I am tempted by a Luxman SQ-N150 for use mainly as a headphone amp. Anybody with experience?
Using it with speakers would require some high efficiency jobs which can be positioned close to a wall.
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/naim-pmc-to-luxman-neo-classico-ii-omega/14216
A user on the Naim forum has the SQ-N150, and there is a comprehensive review there. On the headphone amp of the Luxman, excerpt from the review as follows;
The headphone out on the Luxman isn’t a built in headphone amp. You basically get the same amp section driving headphones as you do for speakers. I was amazed the Luxman works miles better with my HD-800 than the HL2/HCdr did.
It's quite amazing the Japanese amps can deliver so much for a modest outlay, in this case the small SQ-N150 with the footprint of an A4 paper.My Denon's headphone out is ridiculous. A friend bought one and sold £1k worth of separate headphone amplifier as he said the Denon was simply much better.
It's quite amazing the Japanese amps can deliver so much for a modest outlay, in this case the small SQ-N150 with the footprint of an A4 paper.
To rub salt into the wound, the user found the supposedly superior dedicated headphone amp setup of the Naim to sound worse than the headphone amp section of the Luxman..
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/naim-pmc-to-luxman-neo-classico-ii-omega/14216
A user on the Naim forum has the SQ-N150, and there is a comprehensive review there. On the headphone amp of the Luxman, excerpt from the review as follows;
The headphone out on the Luxman isn’t a built in headphone amp. You basically get the same amp section driving headphones as you do for speakers. I was amazed the Luxman works miles better with my HD-800 than the HL2/HCdr did.
What a waste, three grand on a headphone amp, surely there are easier and cheaper solutions. You might be surprised at how far those 10 watts go. I’d love to have a dabble with the N 150.I am tempted by a Luxman SQ-N150 for use mainly as a headphone amp. Anybody with experience?
Using it with speakers would require some high efficiency jobs which can be positioned close to a wall.
It certainly is extremely pretty. **** it get one. I have a soft spot for Luxman.It would be cheaper than an EAR HP4 and prettier to look at.
I already have a £2k headphone amp!
Agreed would have been nice to have the option as well as rca, the one niggle I have is no light on the volume knob, I listen in a dark room and am part sighted so have to guess or go to zero and wind it back up.Still lovin’ my Lux too. It *never* puts a foot wrong, and - apart for a balanced output to match its input - it wants for nothing. Was it a smart purchase? Difficult to say - it’s still a pricy beast and that price gives a lot of choices - but it works for me
It's true there are a lot of choices at this price range but similarly it works great for me as well. Was it a smart purchase? I think I paid more for the Naim amps but the Luxman is still below £10k which is still manageable, I guess. Looking at the costlier options which include Vitus, Gryphon and Audionet which go up to £20k and beyond that, in my mind the Luxman is still a good value buy.Still lovin’ my Lux too. It *never* puts a foot wrong, and - apart for a balanced output to match its input - it wants for nothing. Was it a smart purchase? Difficult to say - it’s still a pricy beast and that price gives a lot of choices - but it works for me
This is my Denon. 3 input, self adjusting phono stage. Separately wound left and right channel transformer and a bonza of a headphone socket. It is now the amp I have had longest in my system and it is just flawless in operation and drives every speaker I have used. In line with the point made earlier, I have to turn the speakers off to use the headphone socket as it is driven by the same circuit, hence the quality.