Headphone amps

I listened to the earlier Phonitor and it like all SPL gear is great.   It was a while back but you should try to demo one.   I bought my RME DAC from a local professional sound dealer and they had many SPL products there.   They are nice.   

Luxman is great too.   I like their new stuff.   

So is Benchmark.  Another great company.  I remember back in 06 or 07 I did a tradeshow and everyone was crowded around the new Benchmark DAC 1 trying to listen through phones.   I credit Benchmark with more or less igniting the Headphone /DAC craze.   Not sure if they were the "first" but in my opinion it was the first headphone amp / DAC worth buying 

Audition if possible or at least have a return priviledge ,  it's really a matter of taste with headphones.  

The Benchmark is a great 2 channel preamp if the definition of great is not adding to the signal. The HPA4 was also excellent with my warmish Meze Empy headphones, both now sold.

The best rock and roll headphone I have heard is the new RAAL CA-1a ($2K). I have heard it only with the top end VM-1a tube amp, but it can also be connected to any of the headphone amps that are listed on this thread. The guys on Head-fi are saying it kills also with other amps, though the VM-1a is the king.

I read that the HPA4 sounded good with the CA-1a, though that surprises me a bit, must have been using a warmish DAC.

The Benchmark gear is the one to go to for high quality accurate  reproduction.   Does that mean it will sound best?   No.  What sounds best is a purely subjective determination….a matter of personal opinion.  It’s quite possible that a highly accurate sound is not what one is looking for.   But if you don’t know what it is you are looking for, it’s the logical place to start. 
 

@mapman 

+1

Benchmark is known for “highly accurate” sound… which I think many find to be “too accurate”. I run in the opposite direction when I hear these descriptions. I want to be drawn in to the music and emotionally connected… which is what my systems do. Others prefer something else.

Benchmark is great if you want to be friendly with ASR crowd. But, it is many times more expensive than the Topping China stuff, which measures the same or better. Now, of all the sudden, ASR crowd disagrees. So, what do you do? 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤔