Amp capable of powering a Modhouse Tungsten

[staticV3]

No clue if I'm really missing out by not getting something higher end.

Absolutely not.

More volume is all that a new Amp could bring. Everything else stays the same.

 

[dl95]

Absolutely not.

More volume is all that a new Amp could bring. Everything else stays the same.

Yeah that's what I figure. I have no clue how people could say it doesn't get loud enough for them, I feel like how hard these are to drive is really over stated, I can get these loud enough just barely even on low gain.

 

[drewdawg999]

Looks like the newly launched Topping A900 is the new top choice to drive the Tungsten. Appears like they would make a wonderful pairing.

 

[orchardaudio]

Stuart Y. aka (@SIY) measured Valencia for AudioXpress. These are his findings.

 

[El_Arte]

Looks like the newly launched Topping A900 is the new top choice to drive the Tungsten. Appears like they would make a wonderful pairing.

The A900 is insane, I can’t imagine why Topping would make another headphones amplifier, but they will.

 

[orchardaudio]

Another 3rd party verification of Valencia measurements:

Orchard Audio X Zeos Valencia Headphone Power Amp Review & Measurement

[TableOfContents] Introduction Design Sound Measurements [End] [YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWQfadCaAqQ] Introduction Orchard audio is most well known for their class-D speaker amplifiers, but the Valencia offers a departure in both aspects. This is a powerful class AB headphone...

headphones.com

 

[Strumbringer]

I’m using the Flux Mentor with my DS Tungsten. An absolutely perfect pairing and powers them just fine.

https://imgur.com/a/XpcIop0

 

[Jiraya369]

The A900 is insane, I can’t imagine why Topping would make another headphones amplifier, but they will.

a cheaper a900 ofc

 

[Orbilius]

I’m using the Flux Mentor with my DS Tungsten. An absolutely perfect pairing and powers them just fine.

https://imgur.com/a/XpcIop0

I have a Flux FA-10 Pro that does a great job with the Tungsten and HE6SEv2.

However, I recently purchased an inexpensive banana plug to balanced connector cable from Alibaba to try speaker amp outputs for harder to drive headphones. I am testing an old Krell 300i integrated as a headphone amp via this cable with good results. I am using Roon with a -6db digital preamp output and am quite happy with the results. It would seem that some of these older high powered integrated amps could be a good headphone amp for harder to drive headphones.

Per ChatGPT, the Krell should be able to deliver more than enough power for any headphone:

Given the Krell KAV-300i is rated 150 W into 8 Ω and 300 W into 4 Ω, those two specs imply it’s basically voltage-limited (same max voltage swing), because:

• Vrms=P⋅R=150⋅8=1200≈34.64 VV_{\mathrm{rms}}=\sqrt{P\cdot R}=\sqrt{150\cdot 8}=\sqrt{1200}\approx 34.64\text{ V}Vrms=P⋅R=150⋅8=1200≈34.64 V
• Check with 4 Ω: 300⋅4=1200≈34.64 V\sqrt{300\cdot 4}=\sqrt{1200}\approx 34.64\text{ V}300⋅4=1200≈34.64 V

So into 155 Ω, assuming it can still swing ~34.64 Vrms:

P=V2R=1200155≈7.74 WP=\frac{V^2}{R}=\frac{1200}{155}\approx 7.74\text{ W}P=RV2=1551200≈7.74 W
Answer: ~7.7 watts into 155 Ω (idealized, based on its 8/4-ohm specs).