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Headphone amp £100

T

The_Wizard

Active Member
Good morning,
Could you recommend a headphone amp for around a £100 budget to partner my modified Rega RP1TT? Pre owned preferred. First thoughts are a Rega Ear mk2 but other ideas obviously welcome due to vast array of products that seem to be out there.

Many thanks
Lee
 
Hi Lee,

How are you connecting to the system?
The Ear will be excellent unless you need digital connectivity to an amp or receiver, in which case something like the tiny Audioquest Dragonfly Black is good and can also run from your phone.
 
Perhaps a preowned Creek headphone amp, they're supposed to good. Rega would probably be easier to find though.
 
Thanks, I’ve got a dragonfly red for portable hi-res from my phone. The headphone amp will mostly be used so I can listen to my vinyl in the evening once the children are asleep. I’ve got a separate DacMagic which feeds to my Brio R for DAB and internet radio/phone streaming. Unfortunately neither the Brio R or the DacMagic have headphone outputs.

I’m assuming the turntable feeding the headphone amp will then have a line output to feed the Brio R so I don’t need to keep pulling interconnects out? Or have I got this wrong? The modded RP1 just connects to the MM input on the Brio R at present.

thanks for your suggestions
Lee
 
The_Wizard said:
I’m assuming the turntable feeding the headphone amp will then have a line output to feed the Brio R so I don’t need to keep pulling interconnects out?

thanks for your suggestions
Lee
Click to expand...

Some do, otherwise you can get tee shaped phono adaptors that are ok (some being better than others)

iu
 
I have had the Rega, it was great. I have a Schiit Modi3 DAC and it is excellent for the price so personally I'd be inclined to give that a go.
 
The_Wizard said:
Thanks, I’ve got a dragonfly red for portable hi-res from my phone. The headphone amp will mostly be used so I can listen to my vinyl in the evening once the children are asleep. I’ve got a separate DacMagic which feeds to my Brio R for DAB and internet radio/phone streaming. Unfortunately neither the Brio R or the DacMagic have headphone outputs.

I’m assuming the turntable feeding the headphone amp will then have a line output to feed the Brio R so I don’t need to keep pulling interconnects out? Or have I got this wrong? The modded RP1 just connects to the MM input on the Brio R at present.

thanks for your suggestions
Lee
Click to expand...
You won't be able to plug the TT straight into the Headphone amp, you'll have a horrible quiet tinny squeak. The TT will need to be plugged into the MM input on the Brio as usual & the Headphone amp hooked up to the tape outputs on the Brio (assuming the Brio R has tape outputs, I know the current Brio does). When you want to listen on headphones just remember to turn the volume on the Brio right down!
As for Headphone amps on a budget I would go with a Topping L30. I've had a Schiit Magni, it's good but the Topping is better imo.
TS
 
What about a Little Dot? Chinese Valve amp, starting from £103 on Amazon. I’ve not heard one, but going to get a Mk2 when I’ve decided what headphones I’m keeping.
 
TonyScarlett said:
You won't be able to plug the TT straight into the Headphone amp, you'll have a horrible quiet tinny squeak. The TT will need to be plugged into the MM input on the Brio as usual & the Headphone amp hooked up to the tape outputs on the Brio (assuming the Brio R has tape outputs, I know the current Brio does). When you want to listen on headphones just remember to turn the volume on the Brio right down!
As for Headphone amps on a budget I would go with a Topping L30. I've had a Schiit Magni, it's good but the Topping is better imo.
TS
Click to expand...

Brilliant, thank you. That makes sense now I think about it.

I’ll have a look at suggestions but also noticed that Schiit had sold out.

Thanks, all
 
Not heard the iFi Zen Can, looks interesting though. Not sure how you would go about arranging demos of the headphone amps that have been mentioned although Schiit do have a 14 day returns policy iirc & the Topping is available on Amazon so should be easy to return if you didn't like it, not sure about the iFi. I guess the hardest part would be arranging to have them all arrive at the same time to try out so you could return the ones you didn't like.
TS
 
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