CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Headphone Measurements => Topic started by: kothganesh on August 23, 2014, 07:41:27 AM
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Hello all,
new sailor here. Would love to get your views on the Parasound Halo series of amps, specifically the A23, with respect to driving the HE 6. I have tried a few headphone amps and I always end up being dissatisfied. Various friends have suggested names like Audio gd, First Watt etc etc.
Thanks
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What amps have you tried? Just want to get a reference.
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Welcome aboard! I already gave my advice on HF to you, but hopefully someone on here can give you more.
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Hello all,
new sailor here. Would love to get your views on the Parasound Halo series of amps, specifically the A23, with respect to driving the HE 6. I have tried a few headphone amps and I always end up being dissatisfied. Various friends have suggested names like Audio gd, First Watt etc etc.
Thanks
The Halos are really nothing special at all, they are your run of the mill A/B amp. A step up from the most basic entry level separates like those from Adcom, but that's it. You'll do MUCH better with an Odyssey if you're looking for a high power Class A/B power amp that doesn't cost a ton of money.
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What amps have you tried? Just want to get a reference.
Hi Marv:
I've tried the Schiit Lyr, Mjolnir, Project Ember, and currently using my 1990's JVC integrated receiver which puts out 120x2 at 8 ohms.
Thanks
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Welcome aboard! I already gave my advice on HF to you, but hopefully someone on here can give you more.
Ohhg, great to hear from you here as well. Yes, you did and I had been going back and forth between the A23 and the HCA 1500. Both seemed reasonable prices (around $600) on eBay. Since this is eBay and I live in India, there is no way I will be able to demo anything.
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The Halos are really nothing special at all, they are your run of the mill A/B amp. A step up from the most basic entry level separates like those from Adcom, but that's it. You'll do MUCH better with an Odyssey if you're looking for a high power Class A/B power amp that doesn't cost a ton of money.
Dave, thanks. I'll look into this.
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The Halos are really nothing special at all, they are your run of the mill A/B amp. A step up from the most basic entry level separates like those from Adcom, but that's it. You'll do MUCH better with an Odyssey if you're looking for a high power Class A/B power amp that doesn't cost a ton of money.
Dave, I've read up on Odyssey and the Stratos line looks very good. I've also looked at the Audi gd Master 10 amp. Have you by any chance heard this? Is so, what do you think? I solicit other people's opinions as well.
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I'm with Dave on the Odyssey recommendation. Looks really swell and should cost much much more. You guys back at the states get all the good gear.... In Europe it seems that all decent gear is marketed for rich idiots. They'd take that Odyssey, slap on some gold trimmings and sell it for six grand.
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I'm with Dave on the Odyssey recommendation. Looks really swell and should cost much much more. You guys back at the states get all the good gear.... In Europe it seems that all decent gear is marketed for rich idiots. They'd take that Odyssey, slap on some gold trimmings and sell it for six grand.
Thanks. Love that signature and the song..man, Im switching on my Led Zep right now...
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Dave, I've read up on Odyssey and the Stratos line looks very good. I've also looked at the Audi gd Master 10 amp. Have you by any chance heard this? Is so, what do you think? I solicit other people's opinions as well.
I'm not familiar with the A-GD speaker amps, sorry. I don't think they are as common as the DACs, but I'm sure impressions are out there. Honestly it's pretty hard to go wrong with Odyssey though. The stuff on their website is basically just a jumping off point. Let Klaus know what you're after, and he'll hook you up. This for example is the so called "glass ceiling" Stratos.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=31939)
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It may be a foolish question, but WHAT did you not like about the sonic signature/sound of the HE-6 (on the various amps you tried) and what would you like to 'change' to the HE6 sound... what the amp should be adding/changing in the sound I mean?
If you want to go louder than going from Ember (around 2W) to Lyr (around 4W) is just 3dB. The 5W Mjolnir will add another 1dB.
a 250W/4 Ohm amp will be able to bring 20W to the table...
The HE-6 may not like that as it is rated at 6W but can easily handle short peaks of 20W I reckon.
It will play 6dB louder (substantial) than the Mjolnir.
With 20W the SPL would reach 120dB !
If it is a sound signature/quality issue than finding an amp that changes the signature THAT much will be hard to find IMO.
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Solderdude, quality speaker amps tend to bring out the best qualities of the HE-6. It's not a sound signature thing. There is "grip" and dynamics once one gets used.
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It may be a foolish question, but WHAT did you not like about the sonic signature/sound of the HE-6 (on the various amps you tried) and what would you like to 'change' to the HE6 sound... what the amp should be adding/changing in the sound I mean?
If you want to go louder than going from Ember (around 2W) to Lyr (around 4W) is just 3dB. The 5W Mjolnir will add another 1dB.
a 250W/4 Ohm amp will be able to bring 20W to the table...
The HE-6 may not like that as it is rated at 6W but can easily handle short peaks of 20W I reckon.
It will play 6dB louder (substantial) than the Mjolnir.
With 20W the SPL would reach 120dB !
If it is a sound signature/quality issue than finding an amp that changes the signature THAT much will be hard to find IMO.
Not at all. The speaker amps tend to give more body to the HE 6, to my ears. For example, the Mojo is loud but not necessarily three-dimensional (I am struggling for words here) compared to my "ordinary" JVC receiver (in the context of quality speaker amps). Or maybe the JVC should just do it. But, in this hobby, one always wonders what one is missing out.