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What headphone amp to buy-Sennheiser HD 600?

Well, thanks to the kindness and patience of my fellow A'gon-izers, the hook-up "problem" for the headphone amp I have is solved. The amp is a Ramsey SHA 1. The phones are Sennheiser HD 600. I had remembered that amp sounding great. Now I'm spoiled by the new speakers I have, and even though the signal path to the amp is thru the Dodson DAC, I still think it sounds........not so great. Decent I suppose, but harsh on the upper end, yet without the mitigating detail, and you know, just.....unsatisfactory.

OK, OK, so here's the question(s): What's a great, fairly cheap (like, at LEAST less than a grand) headphone amp? Sonically, I want EVERYTHING!!!! (Except soundstage, that has never happened for me with any headphones, ever, I'm pretty sure not even with the expensive Stax I heard a few years ago).
It MUST have: Tight, deep, fast, smooth, tonally correct, musical bass, shimmering, non-fatiguing, emminently smooth yet ultra detailed highs, great midbass punch with no boom or softness whatsoever, midrange that is totally natural, smooth, detailed, and lacking any hint whatsoever of grain or electronic amplification artifact in the upper registers. It should sound great on ALL program material, from classical to rock to bluegrass to new age to jazz, anything and everything.

Other than those relatively modest criteria, there are no other performance demands. :)))

So, fire away!
mdhoover
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
I had the Lambda Pros with a Stax 006t and liked it very much, except for the aforementioned sweating problem. Be aware that if you tube-roll the 006t, the biasing is a rather complicated procedure that involves iterative adjustments. If you decide you like it and want a near new hp extension cable, let me know. I can't remember why, but I think I preferred the Lambda Pros to the newer 404 series phone. I prefer my AKG K1000s driven by a Cary 300sei, but thats quite a bit more $. You will find the Stax to be more detailed and more forward than the Senns, but I found the Senns to be much more comfortable.
mdhoover OP
695 posts
 
Swampwalker,

Hey, thanks for the quick reply! You said:

Be aware that if you tube-roll the 006t, the biasing is a rather complicated procedure that involves iterative adjustments. If you decide you like it and want a near new hp extension cable, let me know.

I know this is an ignorant question, but what the heck is TUBE ROLLING? I'm assuming it's different than "cow tipping"......
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Cow-tipping-- you're not from CT are you? that was rumored to be a hoot of a prank back in the 50s at UCONN! a bit b4 my time, but not that much. Tube rolling is switching to different brands of the same type of tube (and there are often numerous "equivalents" that may or may not be exact matches, to try and tailor the sound to your liking. In a power amplifier, that often requires manually adjusting the voltage to the tubes because they have slightly different electrical characteristics. NOS (New Old Stock) tubes are often considered superior in sonics and longevity, and command a high (sometimes exorbitant) price. There are many counterfeit/rebranded tubes out there so sometimes, it is a bit of a crap shoot.
mdhoover OP
695 posts
 
Swampwalker:

Tube rolling sounds like a pretty intense undertaking. I may have to wait a while before going to those lengths. Checked out the Cary site and tried my best but couldn't figure out what the Cary 300sei is. Any further hints would be appreciated. Another A'gon-izer has ALSO recommended the AKG 1000's, so it may necessitate a look-see.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Tube rolling sounds like a pretty intense undertaking.

Hey if you can tip cows over at night, then tube rolling ought'a be a breeze! No meadow muffins to look out for either!

Because you are talking about a headphone amp that will likely use only a few, smaller tubes, you may be making it seem more complex and expensive than it actually is. Headphone amps are mostly auto-biasing so you don't have to worry about constantly adjusting the bias. With a tube amp it is basically a plug-and-play scenario with swapping the tubes. As Swampwalker indicated, some of the NOS tube prices are as out-of-hand as real estate in Manhattan. But you really don't need to go there to get satisfaction and great results from trying different brands of tubes. Once you choose and amp and are familiar with the tubes it uses, just do some reasearch here and on other Internet forums as to what others with the same amp have preferred. There are a few really excellent sources of new and NOS tubes to consult as well (The Tube Store, Vintage Tube Services, VTV, Upscale Audio, to name a few). You don't have to spend a fortune on NOS tubes - there are current production tubes that arguably have the potential to perform just as well if not better. Anyway, just don't rule it out...on a headphone amp it's no big deal.

Marco
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