Looking for headphone amp..........

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First of all, why are headphone amps so %%^$ expensive?

I'm looking for a fairly good, inexpensive 2ch headphone amp but, I can't even find any bad inexpensive ones.
Are there any good kits avalible as I have plenty of experience in assembling electronic kits.

BTW, I still remember the fantasic sound of my
"Superex" ES headphones of the "70s.
 
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There's likely to be kits available, but I can't say I'm familiar with any.
Radio Shack sells the Boosteroo headphone amp for $30, powered by 2 AA cells. It isn't bad, and its size is great for portability. It uses the National Semiconductor LM4808 set for a gain of 10, if you'd like to check the datasheet.
There are lots of DIY headphone amp projects. From basic op amps to discrete transistor and tube circuits. You'll have to do the research to see if any are worth your while. Along with this forum, there's headfi.org which is dedicated to headphone listening.
 
I've been a Ramsey customer but didn't think of their headphone amp. They take pride in their kits so I don't think quality will be an issue. If it fits the bill I say go for it. It uses the LM386 power IC so know one here is going to call it audiophile quality, even though Ramsey does. I've built a LM386 headphone amp myself, and it doesn't sound bad. Just a bit rough sometimes on the higher frequencies. Plenty of power though for the usual 16-32 ohm headphones! Can't comment on the LM1036 processing chip; I have one in the parts box but haven't put it to use yet.
 
To be honest, at my age I can't hear very high freq anyway.
one reason this amp caught my attention because it has bass and treble adjustments so I can taylor the sound a lower volumes as I do not want to abuse my ears any more.

Thanks for your input, I think I will order one. I better get my soldering iron and nail clipper ready.
In fact I believe I have a couple of 15v PS around here somewhere so I wont have to use a battery.
 
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At that price (or within $20) you could likely piece together a Pete Millet Starving Student. It uses the 19J6 tube and IRF530s. It has good reviews but the tubes have gotten difficult to find. Not impossible just hard to find at decent prices.

Case in point:
Starving Student Tube Headphone Amplifier 19J6 Kit | eBay

I would absolutly love to do that.
However, I'm afraid that I have no real experience with schematics other than basic wiring :sad:
My experiece with kits has always been of the kits for dummies type like the Ramsey kit.

BTW, I was born the same year the transistor was invented and witnessed the birth if the PCB so, I agree that a good tube amp is best .
 
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I am in the process of building a PIMETAv2. I have no clue how it compares to others but it seems like a well thought out design.

PIMETA v2 Headphone Amplifier

It's costing me around $150 in parts and they are impossible to source from one supplier. I could help you with that if you are interested since I took the time already.

There's also an intriguing design on this forum called "the Wire" but it doesn't seem like you can get pcbs right now.
 
OK....... I orderd the Ramsey kit last night.
It has all the features I wanted and it should seve my purposes well.
I'm 63 years old and my abused ears are not what they used to be. The headpones will be for ocasional use only at lower volumes.
I also did not want to spend more than about $75

I do thank all for all your suggestions.
 
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Let us know what you think of the sound when you get done please.
The schematic isn't available to me, so I do wonder about the power supply. Ramsey says the amp can run from a 9V battery, while 9V is shown as the minimum voltage on the LM1036 datasheet. Seems like that could spell trouble. Nothing serious mind you; a relatively easy fix if it's an issue at all. You said you wouldn't need to use a battery so it would be a mute point anyway. I still wonder about it though.
 
I tried using a battery but, the (old) battery I used only lasted about 20 minutes and I started to get serious distortion.
However I had a good 15v ps on hand and it works great with that . BTW it is supposed work with a 10-20v PS.
Perhaps with a new, good battery it would last much longer. I never planned to use it as a portable unit anyway.

As far as sound .......well, to me it sounds good enough, better than the headphone jack on my cheap (Pyle) CD player anyway. I also plan on using it for my TV, radio tuner and perhaps a cheap MP3 player. So, the CD will be the highest fidelity signal fed to it.

As I said, my ears are not what they use to be so, don't go be me. However I can still still detect distortion and the amp seems to add no noticable distortion. The tone controls are very useful also.
Granted, it does not sound like a high end tube amp but for a my purposes, it is an interesting and useful unit.

It woked perfectly at first powerup, I guess my soldering skills are better than my ears, at least I did no loose that with age.:)

BTW, If anyone has a suggestion for a better sounding, inexpensive basic CD player than my Pyle (PT688CU) I would be interested. To be honest, the only real experience I have with CD players are car units.
 
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BTW, I neglected to say that I curently have cheap Koss phones (KTX Pro1) that I orginally got solely for computer/gaming use

Even though they definately are not high end, they do have a farily clean, crisp and reatlively flat sound They are great for computer and casual use.
 
FWIW......
After I listened to the amp a bit more, I realized that there was some distortion particularly noticeable in the low end the was gettig a bit anoying
In fact the headphones sounded better driven by my computer's sound chip.

So, I got one one of those cheap, chinese 6N11 tube amps from eBay. It actually sounds quite good for what it is and much better than the Ramsey amp. I got one with very usefull bass, mid and treble controles.
Anyway, I'm happy with it after prolonged listening.
 
Looking to build one using an Elliot Sound board (Project 113) myself. I have made up his stuff before (active crossover) and it has been cool. No mains wiring if you use an AC plugpack either.

Am currently using a Musiland SVDAC05 with good results (from ebay) not all that cheap though but not crazy. I have also seen ebay amp kits that involve large numbers of opamps that look interesting...
 
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BTW, I neglected to say that I curently have cheap Koss phones (KTX Pro1) that I orginally got solely for computer/gaming use

Even though they definately are not high end, they do have a farily clean, crisp and reatlively flat sound They are great for computer and casual use.

I bought my wife a pair of Koss headphones for about $30 and they were amazing for the money. Unfortunately the build quality left bit to be desired and they fell apart after about 6 months.
 
Actually, I have two Koss "KTX Pro1" phones (about $20) as I have computers in different rooms.
One pair that I've had the longest that were sold by Radio Shack as their "Pro35A" did fall apart and I had to glue it back together.
It's not so much as the build quality as the design quality of certain areas which can not tolerate too much abuse. I would not recomend them for children.

For cheap, compute/gaming sound they are more than adequate for $20 however. The bulit in volume contol is a welcomed plus.
 
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Long time head-fi.org readers can confirm the more than one koss model has provided surprisingly good performance for very little money! But, like speakers, headphones are the only part of a system that actually reproduces sound and is probably the last place you want to skimp.

That said there are many VERY good headphones out there for under $200... My preferred pick is the Audiotechnica M-50 that I currently run. Very flat and good with just about anything you throw at them, also very comfortable for long duration listening sessions.

My favorite headphone so far... Favorite audio reproduction *period*... Was the AKG K701. Simply stunning! Unreal all the details I had been missing with other phones... They were literally like listening to my music collection for the first time, all over again.

The K701 (and 702) are not perfect however. While their market price has fallen substantially in the last few years... Around US$250... The are thought by some to be a little lean on the bass (I disagree), take a pretty capable amp to drive them well (Creek OBH-11 here), can take over 100 hours to break in, are open back (people nearby will hear them) and ultimately hurt the top of my short cropped haircut/head with extended use. The AKG k701 + creek OBH-11 combination is still my ultimate reference for music playback and at under $500 for the pair have completely smoked speaker + amp combinations costing many thousands of dollars more, at least in my opinion.

Anyway I can recommend the Creek OBH-11 for a high quality amp that should be had for under $200 if you shop carefully.
 
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