those nuances are what make the (audible) difference between such op amps as the ones mentioned above. i both enjoy and record hi quality audio the nuances of clarity, imaging, sound staging, definition, frequency response, are very much what defines the hi-fi listening experience from the day to day listening experience. 8 or 9 out of 10 people won't hear the difference, even less if you're not A-B'ing it to something else side by side. Regarding anonymous comment beginning, "the grado engineers are very smart." yes they are. A stock photograph the Grado RA1 is shown below. He purchased a pair of Grado SR225 headphones and a Grado RA1 headphone amplifier for use at home.įor those of you who are not familiar with the Grado RA1 headphone amplifier, it is well regarded, runs off of two 9V batteries, is housed in a beautiful mahogany enclosure and retails for about $350US. While he found that the combo was not suitable for his daily commute, he was in love with the amazing sound quality and decided to spoil himself. Not surprising, he loved the sound quality, but found that the Grado headphones were too bulky and leaked too much sound for use on public transit. He was stunned with the amazing sound quality, so I let him live with the Grado / CMoy combo for a while. He is the Walkman, Discman and now iPod type who typically lives with the factory supplied headphones until they die, replacing them with similar light travel headphones.
Lm386 headphone amp schematic portable#
The CMoy was a huge improvement to a portable media player and rivals the performance of the built-in headphone amplifiers on NAD C162 and NAD 1020 preamplifiers.Ī while back, I was showing off the Grado SR80 headphone / CMoy combination to a good friend. The results were surprisingly good, especially when you consider that one can easily build a CMoy Head Amp for about $20. The Grado SR80 headphones have an impedance of 32 ohms, so I built a CMoy Headphone Amplifier in an Altoids mint tin to drive the somewhat demanding headphones. I am very pleased with the inexpensive ($99US) headphones which deliver great value. A while back I got the headphone bug and purchased a pair of Grado SR80 headphones.