Headphone Amp to pair with Gustard X16. Any recommendations?

[Silgalias]

Heya Folks,

I'm looking for a headphone amp to pair with the X16 that I purchased for my Speaker system.
My shortlist includes the Topping A30 Pro, SMSL SH9 the Gustard amp or a Schiit Modius or Asgard.
Balanced would be preferable as the X16 is.
My headphones include Sundara's, BQEYZ Spring 2 and Mangird Tea. Though with a good headphone amp I might add the Tinhifi P2 to the lineup.
Budget not over £300.
Listening mainly to Classic Rock, Metal, Prog, Punk and Jazz.
Has anyone tried any of the above pairings?
If so how did they gel?
Thanks

 

[Firefly00]

Heya Folks,

I'm looking for a headphone amp to pair with the X16 that I purchased for my Speaker system.
My shortlist includes the Topping A30 Pro, SMSL SH9 the Gustard amp or a Schiit Modius or Asgard.
Balanced would be preferable as the X16 is.
My headphones include Sundara's, BQEYZ Spring 2 and Mangird Tea. Though with a good headphone amp I might add the Tinhifi P2 to the lineup.
Budget not over £300.
Listening mainly to Classic Rock, Metal, Prog, Punk and Jazz.
Has anyone tried any of the above pairings?
If so how did they gel?
Thanks

There is an extremely low chance of audible differences between those, pick the one with the best features

 

[Silgalias]

I ended up going with the Gustard H16 as it has Preamp out, uses the same remote and is a match for the X16. As you noted the differences between all their measurements would probably not be noticeable to my ear and all would provide more than sufficient amplification for any of my headphones so it came down mainly to aesthetics.
I have absolutely no complaints. It is a great headphone amp and works wonders cutting out PC noise from my streaming by using balanced xlr cables between the X16 DAC and the H16 and then using RCA from the Preamp out of the H16 to the Pre In of my Willsenton R8 amp. Something that was particularly noticeable when going directly from the DAC. Especially when my son is playing heavy load games. Now all I can hear is a faint electrical ground hum. Probably from the mains or the plethora of PC, TV, Audio and console cables that occupy the dark spaces behind my TV.

 

[Firefly00]

I ended up going with the Gustard H16 as it has Preamp out, uses the same remote and is a match for the X16. As you noted the differences between all their measurements would probably not be noticeable to my ear and all would provide more than sufficient amplification for any of my headphones so it came down mainly to aesthetics.
I have absolutely no complaints. It is a great headphone amp and works wonders cutting out PC noise from my streaming by using balanced xlr cables between the X16 DAC and the H16 and then using RCA from the Preamp out of the H16 to the Pre In of my Willsenton R8 amp. Something that was particularly noticeable when going directly from the DAC. Especially when my son is playing heavy load games. Now all I can hear is a faint electrical ground hum. Probably from the mains or the plethora of PC, TV, Audio and console cables that occupy the dark spaces behind my TV.

Nice! I hear good things about the Gustard

 

[Dirty]

Heya Folks,

I'm looking for a headphone amp to pair with the X16 that I purchased for my Speaker system.
My shortlist includes the Topping A30 Pro, SMSL SH9 the Gustard amp or a Schiit Modius or Asgard.
Balanced would be preferable as the X16 is.
My headphones include Sundara's, BQEYZ Spring 2 and Mangird Tea. Though with a good headphone amp I might add the Tinhifi P2 to the lineup.
Budget not over £300.
Listening mainly to Classic Rock, Metal, Prog, Punk and Jazz.
Has anyone tried any of the above pairings?
If so how did they gel?
Thanks

The Schiit Modius is a DAC, not a headphone amp. Asgard is also a DAC, so probably not as useful with the Gustard X16. The Magnius or Valhalla may fit your bill. Magnius is a balanced headphone amp and would probably do a decent job at the price.

 

[M1nuteman]

After agonizing about what headphone amp to pair with my X16, I decided on an HPA-1 Headphone Amplifier from Tom Christiansen Audio. I have a pair of Focal Clear headphones that are colorless, which is a match to the X16 + HPA-1.

 

[Silgalias]

The Schiit Modius is a DAC, not a headphone amp. Asgard is also a DAC, so probably not as useful with the Gustard X16. The Magnius or Valhalla may fit your bill. Magnius is a balanced headphone amp and would probably do a decent job at the price.

Yes, I ment the Magnius not the Modius. I thought the Asgard was an amp though.

 

[Dirty]

Yes, I ment the Magnius not the Modius. I thought the Asgard was an amp though.

Well, the Asgard is an amp too. Also a DAC and a pre amp. Probably could work, not sure what or if there would be a benefit to using that though. I'd probably opt for just an amp myself.

 

[pickyAudiophile]

There are so many options..... Maybe the Geshelli E2, which should still be less than £300 with UK VAT included. But as quoted by @Dirty the Magnius should do the job satisfactorily.
Do you really believe in any audible benefits just by going balanced? Perhaps take the EL AMP II+ by JDS Labs or Geshelli's new Archel 2.5 X/XL into account, too...

 

[tvrgeek]

The Schiit Modius is a DAC, not a headphone amp. Asgard is also a DAC, so probably not as useful with the Gustard X16. The Magnius or Valhalla may fit your bill. Magnius is a balanced headphone amp and would probably do a decent job at the price.

Actually the DAC is an option to the Asgard. But not as well implemented as the Modi. The Asgard analog section , head and pre, is very very nice. They make 4 other head amps and about 6 preamps, plus their combo gaming units that add a mic input. The Asgard AKM DAC is just a hair too brash, which is why I ordered a D30 for testing. If buying today, I would have bought an Atom or EL DAC and Velcro'd it to the back of my monitor and skipped the internal DAC on the Asgard. I guess the little Andes box amps have fizzled out.