2. amps-preamps
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Integrated amp w/decent headphone out under $5k

Could use some help picking an integrated amp. Current Eastern Electric M520 24W EL34 doing a nice job driving my 95db efficient Omega CAMs. Would like to get to next level of tone and refinement and also drive my Hifiman HE1000 Stealth headphones (supposed to be easy to drive). Tried a SET separate but missed the bass definition and dynamics so I think I want to stay push/pull or warmer sounding solid state or hybrid. 10-25 watts should be plenty. Current leading candidate is LTA Z10… anything else I should look at?

burtlake
burtlake OP
43 posts
 

@mlsstl That was sort of the intent of my original question - to see if anyone is “doing it all” (for me at least).  From everything here and my research, if does seem that LTA is alone in giving equal attention to both the headphone and speaker outputs.  I should have mentioned that I’m at least 30% of time on the headphones (prefer speakers but can’t disturb my family early or late in the day), so pretty important 

I’ll talk to LTA and Omega this week to get some questions answered but at this point I’m likely going with the Z10…

Thanks for all the input - I will et you know how it goes 

wsrrsw's avatar
wsrrsw
1,034 posts
 

I don’t have one anymore but I had a PrimaLuna intergrated. Headphone out was very good too. 

richdirector's avatar
richdirector
269 posts
 

Leben CS300 15-18w has amazing headphone out - the amp does speakers or phones on same circuit (?) and now have a luxman 550ax2 which is 20w class a which also has a great headphone circuit.

 

treynolds155
184 posts
 

@burtlake 

My Modern CAMs sound amazing with my Mcintosh MHA100 "headphone" amp. Check out my pics. The current model is MHA150, only difference is in the dac. 

jhnnrrs
112 posts
 

You're better off with a dedicated, separate headphone amp.  Most integrated amps and receivers run the speaker outputs through a 220 to 330 ohm resistor to the headphone jack, and thus do not provide an optimized output.  The high output resistance will cause coloration and distortion (I have seen this personally with my own tests).  Very, very few of them contain a discrete headphone amplifier.  The additional benefit is that you can upgrade at will.

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