recommend me a valve headphone amp - Beyer T1 & AKG Q701 etc

gbullimore · 14th April 2013, 02:14 PM

i'm looking to build a headphone amp,
something good with a low enough output impedance to driver 32 or 600 ohm headphones,
i'd like to do all valve/tube preferably OTL, but would probably favor hybrid over output transformer.

have a starving student, running Ecc82's at the mo

gbullimore · 16th April 2013, 04:39 PM

not one comment?
how about these?
A Low-Voltage Class-A Tube Headphone Amplifier | HeadWize
Top-Level OTL Tube Headphone Amplifier | HeadWize

dry joint · 17th April 2013, 12:53 AM

You should not build a high voltage amp unless you really know what you are doing.

If you could add a seperate PSU, so each channel is like a mono amp you should get a huge increase in sound quality for minimal cost and risk.

Stixx · 17th April 2013, 06:19 AM

Quote:

not one comment?
how about these?
A Low-Voltage Class-A Tube Headphone Amplifier | HeadWize
Top-Level OTL Tube Headphone Amplifier | HeadWize

All of your mentioned amplifiers are quite a few years old... too bad that Headwize is gone.
Both are quite expensive to build since they are using tubes that are rare now (E288CC for instance) and both are OTL. Since my first two headphone amplifiers (currently building no.11) I have not become a big fan of the idea of passing the precious audio signal through big electrolytic caps... people are going out of themselves using expensive tubes and components and all goes through a pair of 470uF 'lytics.
Since your desired impedance range makes the use of output transformers difficult (and good ones aren't cheap) I would recommend a hybrid... especially the EHHA RevA from Alex Cavalli (gone commercial now). It uses low voltage 6GM8/ECC86 tubes, is very capable and good sounding (built it myself) and there are boards available (--> EHHA Rev A Amplifier Printed Circuit Board)

gbullimore · 17th April 2013, 07:39 AM

thanks for the advice Stixx,

yes, i do know what i'm doing, have built several Valve amps, but only recently got into headphones and don't really have the time to build multiple amps.
you're right, hybrid might be a good compromise, i'll check out the cavalli,

dry joint · 18th April 2013, 04:39 PM

Theres the Sunrise which is a single tube kit with a lot of room for tweaking having been designed by headphone amp enthusiasts.

In your position I'd consider an old Musical Fidelity XCans which can then be modded in the PSU, caps and tube rolling etc, with tons of discussion about them on various forums. Their V1, V2, V3 and V8 were hybrid tube designs, they were said to have jumped in sound with the V3.

14th April 2013, 02:14 PM	#1
gbullimore diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2007	recommend me a valve headphone amp - Beyer T1 & AKG Q701 etc i'm looking to build a headphone amp, something good with a low enough output impedance to driver 32 or 600 ohm headphones, i'd like to do all valve/tube preferably OTL, but would probably favor hybrid over output transformer. have a starving student, running Ecc82's at the mo

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16th April 2013, 04:39 PM	#2
gbullimore diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2007	not one comment? how about these? A Low-Voltage Class-A Tube Headphone Amplifier \| HeadWize Top-Level OTL Tube Headphone Amplifier \| HeadWize

17th April 2013, 12:53 AM	#3
dry joint diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2006	You should not build a high voltage amp unless you really know what you are doing. If you could add a seperate PSU, so each channel is like a mono amp you should get a huge increase in sound quality for minimal cost and risk.

17th April 2013, 07:39 AM	#5
gbullimore diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2007	thanks for the advice Stixx, yes, i do know what i'm doing, have built several Valve amps, but only recently got into headphones and don't really have the time to build multiple amps. you're right, hybrid might be a good compromise, i'll check out the cavalli,

18th April 2013, 04:39 PM	#6
dry joint diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2006	Theres the Sunrise which is a single tube kit with a lot of room for tweaking having been designed by headphone amp enthusiasts. In your position I'd consider an old Musical Fidelity XCans which can then be modded in the PSU, caps and tube rolling etc, with tons of discussion about them on various forums. Their V1, V2, V3 and V8 were hybrid tube designs, they were said to have jumped in sound with the V3.