As a Soundlab owner, I have heard Stax, and surprisingly, I did not like it!
Although Stax had great speed and transparency, it was suffering from the same things that plague electrostats - bottom end weigh/ slam and dynamics (with Soundlabs plagued by these less than other brands).
I like the Manley much better. Woo Audio 5 is pretty damn good also.
The Woo Audio 5 also uses 300b. Do you like the Manley better than the Woo? What 300b tubes do you use? I use the JJ's, really like them a lot.
Don't know about the best, BUT my Musical Fidelity XCAN V3 is nothing special. ST reviewed it and basically gave it a major 'rave'. Frankly, IMHO this is one more example as to why you should never rely on a reviewer's opinion; because after that rave and my own experience with this piece,
I can now safely say two things..1) NEVER buy anything in audio without listening for yourself first ( which I usually never do, but for some dumb reason did this time) and 2) ST is IMHO certifiably tone deaf.
We are expecitng a baby shortly, so unfortunately I am staying away from exposed tubes. Since my audio rig already takes up 1/3 of my living room, I am currently using a "tiny" Naim Headline 2 with a TeddyCap 3 powersupply. Amazing PRAT for the late night listening sessions!
I dont' know whether it is coincidence, but the best headphone amps I have heard all use the 300B tube. Unfortunately, I did not audition the Woo and the Manley in the same system, but I think Manley is better. It has amazing resolution and 3-dimensional images hang in space like I have never heard in a headphone rig. Another thing going against the Woo 5 is that it is 2 huge heavy 40 pound pieces, while the Manley is a single preamp.
Woo upsells the Shugang 50-Years Treasure 300B for their amp for $600. I tried these in the Woo 5, and they are definetely smoother and better than the stock 300B's that come with the unit, but one is definitely hitting the law of diminishing returns by tube rolling. I know there are some Western Electrics going for over $1K! That is what was recommended to me as the ultimate for the Manley. What other 300B's have you tried?
Senheiser Orpheus.
I use a Benchmark Media DAC1 HDR and Sennheiser HD800 + Denon AH-D7000 headphones. The Sennheisers have an amazing soundstage and amazing detail. The Denons offer a wonderfully rich and laidback sound with great dynamics, 2 brilliant headphones.
Sorry Looking at it got the wrong end of the stick........best headphones not headphone amp.
I run DAC1 HDR straight from my PC and I feed it he Flac files that I have stored for the Linn Klimax DS. The results are brilliant, up until recently I had the Lehmann Audio Linear USB which sound great, looked great and as built like a tank. But I needed the Pre-amp stage as this is in my Study and I run PMC AML1 Speakers off of the DAC1 HDR. Both the Pre-Amp stage and the Headphone stage are fantastic, maybe not in the league of the EAR HP4, which I have considered integrating in my main system. Yes the volume increase is a little wayward on the remote and the top end frequencies can be a little bit brittle but the Dynamics and fluidity of the music are brought through brilliantly, one of my best buys out of all the kit I own.......
I will leave comment later about the Ear HP4.........
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