Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Is it worth getting a headphone amp

Nice write up Eric, thanks.

My thoughts exactly Peter. You are not alone around here in preferring the sound of tube amps to solid state. I borrowed my brother-in-law's Jolida 302B for a couple of months and it greatly improved my system by providing more detail and depth to the music. I am currently saving for a Manley Stingray but other expenses keep prohibiting a purchase. There is a gorgeous Stingray for sale on Audiogon right now. Perhaps next year...

Additional: (don't worry, this should be short!).

I spent about 40 minutes this afternoon retrying 16 and 32 Ohms headphones because I had forgotten last night that the "gain" on the LittleDot was set to maximum (intended for high-impedence headphones). I do not know if when set too high it is not operating as well, but when set to the lowest gain (there are 3 levels), it is doing a better job than direct (dyn and bass). Enough to be worth carrying that device on top of the iPod? I'm not sure. I just wanted to correct the misinformation I unadvertantly gave in last night's report. Note: I have not retried 16 Ohm with receiver (and will not spend the time either).

And my LitteDot Mk V is STILL at custom in Vancouver (in its third day now).

What no pics

No pics yet. Too lazy to put fresh batteries in camera...
Ok, ok, I'll read a bit (with headphones as the neighbors are downstairs) and then I'll see what I can do...

The pictures are not very good, but, hey, there they are!
(little-dot.com has more pictures for those really interested!)
UPDATE: The Mk V has cleared custom!

The whole contraption usually resides inside the pocket of my Axiom Jacket!!!

1) The little thing. This image does not do it justice as it is the cutest thing!



2) Combo mini amp, iPod and the noise-guard from the PXC-250. This is why I mentioned you there HAD to be a diffence because it is a tad combersome.



3) The whole thing! The PXC-250 are quite cute (if you forget about the ugly noise cancellation black "cigar"!

Eric, shame on you for using the word cute to describe your audio gear. Not once, but twice!


I'm looking forward to your impressions of the Mk V!

That's a very nice portable rig you have there.

Me Again!
A bit of mixture because I don't feel like doing two posts.

In order to prepare for the new sedentary headphone amp (the Mk V), and to be be certain that line output were the way to go instead of using the headphone jack, I went shopping for the missing cables (which include a few long overdue re-wiring). So now I have:

1) 12V trigger for BOTH the A1400 and the EP500 and even the cables to daisy chain another one if need be (that was long in coming as I don't like to have such a device continously consuming power when I don't need it). That was also necessart because of 2)

2) Split pre-outs betwwen front speakers and headphone amp. Stupid 805 does not have full pre-outs for Z2 or Z3 or even Tape-out. They only support analog source for those (meaning that if the source is digital, it cannot be output to Z2 or Z3). Since I have only one single source for analog (rarely used) and about a gazillion digital, it is a grrrr limitation.

3) Because of 2) (and thanks to 1)), I needed a way to have multi-channel output in stereo without subwoofer. And, geez, what da-ya-know, stupid 805 does not support more than one configuration (I had a nagging feeling that this detail would come back to bite me in the sitting implement). See 4).

4) Because of 3) (and thanks to Harmony 890), I now have a set of buttons and macros that allow me to go from speakers to headphones without losing all my weight in sweat (which might not be a bad idea, actually). Spent 2 hours on that!

5) CircuitCity is going out, apparently. I don,t know if they are planning to shut down the close-by resaler only, but I managed to put my hand on a high-quality 20 foot 1/8" cable (for the 12V trigger to the sub) for 2.96$ (retail used to be 29.99). AND, an iPod dock-to-AV cable, cable that used to be 49.99$ (and still is at Future Shop) for 9.99$. I could not resist.

IMPROVEMENT OR NOT?

Surprisingly (at least to me), the difference was not just little. I was expecting some "maybes" with the portable amp and the pre-outs of the receiver (with possibly a lot more differences with the bigger headphone amp which is twice as powerful). But no, improvement is enough to justify the annoyance of the lack of dual-config in the 805. I am now looking forward to the bigger amp even more. Especially that we the new cables, I will be able to have it placed in a much more convenient place next to my couch.

The surprise of the day was the difference between the dock port and the headphone jack for the iPhone. It is QUITE better (which an amp, of course, because otherwise it is much weaker). I was a happy camper with just the amp. But now the camp has a staff to make it better.

One of the last note is that, a feature missing in the 805 that is present in many other receiver can become key in the moment you expect it the least: more than one config. I never understood why it is not more common (they are NO technical reason for it, just firmware laziness), but we should be able to have multiple configuration profiles stored. You start with one profile and, for advanced users, you have to click on a "I know what I do so stop hindering me" button and get a few more profiles.

I assume you mean you are now looking forward to the bigger amp?