Tube headphone preamps?

[tubino]

Brian, do you have any great tube preamps either FOR headphones, or with a real headphone output (designed for headphone range of impedances)?

[BrianB]

Brian, do you have any great tube preamps either FOR headphones, or with a real headphone output (designed for headphone range of impedances)?

Yup! And this would be my top pick:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_2/images/manley-300b-preamp-front-main.jpg

[junkaudio]

yep this would be my choice too preamp with 300 b
manley rocks but the pricetag :thumbsdn:

[tubino]

Yup! And this would be my top pick:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_2/images/manley-300b-preamp-front-main.jpg

Wow, now that's a statement of a preamp!

I had another chat with the friend who is looking, and what became clear is that he wants a dedicated headphone preamp, rather than a preamp with headphone outputs. Upper limit is ~$500. So he's been looking at EarMax, Musical Fidelity X-cans V.3, the Corda Aria, and the Woo 3, as well as the Little Dot III, and he's open to kits, even DIY (if I help!). Brian, do you have anything along those lines?

[BrianB]

Hi tubino,

Yes, I do have a couple of items that would be more in line with your friend's needs. He just contacted me directly, and we will be discussing my offerings sometime next week...

Cheers,
Brian

[tubino]

Glad to hear it!

Now I'm getting kinda interested in the headphone route. I read Joseph Rocker's review in UltraFi of a USB device using the PCM2704 chip, with a headphone output and S/PDIF output. It's a tiny box that would let you take audio output (from CD, iTunes, etc.) and have a quality DAC output for the headphone. Seems like a cool idea.

[TheLordofPain]

Don't forget Ray Samuels... oh wait his stuff is more than $500...

[BrianB]

I have recently learned that Yamamoto Sound Craft will be introducing a tube headphone amplifier later this year. The U.S. retail price will be greater than $500, but most likely less than $1000. Given the extraordinary quality of Yamamoto's other tube gear, I can hardly wait to hear this unit!

[spkrman57]

Yamamoto tube headphone amp with 45's sounds cool!

Ron

[Dusty Chalk]

The Cary's have a reputation for having a serious headphone amp on their integrateds (I've only heard briefly, but remember liking), so I would presume that this one (http://www.caryaudio.com/products/audio/slp05.shtml) would be good.

[timoteus]

If you get any new information about the new Yamamoto headphone amp please let us know, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

This is their last amp, two 3S4 or 1S4 tubes, single-ended, zero feedback, transformer-coupled...

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/avfuji/427586/438460/443510/

[BrianB]

If you get any new information about the new Yamamoto headphone amp please let us know, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Okay, check out the above thread (http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84988) regarding the new Yamamoto HA-02...