Why "minimalism" is not popular ?

[ginetto61]

well its a misconception that headphone amps are similar to line amps, a dynamic driver of 32 ohms has nothing in common to an amp input of 10k.
I am a fan of tubes as well as transformer coupling.
When the audible distortion and noise is below audibility with 98dB/w phones its hard to argue that any thing is more minimalist than a single active component of the most linearity device ever invented (triode) in common cathode stage, you should try it.
These amps measure better than you can believe.
Granted there is help in SS with the power supplies, but they are uniquely out of the signal current loop

I agree with you again on the minimalism of tube amps and i like it
Speaking of tubes i would like to listen to an OTL amp driving a pair of high impedance headphones.
I guess that tubed headphone amps mate better with high ohm phones
By the way I did not say to use a line preamp to drive HP
I said to start from there
To be specific a HP amp should be designed with in mind the load that it must drive.
Some HP amps are good with some HP and less with others.
The loads are very different ... from 30 up to 600 ohm, with different sensibilities
It is not easy to be an HP amp
Regards,
gino

 

[regal]

I would prefer a diamond buffer ... even only from an aesthetic point of view
It is so much more elegant
Regards,
gino

I like diamond buffers for DAC's. I had a stackerII which was a hybrid with modified diamond buffer output but it just didn't have enough power (5 watts into 50 ohms.) It also had a disgusting dc servo caused more damage and a cap.

As far as OTL headphones, look at the Bijou, its the futterman offshoot OTL design . I just prefer transfer coupling after years of trying different designs it is ultimately more minimalist than OTL's.

 

[ginetto61]

I like diamond buffers for DAC's.
I had a stackerII which was a hybrid with modified diamond buffer output but it just didn't have enough power (5 watts into 50 ohms.)
It also had a disgusting dc servo caused more damage and a cap.

Hi ! actually offset is an issue. And maybe big electrolytic output caps are not the best solution for transparency
Even if someone use them bypassed with film even in mic preamp

As far as OTL headphones, look at the Bijou, its the futterman offshoot OTL design .
I just prefer transfer coupling after years of trying different designs it is ultimately more minimalist than OTL's

I see. May i ask you which is you first choice of headphone ?
Thanks and regards,
gino