Objective 2 (O2) Headphone Amplifier USD $79.91 (approx. AUD$109.71) Shipped @ Massdrop

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  Black Hole on 25/07/2015 - 13:35

  +2

  I have already the JDS Lab O2 and since that time it was my last desktop amplifier as I have no further need to upgrade as the sound is pure and simple. I love it. Mine came with 2 rechargeable 9V batteries. I highly recommended this amp and mine paired with JDS labs objectiveDac.

  I don't believe I can get much more out of other expensive headphone amps with my mid-range headphones including the AKG Q701 and Sennheiser HD650.

  To the OP can you tell me why you don't believe in amps. I definitely can tell the difference from good recording source.

  • 

    iridiumstem on 25/07/2015 - 13:57

    -2

    It's more of what I believe, which is, amp should do nothing more than to amplify. Many headphones don't require amp and benefit very little from them, despite the marketing fad. I don't believe that they are going to magically make my headphone sound better.

    Edit I don't deny that there are headphones that require an amp though.

    • 

      Black Hole on 25/07/2015 - 14:52

      Good amps is design to deliver the power without adding interference hissing sound and without distortion. It should have enough reserve power to push the headphones and to replicate what the original recording intention. My experience is the PC and mp3 player usually have enough power to push low impedance headphone but run out of steam with high impedance headphone and the sound suffers as a result it does not have the power to compress the air into your ear.

      • 

        iridiumstem on 25/07/2015 - 17:27

        +1

        I don't disagree with that statement too much. As I've said, my argument is many headphones don't require an amp and benefit very little from them. I do own a headphone that has 300ohm, and I do own an amp/DAC combo. While I do not deny that my headphone do sound better with the DAC/AMP combo, it doesn't suddenly become unbearable if I plug it into my tablet or my phone (though I do need to increase the volume to 14~15).

        Many people here probably have something that don't require amp. Many headphones nowadays, especially those ones that you use with MP3 players, have very low impedance level. I've heard about how certain headphones require a lot of power to drive the driver and how lack of driving power affects the sound quality. I've heard how if the driver doesn't get enough power, the low frequencies get affected. In this case, I believe that an amp is necessary. I've also heard that this is very rare.

        Also, depending on what amp you get, you might actually make the whole system worse. i.e. graph with Fiio E5 + DAP vs DAP, from here. I apologise for using a website that's not in English, though, I think the graph is straight forward.

        The entire argument about how we need an amp for all the headphones is a marketing fad in my opinion. Average consumers have limited ability to compare the amped and non-amped sound properly; the differences they hear can may as well be from loudness differences or simple placebo effect. If it sounds better, then I think they would fall under these 5 cases (or mixtures of these):

        1. The headphone didn't get driven properly by the built-in amp, therefore it reqired an amp
        2. The headphone benefitted from having an amp, however it was not necessary
        3. The amp distorts the sound (while I don't believe that this is a bad thing, it goes against my idea of what an amp should do, though this is more of my preference more than anything).
        4. Placebo effect
        5. Decibel difference

        How many headphones do you think fall under the 1st category? How many do you think fall under the 2nd one? If they fall under 2nd one, then another question is, what's the actual return on the money you put into the amp? How much of the "benefit" are actually from the amp, not the other 3 effects I've mentioned?

        Don't get me wrong, there are headphones out there that requires amp and there are headphones that benefits a lot from having an amp, that said I personally don't see them as a necessity for everyone.

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  [Deactivated] on 25/07/2015 - 14:06

  Thanks for the advice. I've nearly bought an amp a million times now because of the swelling wave of audiophilia but never understood why I should…….and therefore have resisted.

  I couldn't comprehend how they could make headphones sound better….louder, yes, maybe brassier, but better? They amplify. They do what they say on the tin, I suppose.

  I've a fairly decent set of headphones (nothing special tho') and play my music off my smartphone. Sounds fine to my fading aural spectrum.

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  Cool7 on 25/07/2015 - 22:06

  +1

  Majority of headphones on market doesn't need an extra amp. And whatever amp you connect won't provide any recognizable sound improvement if we do not include psychological effect.

  But there are a few headphone will benefit from extra amp especially those higher end models. These models are designed to provide much more details than lower end ones, and need more power (to drive) for that extra resolution. Yes, a normal MP3 player or your computer sound interface will sound those headphones, but no way near its potential.

  Another benefit of using amp is you will be able to use the line-out(not amplified) signal if your device has one, and bypass the build-in amp from your device which usually is crap.

  How much gain for your invest is another story. My suggestion is if you doubt about an amp, don't get one. As I believe if people own a pair of headphone requires or benefits from an amp, he or she shall already know the fact or won't tell the difference any way ;-)

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  [Deactivated] on 26/07/2015 - 11:14

  Some of these valve amps do look cool though! ;)

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  Audisez on 26/07/2015 - 11:17

  Would an ATH A900x benefit much from these?

  • 

    Cool7 on 26/07/2015 - 13:03

    You might want to check this:
    http://www.head-fi.org/t/728397/do-i-need-an-amp-dac-and-or-…

    • 

      Audisez on 26/07/2015 - 18:08

      Ya I've seen that thread too but it seems to me(and correct me if I'm wrong) that thread derails onto a different topic after the second post which kinda made me question myself more because it pretty much said it'll do ok but it'll won't reach its full potential without an amp. So I'm still wondering do I really need an amp or not?

      • 

        iridiumstem on 26/07/2015 - 20:00

        I personally think having an amp wouldn't make that much of a difference (it will, but I think the change will be minimum). That said, I don't have ATH-A900x, so my words are more of speculation and extrapolation from my personal experience with my own headphone which is rather easy to drive for a 300ohm headphone.

        If you want to make an investment on an amp, that's fine. O2 amps are known as a bang for the buck amp that performs really well.

        That said,
        1. I've ranted before about how the word "need" is used as a marketing term, do you think your headphone is not getting driven properly by the system you own?
        2. Your experience is as good as the worst part of the system you own (from recording, DAC, amp to headphone). Do you think your amp is holding the entire experience down?
        3. Another thing you should consider is, will you be better off saving the money and spending it on a better headphone in future? I own a DAC/AMP combo (costed me around $300~400, it works fine for me). While I do enjoy the features it brings, i.e. USB OTG DAC function, volume knob etc, get better sound from it compared to any of the sources I have, is it necessary? That's something I have to ponder. Unless your headphone is not driven properly by the system you own or your built-in amp is just awful, which I doubt yours is, the improvement from an amp will not be as drastic as the people hype it to be.

        Though O2 amp is known for being good, the price is good. It's from Massdrop, so you'd receive it probably around September, but other than that, I think it's not bad to buy an amp. If you want to make an investment for future or want to buy an amp in general, I think you could do far worse than getting this.

      • 

        Cool7 on 02/08/2015 - 12:46

        Let's put this way. O2 AMP & ATH A900x will make a difference of sound at least can be measured by instrument. But for your personal perspective, it depends. Everybody's hearing is different especially on the high freq end, and someone's ear is not as trained as others to pickup these difference. These difference in detail can mean a lot for one guy but complete cannot be recognized by the other. For guys no longer young, it become more and more difficult to pickup fine details in higher freq.

        On low freq, there is another story. Some people like unrealistic punchy bass, and other like clearer sound. This has nothing to do with AMP's quality, but rather it's character or build-in distortion. Not all distortion is bad things, it's to do with personal's perferance again. O2 AMP has very little distortion, it's a good thing for being a reference AMP, but some people also complain it sounds a bit dry or not vivid.

        Bottom line is, O2 AMP is worth its cost, especially this massdrop deal. If you don't have an amp, you will always wondering and want to try one. It's better to get this one than folk out several hundreds to get something you not sure about.

        One hint, if you do get one. Don't judge its performance at least for first 10 hours of listening. It's not really for the amp to break-in, more for your ear to adapt it. After sometime of listening, you will get use to the reference level sound and pickup the details provided by O2.

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  [Deactivated] on 04/08/2015 - 19:59

  Seems like there are a lot of cancellations for this amp because it will only have a 110 amp power supply, other comments are that JDS Labs has better options for $99 https://www.jdslabs.com/mobile/products/35/objective2-headph…