Best headamp for Hifiman planars?

[BuildMeSomething]

But... Having enough power to hit the highs is only part of the story. A low output impedance (think <1 Ohm) for proper dampning of the the headphones. Then noise, distortion & frequency performance to suit your personal listening preferences.

Looks like your current headphone amp can drive the HE-5LE's to painfull levels, does it go loud enough for you? Are you happy with the way it sounds?

[zibra]

My amp has 0,1 Ohm at the output. I normally listen to it at 11 oclock from 7-17 range. Volume goes fast then at 11 is very loud. Very small dustortion even at higher volume.
I just dont know if its really enough or there are some hidden parameters that HP love more current and can sound even better. Or its just so transparent amp that adds nothing while people like colouration and some looseness from powerful and less well made speakers amps?

[BuildMeSomething]

I think it's more that people like their music with a touch of coloration, and less there being some hidden factor that'll make the 5's sparkle.

If they're being driven properly with enough power for some head-room and with a decent amount of dampening. Then the only thing you can really do is subtract from that... It's just deciding if that's the way you want to go

[RNMarsh]

Try my Marsh headphone amp -- designed for headphones... minimal distortion variety (.0005% thd+n]. See it at Linear Audio publication and discussed here at DIYAUDIO. Works best for low Z headphones. -RMarsh

[zibra]

Im reading right now. Is there any PCB or BOM? Whats ouput imepdance and output power for 32 Ohm headphones?

[RNMarsh]

PCB is available thru Linear Audio.... see forum for layout art work of pcb. Very low Zout. Drives 32 Ohms just fine. THD <.001% into 30 Ohms. -RNM [PS - I also use HiFiMan myself along with others]

[zibra]

Sorry, I dont want to sound "smart" but has it enough power to drive HE5LE? Pple above made nice math to show what kind of power these HP need to sound on its full potential.
On the other hand has anyone heard about such amp?:

Sicphones: A high end Silicon Carbide headphone amplifier by Colin Shaw &mdash; Kickstarter

What are exactly those silicon carbide transistors? Can I use them also in Marsh headamp? I only heard that Nelson Pass uses it but not sure...

[mullardel34]

Zibra,

Static Induction Transistors (SiT's) are a relatively new genre of solid-state gain devices which offer transfer-function characteristics similar to those of triode vacuum-tube devices. As you noted, Nelson Pass is among the first noted audio designer to invest in the production of suitable SiT's for audio-reproduction purposes. These devices cannot be just substituted for more conventional solid-state devices on a "drop-in" basis; instead, the circuit must be tailored to the devices in order to exploit their "special" characteristics...

Richard Marsh is a retired key researcher in High Energy Physics R&D at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a published member of IEEE and AES. He recently published his "diamond" topology-based headphone amplifier design in Volume 3 of Jan Didden's "Linear Audio" bookzine (www.linearaudio.net - home). I'm a bit behind on my audio-design journal reading, so I haven't read the article as yet, but the abstract illustrates a simple/elegant topology which could be built in a "bridged" configuration to easily drive balanced-drive headphones such as the HiFiMan planar magnetics...

Just my $0.02's worth...

[zibra]

Thank you for explanation
Even I would love to give it a try Im simple to weak for "building" such applications from schematics. I respect that great knowledge but what can I do if I dont understand it, ehh.

[mullardel34]

Zibra,

Agreed, not everyone has the background to comfortably start with schematics and implement the offered designs as a usable audio component. If that's where your needs/skills are currently, then how much of a complete, Heathkit-like solution do you require? Can you mount PCB's in a chassis (drill some holes, mount some PCB standoffs and bolt-in the PCB's)?

If limited chassis fabrication is within your skill range, the you could combine Richard Marsh's head-phone amplifier PCB's (available from Linear Audio) with general-purpose power-supply PCB's from the DIYaudio forum's store (Boards) and a chassis from a DIYaudio vendor (such as Chassis/Case). Drill a few holes to mount the PCB's, power transformers and jacks & controls and you're there...

As I noted earlier, my HiFiMan planar magnetics sounded incredibly transparent and musically-consonant when driven by a buddy's Transcendent Sound T16 OTL (output-transformerless) vacuum-tube stereo amplifier. Transcendent Sound offers their new "Mini Beast" OTL vacuum-tube stereo amplifer in a full-Kit form without tubes for $799USD! Same fundamental circuit topology as the T16, but scaled-down to deliver 4Watts/channel, which would be just about perfect for the HE5LE's.

Again, just my $0.02's worth...