputation.
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For example, if I read that many online are recounting spectacular pairings from x headphone with y amplifier, and I own x headphone, then I add a mental tally of that headphone to all of the other headphones being discussed in my online reading and watching. That is a measurement. A comparative measurement of hype and reputation. Then, I wait…
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All it takes is a small coaxing from individuals I have deemed reliable and of good taste. Lachlan Fennen might add a little bit more hype, or generic of this forum endorses it and I have become influenced. I have then achieved a compelled desire to amass another material sonic charm. I depart with my hard earned money to fill the voids of endless wanting of gear satiation that I am fully aware shall never be attained.
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And that my friend is how I, a headphone enthusiast, navigate down the rabbit hole of headphone amplification.
Ultimately, if it sounds good to you and brings you joy, then it IS good. You are lucky in not being subject to the dreaded FOMO. You have found gear that works for you and lets you listen to music with pleasure. What more can we ask?
That’s a good way I must admit.
I just haven’t found anyone my ‘ taste’ aligns with yet, or whom I trust.
The headphone realm even more than speakers has a ton of hype and shilling. So that’s a tough one. Not to mention the subjectivity of how headphones sound on one’s head due to anatomy.
Ah , thanks.
Yeah I don’t think it’s fear of missing out as much as curiosity.
More like “ wow this sounds really nice, how much better does it get than this?”
And the curiosity of when I try other amps, why do they actually sound that different?
That one always blows my mind and it’s a tough one because we don’t really have measurements which correlate to quantifiable sound signatures. Well not for quite a few of them. Yeah we can measure distortion and linearity.
But for those odd but important aspects such as soundstage depth and width, openness , there isn’t much there.
I guess my last purchase once more ‘ pushed me over the ledge’ thinking “ why does this sound so flat and narrow”?
Now you can call me crazy in thinking that for the specific product , but I did. And on paper the measurements show it to look great. But alas nope.
So I’m kinda looking for other clues, like maybe it’s a Class A sound I like? Since all the other headamps I’ve tried are class AB.
So maybe someone has more experience than me and can say that Class A amps have the sound Sig I’m looking for.
Shoot I don’t know maybe I need to finally try another class A amp. Duh on me
Class A amps don’t in and of themselves have a sound signature.
Most class AB amps are pure class A though most of the power levels you listen at.
However the designs tend to be focused on different things, once you’ve made the decision that your going to deal with 3-4x the amplifiers peak power level being continually turned into heat, how that affects your packaging, and power supply design, the goal posts tend to move away from highest THD/Sinad score.
That tends to mean simpler circuits, less feedback, and in some cases a complete absence of global feedback, that doesn’t affect the frequency response, but IME it’s clearly audible in the signature whether that’s because of the effects on phase or just some time domain “smearing” I have no idea.
Class A is fuller, warmer, and smoother to my ears. Headphone amps don’t need to worry about the excess power and heat so much, as headphones don’t take as much power as speakers.
