Headphone Amp worth it?

[fustercluck]

I'm currently spying a nice deal for a Headphone amp. I got some Sennheiser HD-555s and an Audgy 2 ZS. Everyone knocks the ZS, i know, but it's probably not as bad as some people make it out to be. The Amp is going to run me $150, more than i paid for these phones =p - Just looking for input i guess, it may or may not affect my purchase, if there is one.

 

[ribbon13]

Jesus, Headphone amp == Good. $150 Headphone amp == why not just let me kick you in the balls?

 

[Rudee]

$150??? Riiiiiiiiiip off!

 

[thelanx]

How familiar are you with your current setup? If you aren't too familiar, I'd suggest taking some time to enjoy your current setup and upgrade when you feel like you'd like some better sound.

 

[ribbon13]

For the price of the headphone amp, headphones, and Audigy, you could have gotten a Denon 2805 and Dayton 5.1

 

[Alex]

Originally posted by: Rudee
$150??? Riiiiiiiiiip off!

:thumbsdown:

 

[rgwalt]

Why not build your own?

CMoy pocket amp

Make a practice amp using the cheapest components you can find, and then invest in some nice resistors and caps to make a higher quality amp. All told you shouldn't have to spend more than $100.

Ryan

 

[James3shin]

for alll your headphone needs check out head-fi.org. Also, if your a auidophile, a amp can make a world of difference to the listener, but if your gonna get a amp for you headphones, your gonna want a nice source. The audigy 2 zs isn't too bad, but i'd start looking into other sound cards if your source will be your PC. Check out some m-audio cards.

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
For the price of the headphone amp, headphones, and Audigy, you could have gotten a Denon 2805 and Dayton 5.1

My stuff isn't that expensive, phones were $100 5 or 6 months ago, Audigy 2 ZS was like 80 a year or two ago.

Anyways, how do you know it's a rip off? You don't even know the specs - I was hoping most people who would reply would know at least a little something about headphone amps. I guess it's not a popular thing 'round these parts. I'm not talking about everyone who replied though - You know who you are

I don't think i could build my own, i've looked into it.

The ZS is also good for gaming and i game a lot so there's another reason i don't want to get rid of it.

 

[ThaPerculator]

For the price of the Audigy you can get an older professional-grade sound card that sounds 100x better. Creative Labs makes junk and overprices it.

Play a cd through your setup with your audigy, then use even a cheap audio iinterface and the same setup and the difference will be instantly noticeable.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ThaPerculator
For the price of the Audigy you can get an older professional-grade sound card that sounds 100x better. Creative Labs makes junk and overprices it.

Play a cd through your setup with your audigy, then use even a cheap audio iinterface and the same setup and the difference will be instantly noticeable.

Wow, 100x better? That's a pretty big claim.

 

[esun]

I got into this stuff recently myself. For the price of an Audigy 2, you could easily get an Emu 0404. Of course, Emu is the professional division of Creative, but regardless it is a solid card for music. The difference in floor noise alone is striking (well, I have an Audigy, not a Audigy 2, but I doubt the difference is that substantial). Even so, I couldn't get the Emu to work in KOTOR II, so guess what? That's right, in my system right now I have an Audigy and a Emu.

Personally I use Sennheiser HD280s and Grado SR80s on a Cmoy and on an RA-1 clone. I've also tried out my friend's HD580s. Basically, if you have nice headphones, an amp is worth it. That doesn't mean you should go spend $300 on a Gilmore Lite or $450 on a RA-1, but nonetheless a fun project may be to build one. The Cmoy can be easily completed in a day, as can the RA-1 clone (which is, of course, a modified Cmoy). To be honest, if you're reasonably experienced with soldering and not OCD about cleanliness, you can finish the solder work in 2 hours (that's what I did for the RA-1). If you are OCD about it, you can probably finish in 4-6 hours (as my friend did). The case work will probably take more than that, however. You have to get a case, drill spots for the power switch, potentiometer, input, ouput, and LED, then wire all of that stuff as neatly as possible (which is a bit more difficult than it seems). In all, if you have the right tools, maybe +4 hours, so 6 hours for the whole thing, maybe 8-10 your first time around.

The parts can be had for <$30-40, depending on how high quality of stuff you buy and what case you use. There is some overhead with equipment if you don't already have a soldering iron and other requisite tools (but hopefully a friend has that stuff so you can borrow it). For some schematics and guides, check out http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio.