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Headphone Amp - Perreaux vs Musical Fidilety

I am considering going for the headphone amp and my choice is between the Perreaux SHX1 and Musical Fidelity XCANS. I have not heard either of them but have read many reviews. The source would be Philips 963SA and headphone in question is the Sennheiser HD580.

My understanding is that the Perreaux having a good reputation when it comes to low end may complement the 580 (not famous with bass freaks) in a better way compared to the Xcans. On the other hand the Xcans may have better tube like midrange. Both headphone amps surely, as is always the case with any hifi gear, have their plus and minus points. There are surely other attributes associated with both amps as well which I am not in position to discuss since lack of audition on my part.

I do not listen to Rap, Metal or Hard rock otherwise all other genres of music I enjoy. The speakers I have are the LS3/5a’s and the Paradigm Studio 40 v.2.

If anyone has compared the two I would appreciate if they can share their opinion. If not, I'd still like to hear from anyone who has used either.

If you were to choose between the two in question, which one would it be, and why?
quadophile

Showing 1 response by ptmconsulting

ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
For what it's worth - I just picked up a pair of HD600's also (seems lots of us got these at a good price recently, after rebate). I'm using my Nakamichi headphone jack with a dummy tape paused for recording. I can easily adjust level and have plenty of gain.

Would a separate headphone amp sound better - probably, but it's damn fine now. I would definitely have to audition one and hear the difference before plunking down the cash. I also did some research and it seems like most prefer tubed amps over solid state, even stating that the inexpensive tubes still beat the expensive solid state's. More euphonic probably.

Enjoy,
Bob
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