Featured in the pic are:
Headphones (left to right): AKG K7XX dynamic, ZMF planar magnetic, Sennheizer HD800 dynamic, Grado 325i Prestige Series dynamic, and Grado 225i Prestige Series dynamic.
Headphone Amp: Burson HA 160
DAC (black box on top of Amp): JDS Labs ODAC
My previous Amp was the O2 (plus ODAC; now I just use the DAC). I wanted to upgrade to the HD800s but I knew my O2 wouldn’t pair very well, and wouldn’t have the power. I’d researched the Burson products and was very impressed with the ‘fully discrete, no IC’ philosophy. Why would I want to pay audiophile prices for crappy ICs when I can get a fully discrete, dual mono class A amp with matched military grade components? When I tested the HA-160 headphone amp with the Sennheiser HD800s at the Gramophone I almost started crying it was such a clean sound. No distortion even up near the max output. Plus the stepped attenuator is total bragging points! This amp sells itself. I’ve tried my other headphones with it and they all sound pretty good but the HD800 + HA-160 is, at least for me, my ‘End Game’ setup. And the HA160 is built like a fucking tank so I don’t think I will need to worry about replacing it for a long long time.
Thanks for building this fantastic amp!
Cheers,
Gary