Tim, I tested amplifiers many years ago and I was shocked at how much louder, dynamic and improved bass they bring. This was over laptop and portable audio players.
The default output amp in these devices is designed for cost and power efficiency so don't have the oomph to drive these deaf ears properly.
My hope in starting this thread was that in the face of multi-thousand dollar headphone amps, to get some detail into what might really be required to create a good amp. Something transparent yet providing enough power to handle the difficult loads. To a layman such as myself it seems a simple task, a
good power supply and a couple chips or tubes and wah-la, you should have nirvana.
Indeed the market is swarming with units in the $100-200 range that "should" fit the bill?
But then we have the High End Audio market where,
Tiny thumb sized USB doogles like the AQ DragonFlys. Running on the clients unknown quality power supply, they cram the amp and DAC into a itty bitty thumbdrive. Then this product goes on to receive SQ kudos from everyone who receives AQ advertising dollars, including two "Product of the Year" awards from Stereophile.
At the other extreme are the $4k+ amps from Audeze, Pass, McIntosh, etc; that to me seem like monsterish overkill, though admittedly many are multi-functional devices. Mc's latest MHA 150 billed as a "headphone amp" is actually a DAC, PreAmp, Headphone Amp, and 50 wpc power amp all rolled into one. I'd call that a integrated amp plus DAC. LOL
There are just so many stinky fish swimming in the headphone amp stories of our High Fidelity world.
I was looking to separate the BS from the reality here.
Amir or anyone, without going into extreme detail, what pieces would you be looking to gather if you wanted to build your own headphone amp?