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Antique Sound Labs Headphone Amp

Audiogonisti...any feedback regarding this inexpensive tube headphone amp?

I recently saw a couple of their other products but did not have a chance to listen to them. Looks seemed way beyond the price points. But, on the other hand, one brand new unit had a loose knob tipping off point of origin.

Here's the deal. My system is sounding good. Real good. Finally rounding into shape. But the wife is giving me heavy "stink eye" in the wee, wee hours. Now that I'm self employed -- and worse yet, doing business in Asia at odd hours -- I just need only one squinting eye to make it to the coffee pot in the morning, so I'm staying up until near dawn working and listening to music. Every night. Good electricity at this time to boot.

I thought about picking up a Melos SHA Gold which works damn, damn good as a headphone amp and would be a fine back-up line stage. But, I have serious fever for a turntable. I sold the Sota a couple of years ago and have been vinyl deprived since. I just scored an Arcici Lead Balloon and am hell nebt on getting some buckshot and something to put on top of it. Which brings us back to the headphone amp...

I need something inexpensive and reasonably good. Stuff like X-Cans and Headrooms offend my sensibilties. Anything else out there for a man prowling for good sound on the cheap?

Oh, need headphones too. Left those with an
ex-girlfriend. I'd rather confront a rat in heat than talk to her about returning the SR80's. Any headphone suggestions to go with my inexpensive headphone amp?

Thanks in advance. Jim.
jim
khokugo
122 posts
 
Jim,
You have probably checked Headwise.com by now. But as a new user of MG Head, I can tell you this. MG Head is amazingly a good piece of equipment. I don't know what kind of music you listen to, but if you are acoustic music "junkie", tube HP amp is much better than SS, at least to my humble ears. HA-1 is superior, but it costs THREE times. I strongly recommend MG Head + Beyer HP combo.

Ken
rhljazz
1,255 posts
 
I have not listened to any other headphone amps but bought the MG Head DT, Sennheiser HD600 combo after listening at my local dealer. It sounds like tubes, lush and full, maybe lacking a bit in midrange/lower treble punch but very easy to listen to. The sound is much better than the op-amp feeds from my Sony cd players.
jim OP
418 posts
 
Looks like the MGHead, XCans2 and the Antique Sound Labs will get auditioned. Thanks for the feedback.
bmotorcycle
68 posts
 
There are times when one must be quiet in his own home, for those times I am using the Wheatfield HA-1 with the Sennheiser HD600 with great success. I must admit that my whole system is a tube bassed system, so I am partial to those glowing tubes.

You all say that the cost is 3 times as much, but, you all also seem to agree that it is a better sound, after all that is what we are looking for isn't it, better sound. My vote, if you can afford the difference, would be for the Wheatfield, it is worth the extra expense.
khokugo
122 posts
 
Bmotorcycle,
I can't agree more. Actually, it was HA-1 that took my eyes (I mean ears) at the first place. But I was pretty sure that wife would be pissed off by that kind of instant spending. So, I look around to find MG Head, and succeeded to pursuade my ears to be satisfied with its "return on investment". Sure, if I had had the larger wallet, I would have gotten HA-1, which definitely sounds better.
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