Best Headphone amp

Thanks for all responses guys.
On a related matter; and having spent dollar on the NDX2 and a 282, I am wondering if I need to include a DAC for the desktop headphone amp as the tape output from the 282 will be analogue already right?
Would appreciate your thoughts here guys please.
Cheers

Iā€™m in a similar position and didnā€™t see the need for another DAC. I also really didnā€™t want to add yet another two box Naim solution to my rack so recently bought a used (but perfect condition) Lehmann black cube linear head amp for just Ā£350. Itā€™s excellent quality feeding out of the tape socket of my NAC 72.

You certainly donā€™t need another DAC, and if you can find an analogue headphone amp you like, itā€™s probably the most cost effective option. Having said that, if you go for a DAC/headphone amp, you may even find that using it between your streamer and preamp gives an upgrade to the sound quality you get from your speakers. There has been endless forum discussion of using Naim streamers as digital transports into Chord DACs, so I wonā€™t go on about it again here!
Another option might be to put the cash into upgrading your portable player, and using this instead of having to connect headphones to your HiFi.

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Iā€™ve seen positive comments in other places concerning a German headphone amp, I think itā€™s a Violectric - sells for around two thousand.

There are many high end headphone amps. The other types that are rather interesting are the ones that use THX AAA chipset analogue signal processing to reduce distortion in the amplifier and headphone coupling. The Benchmark HPA4 is an example using the top end THX processor, though quite an investment at 3.5k, but on revealing high end phones tends to get comments like one of the best available. However this is only an amp (and preamp stage) and no DAC or digital processing at all. I think if I used very long headphone leads I might consider this amp.

The NDX2 is a $7.5K source. So unless the DAC and analogue stage in a digital headphone amp can outshine your NDX2, then indeed, an analogue one would be much wiser.

Analogue headphone amp off the NDX2 is what I do.

I plan to take the amp feed from m NDX2 through my NAC282 and tape output.
With the helpful comments from the forum I have decided to buy a non DAC headphone amp, so Iā€™m pleased to have reached that point.
Keeping to a sub Ā£1000 budget, the Lake People G103 is winning so far but the process is not over yet and I intend to look into valve amps before deciding.
Keep the comments coming guys.

Cheers all.

With a Ā£400 pair of headphones I would recommend the arcam rhead (if you can still find one new?)
Well reviewed and price appropriate , you will not be disappointedā€¦and it can be upgraded (if and when required) with a linear power supply

With that budget you might look at a Trilogy 931. I had one for a while before investing rather more in the 933 and it was pretty good. Clean balanced sound, nice and lively. I had an Arcam rHead before that which is great value but rather muddy and slow compared to the Trilogy 931, which was well worth the extra in my book. I think the rHead is discontinued by the way, but might still be some around. Graham Slee Solo might be another to shortlist?

I have also heard the Quad PA-One valve headphone amp when demoing new headphones but not back to back with alternatives so hard to give a comparison. It looks a bit of a beast, and just sneaks over the Ā£1k

Are you going to get a demo of your shortlist? In my brief tests of various amp and headphone combinations I found very different presentation and characteristics not just ā€˜better or worseā€™. I would definitely suggest you try your own Shure cans with a few alternatives before taking the plunge.

Bruce

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Graham Slee Ultra Linear Diamond Edition is very good using Graham Slee Cusat50 cablesā€¦I am sure there are betterā€¦but at the price it is fantasticā€¦it drives my HD800S headphones very wellā€¦ unlike the 272 headphone ampā€¦
This little amp gives a rich expansive ryhthmic sound that draws you in to the music ā€¦ I have also taken this amp to the next level by doing something I cannot mention on this forumā€¦

For years I was happy with a Naim HeadLine, HiCap DR combination, but after I purchased a couple of flagship headphones I found the Headline, HiCap DR combination lacking.

I purchased a Niimbus HPA US 4+ made by Lake People in Germany.

The Niimbus is connected directly to my NDX 2 using the NDX 2ā€™s RCA output.

The NDX 2 and Niimbus sounds fantastic with flagship headphones.

Yep - I find the NDX2 driving a Chord DAVE via SPDIF digital out into Headphones - works fantastically well with flagship headphones such as Meze Empyreans and Focal Utopias

Pray tell

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At the risk of being shouted at ā€¦ it involved a little internal surgeryā€¦I cannot explain it on this forumā€¦I will get jumped on. Unless Mr Dane permits meā€¦which I think is unlikely.

My three :Schitt Jotunheim,iFi iCan MF X-Can v2 the Scitt is very,very good and the iFi bunches well above its weight and the MF has two valves so still sounds sweet
My cans are Focal Stelliaā€™s

Doesnā€™t this apply to Naim kit only or does the forum ruling apply to the tweaking of all makes?

I think it applies to all kitā€¦but let Richard advise on thisā€¦

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Iā€™m using a Headline 2 and HCDR to drive Sennheiser 800S and itā€™s glorious.

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