Thatās a rip lol, hard pass
I would much rather have the 103s over a basx for powering headphones as others have mentioned beforehand
Hmmmmm, and Iām guessing there arenāt any other stores that carry lake people that would be available to you?
Nope. I barely found these Aunes and Toppings, which are among some of the popular brands. I canāt find any Schiit, Monolith, JDS so thereās no chances Iāll find a not-so-well-known-brand like Lake People nearby.
The SH market here isā¦ trash Iād say, so I canāt find good used amps
Either I buy one of the ones I typed above and wait like 1 week, or buy from thomann and waitā¦ a month and a halfā¦
Well, out of the aune vs the topping, Iād easily pick the x7s, although my preference would be the lake people if you could. To throw something else out there, could a eufonika h7 or h5 be an option? Itās a tube amp and should be around 330 ish euro so pretty close to the price of an aune or lake people, probably a bit more expensive but it is a really enjoyable combo with an 880 600
Also I forgot to ask, but do you have a dac?
My advice on amps is just listen to @M0N. Even with the wait time, the G103s would be worth it over any of the Toppings you listed, IMO.
I might make a post explaining output impedance. We get lots of questions about it and it might be nice to have a single reference to point everyone to. Good luck in your search!
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The only place I see Eufonika h5 and h7 is eBay (300 pounds + shipping which I think itās expensive plusā¦ time).
Iāll ask more people I know who ordered from Thomann to tell me how much time did it take to arrive. Or maybe Iāll buy the X7S anyway if it really is such a good amp.
@WaveTheory Thanks!
Monoprice has a shop in Europe maybe is worth check it out because the spark is the best option if you want to keep the budget low
Iāve got the h5, is my first otl so I cannot compare but I think is a great amp and probably Iām going to open a thread of it because Iām really enjoying it and is a product that few know. But be aware if you want to get it that the stocks tubes are not really a good match with the 880 so add an extra cost.
Shipping would probably kill it in the end, so itās probably not all that feasible of an option
Itās a pretty great alternative to those who want something like a bottlehead in the eu, also imo the stock tubes in the h7 seem to be a bit better than in the h5 when I had tried them, but great amps for sure. You are correct in that itās probably going past the budget at this point
Although for some reason they donāt sell the cavalli amps on it
Hmmmā¦ I canāt find the Liquid Spark on this link. The only place I see the Liquid Spark is monoprice.com, not monoprice.eu. I think Iāll search the Liquid Spark on the list you linked like one hour ago.
Thanks guys for the help! Far better than Reddit, I shouldāve come here first 
Oh, right. I forgot to say something about the DAC too. Iāll be using my Scarlett Solo as DAC.
Cool, should be just fine and later on you can get a nice upgrade in the future if you feel like it
I noticed it too, sorry for the false hope, like @M0N pointed out it doesnāt sell the cavalli amps just the thx.
The Scarlett will do the job with all the amps
What did you like of the lake people compared to the aune? Because I owned a g109 and the x7s at the same time and comparing them in single ended the sound signature was pretty identical but the g109 was a little behind the x7s in instruments separation and balanced was even more pronounced. Of course everyone has is personal tastes.
@lafonte Ok I found the Aunes even cheaper and on a site from Romania: x7s for 260 euros, and x1s for about the same price. I see an x8 too for 265. Is the g103 really THAT MUCH better?
oh and @lafonte you said something about the Zen? I was planning buying the Zen for a long time, but then Iāve heard whatās wrong with it (weak DAC) and I abandoned it. I think there is no way you can use only itās amp. Am I wrong?
The ifi zen can is just an amp, I was talking about it. The ifi zen dac is a combo instead but is not powerful enough imo
Itās not going to be leaps and bounds over the aune, so perhaps the x7s makes the most sense in this case due to price and also presumably shipping. My main concern with the aune is that itās more impressive when ran balanced (which you would have to mod the 880 to take advantage of), and it is a brighter forward leaning amp which personally I donāt think the 880 needs more treble energy than it already has lol. The g103s is a bit more studio neural with a hint of warmth and smoother top end, which really helps out the beyers. Also single ended so no need to worry about wanting to mod. Detail wise itās probably similar, although spatially I think the g103s is more impressive. Dynamically I also think the g103s has more to show. Timbre is probably a wash
Have tubes been dismissed?
I guess a darkvoice or little dot could be an option, although personally not a big fan of those amps, but they are a cheap enough entry point into otl and would do the job fairly well as long as the stock tubes were swapped for nice nos. Itās just that with the dark voice or little dots you do trade some technical performance in comparison to some of the solid state at a similar price, imo hard to get a good tube amp at this price bracket
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I asked Thomannās Romania customer service mail how long would it take for an order to arrive. Hopefully theyāll reply today.
@lafonte Oh, my bad, I forgot there is a Zen CAN, which is just an amp. Actually, I can find the Zen CAN here at 160 euros. What do you think about it @M0N ? Itās much cheaper than the Lake People or X7s. Depending on what you think, Iāll probably include this one on the list too, so Iāll have 3 alternatives.
As a short history, I was mainly going to buy the DT770 250oms. I can say Iām a basshead since Iām a bassist, so I wasnāt really impressed by the idea of open-back headphones, because I wanted a subwoofer-type bass. Well, I aināt cRaZy for bass, but it seems I got quite used to it, since the EQ preset I was using until one month ago had pleeenty of bass (and I didnāt even know that).
Iām also an advanced pianist, so I said āWell, letās choose a great pair of open-back headphones I can enjoy classical music with, and maybe boost the bass in the EQ for other genres I listen to - metal, funk, rock, bossa etcā. (at the time, I thought I was ok using a Fiio K3, so no stress for the ampās price). Then I came across the so-known DT880 600ohm, and it seemed to be the best option for my needs (since Iām sensitive to treble, 990s would beā¦ a little too much). I realized that the K3 would be a funny joke for 880 on 600 ohm. So I started doing research for days, during which I was told by everyone to increase the budget. Ok, my budget became 300 euros, but I didnāt get along quite well with the idea of buying a 300 amp. I thought that maybe Iād better get the L30 at 140 euros (which people seemed to praise and absolutely love) AAAND someday satisfy my needs for bass with DT770s.
L30 (140 euros) + 770s (120euros) = 260 euros, so even cheaper than 300 euros.
I got so used these days to the idea of spending 300 euros on hifi (880s not included in the 300 euros range, Iāll buy them anyway), that now I feel the absolute need of doing so XDDD
Now Iām thinking of buying the Zen CAN and, besides the the 880, the 770s. This would be Zen CAN (160 euros) + 770s(120) = 280 euros.
So the question is: is the Zen CAN much inferior compared to the Lake People or the X7s? I mean, I could buy the Lake People/X7s now, save some money and buy the 770s next year, but Iāll have to wonder one year straight āhow great would the bass on the 770s be?ā
Also, I see an offer of Hifiman Sundaras + iFi Zen CAN FOR JUST 410 EUROS. But I donāt like the Sundaras, I hate that type of cups and bass is weaker than the 880ās AFAIK. I like He400iās cups way more.
Zen can? Itās nice but I canāt say it powers the 600 ohm all that well, even if you balance the 880 imo. You can tell it gets overly strained sounding, not really an enjoyable experience with the 880s
the bass on the sundara is way better compared to the 880 in quality and quantity, and the sundara is definitly a better allrouder compared to the 770 and the 880. The 880 is a good choice for classical music but with other music can sound not really great especially if youāre a treble sensitive guy. The 770 is a good closed back for the price a lot of sub bass and treble, really v shape is funny with good quality electronic music but the treble can sound really harsh it does really well compared to other closed back in the same price range in soundstage. I personally will choice the sundara over the other two if you donāt need the isolation and you can live with a pretty neutral and flat bass estension.
The Zen CAN amp really canāt handle hi impedance cans, especially in the bass, like iFi claims. If you want to juice the bass of the 880 tho, I can confirm that the Zen Dacās bass boost routed through a more powerful amp can get the 880 bumping pretty well. The G103s should do that for you.
I have more complete thoughts on Zec CAN here: š· iFi ZEN CAN Headphone Amplifier - #3 by WaveTheory