Am I being realistic?

Posted by: Top Cat on 20 March 2001

Last night I finally hooked up an external PSU onto my headphone stage, everything at Phase 6 Mana. The sound of the LP12 playing a decently mastered LP through the HD600s was nothing short of phenomenal.

Thing is, even though I am happy with my new amps (not yet broken in, admittedly), I crave that extra detail I could hear through the headphones. Am I being realistic - is this a non-achievable goal, within regular budgets (i.e. no £10,000+ speakers - I can't justify that amount of cash!)

Can an amp and speakers combination achieve the kind of detail that a top-of-the-range headphone through a sorted dedicated headphone amp can deliver? Or am I searching for a holy grail just a bit out of reach?

The regular system is very good indeed now, but wow! that headphone sound! Wow!

ANy thoughts, people?

John

Posted on: 22 March 2001 by Top Cat

Perhaps you're right, but it's the only Pre they do! I believe their principle is to keep the pre simple - i.e. minimal signal path, top notch capacitors, etc. - so I'm curious as to where a designer might improve things.

Can anyone with more knowledge of such things comment on the areas that differentiate (say) an 82 from a 52, PSUs aside?

John