Balanced does matter doesn't it?

Headphones Headphone Discussion / Help
21

thats fine but what is? i can pay for a good balanced amp

22

I mean if you want clean accuracy the 887 is great for the price. It’s hard to go wrong with it, and from your posts you seem to enjoy transparent accuracy with not alot of coloration, so I think the 887 would be for you. I can’t remember if you already have a sp200 or not tho, and if you do have a sp200 I think the 887 might be a bit redundant. There are better amps out there than the 887/789/sp200, but they do cost more and are well past diminishing returns, where you should put the money towards better headphones

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23

Balanced has very little to do with whether an amp is good or not. The Chord TT2, which I’d consider my endgame, doesn’t have balanced headphone outputs

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24

Yes, in the end it really depends on the amp’s design as a whole for the quality it will output. The case where you would want to prefer balanced all of the time would be with long cable runs. Running cables in environments with very high interference around them or in lengths in excess of 15 feet (imo)

25

Advertised as “fully balanced”.

26

It’s unfortunate that the smsl sh8 wasn’t that great because it is fully balanced and stacks really well with the su8

27

was the SP 200 always this cheap?

28

Well it originally came out at 300 usd but with the sales that is a good price for sure. It’s just killer bang for the buck

29

more or less, yeah. It’s been selling for around that price.

30

damn dude I wish I had money right now but honestly I dont feel like my source gear is at all lacking. just my monkey brain wanting new stuff is killing me

31

Yeah, tbh your setup is really not going to let you down, it would be an improvement, but I don’t know if it would be big enough to warrant the cost

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32

Well lets see. We have many balanced amps. Here is a list that i found rooting around the web at decent prices:

SMSL SH-8 162$
Schiit JOTUNHEIM 400$
Topping DX7 425$
Sabaj D5 470$
Emotiva Stealth DC-1 Reference-Quality Differential DAC 500$
Klipsch Heritage Headphone Amp 574$
Audio-GD NFB-10.33 580$
Aune S7 Pro 600$
Questyle Audio CMA400i DAC 670$
SMSL P1 693$
Cayin iHA-6 700$
Gustard A20H DAC/Amp 750$

Any of these any good? Any i missed?

33

The Audio-GD NFB-10.33 was super popular before the 789 came out. The reason most people flocked to the 789 was because of how quiet it is. The Audio-GD has a lot of power, but also lots of background noise. I personally would go with any of the THX amps out there over anything on that list

34

The audio gd products also have noticeable compression to the sound as well. Those amps have alot of power but not alot of finesse

35

Unless you are spending $1k or more, maybe even a lot more, I don’t know why you’d avoid the THX amps. The “balanced is automatically better than SE” myth that keeps getting repeated is one of my least favorite audiophile misconceptions

36

I mean thx amps have really shaken up the game lol, it’s caused other manufactures to up their game for sure

37

well maybe i can send the sp200 back to amazon and get one of the other thx ones. I always liked the monoprice 788 with its EQ.
I just thought something in that list would be better

38

well if you have a sp200, you already have a great amp, and I wouldn’t send it back unless you feel you really need more power. I would just say the money towards another headphone or something

39

You strike more as more likely to take Zeos’ recommendations than just about anyone else on these forums, and he has 3 of the 789s. You say you like uncolored audio and it’s literally a wire with gain. You’re a tough nut to crack

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40

Balanced matters Onaha. I need a full balanced amp. The SP200 is not balanced