It’s the current that horizon needs that headphone amps don’t like. Tungsten love voltage over current so they are technically easier to drive with a headphone amp. Myself I use best of both worlds and have a tube speaker amp lol.
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I can only imagine how your amp sounds, but I should be able to drive either load with the amps I have on hand at the moment. My major tube amp purchase won’t be until 2026. One step at a time, but I am hoping I can swing picking up a pair of Horizons next year. I won’t get my hopes up for Tungsten any time soon. Lol
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Oh you’ll definitely be fine with the schitt mono blocks and if you don’t mind running load boxes you can get an oldchen tube speaker amp from AliExpress for $300. I have a few buddies that run them and can’t say enough good things about them after a tube roll.
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Well…, maybe a ZMF Aegis is 2026 provided that they continue production. 
That should drive most things well, according to the forums.
Super interested in that one but between my Euforia and Cayin I’m all tuned out for a long time lol.
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I’m running the Horizons on a DO400 and I’m listening at high gain, usually between - 10 to - 5 dB and it’s adequate. To gain more headroom, I will try it out on a SP400 with 5V out from the DO400 and see.
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My Horizon is on it’s way. Theoretically my Fiio K7 should be able to power it just fine since based on some napkin math since it needs only 1.3W to drive it to 120dB. But then reading this thread I wonder if I need to get another amp, since I feel that 2W of balanced power might not be enough 
.
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Lol I’m using 48w but I like overkill. In all seriousness as long as your headphone amp provides enough current for heavy bass notes you’ll be fine. My pietus runs them fine but I get more resolution and separation from my Cayin CS-88a.
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likely getting my Horizon in a couple weeks also got a deal on a secondhand Cayin IHA6, don’t think my Seranade would have issues running it but just in case 
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When will Horizon’s new pad come out? I think I should prepare to buy it.
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I designed a memory foam version that should be ready sometime next week.
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I’ve just received the Horizon. They are definitely tricky to drive, more so than the Starry Night.
Thus far, I’ve hooked them up to directly to my Fiio R7 (Super High Gain) and via iFi Zen Can/Zen Dac combo (on medium gain, too much distortion on high gain!).
It feels like i need something else to help drive them to get the maximum out of them.
Based on what I’ve read on this forum, the Schiit Gjallarhorn could be sufficient, but not sure how or what i would need to do in order to hook up the Horizons . For example, how would i hook up the headphones directly into the amp? Or could it be used as a pre amp for my Zen Can?
I would also be interested if there are any alternatives around the same price, unfortunately i haven’t got a big budget ($500 +) now I’ve puchased the Horizon’s!
Apologies in advance, i’m a bit of a novice as far as speaker amps/mono blocks are concerned!
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You use your headphone amp to preamp the Gjallarhorn, and you use a 4pin XLR female to 4 x Banana Plugs adapter cable. I am currently using my Mjolnir 3 to preamp the Gjallarhorn. I will post pictures of the connections in a few minutes.
Edit: right now I am using a single Gjallarhorn which is more than enough power.
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Let me know if you have any more questions.
Congrats on your new Headphone!
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Thank you for the information and pics, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this, which i found extremely helpful!
Where do i purchase the XLR female to 4 banana plug cables from (btw i am based in the UK)?
I am not sure if this is the same listing that I got mine from, but it is a cheap cable I got off of ebay which was recommended to me in this thread a while back.
There are also better constructed ones on Etsy, but the one I was looking at is based out of the US.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/953610078/adaptor-cable-speaker-banana-plugs-to?click_key=f81cab8398eb7729d3609e81e91a74953e612fa1%3A953610078&click_sum=205e9a12&ref=user_profile&frs=1&sts=1
Thank you kindly @MindBreak for your response, much appreciated. So begins my next (new) audio project!
In the meantime i will conduct some further listening using my current set-up.
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Talk to skedra from vikingweave cables if you want a very quality UK based cable maker. I have a few of his headphones cables and interconnects and the quality/craftsmanship is definitely worth the price.
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