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Affordable Amp for Low Impedance FOCAL Headphones (and similar)


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Can someone suggest good AMPs to bring out the best in low impedance cans like FOCAL Elegia & Clear.

It seems not all amps are happy to work with low impedance cans like Elegia & Clear .

 

Clear - 55 Ohms

Elegia - 35 Ohms

 

Opinions ? Suggestions ?

Edited by peppy
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The Graham Slee Solo ULDE has an impedance sensing circuit so you can use the entire volume range properly. I use my Elear with it, which is also low impedance compared to most. It’s fabulous.
Mick.

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53 minutes ago, AussieMick said:

The Graham Slee Solo ULDE has an impedance sensing circuit so you can use the entire volume range properly. I use my Elear with it, which is also low impedance compared to most. It’s fabulous.
Mick.

Very solid advise - thanks

Very very good amp - heard it once a year ago on a business trip to Sweden.

cant find it here though ...let me see eBay or wherever - pls suggest if u know where to purchase from 

 

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JDS Labs Atom Amp has an output impedance of 0.1 and more power than the THX AAA 789 amp in single-ended mode.
I think that's a great match for the focals

Can someone suggest good AMPs to bring out the best in low impedance cans like FOCAL Elegia & Clear.
It seems not all amps are happy to work with low impedance cans like Elegia & Clear .
 
Clear - 55 Ohms
Elegia - 35 Ohms
 
Opinions ? Suggestions ?
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Very solid advise - thanks
Very very good amp - heard it once a year ago on a business trip to Sweden.
cant find it here though ...let me see eBay or wherever - pls suggest if u know where to purchase from 
 

Ask Keith (aka cheekyboy). He’ll see you right. Terrific human being and very helpful. He runs the Slee Loan programme in Australia.
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13 minutes ago, AussieMick said:


Ask Keith (aka cheekyboy). He’ll see you right. Terrific human being and very helpful. He runs the Slee Loan programme in Australia. 

Thankas @AussieMick. Just reached out to him...let's see what can i find.

Also another member suggested by Violectric HPA V100. Not sure how both of these would differ or address different purposes.

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1 hour ago, Farpun said:

JDS Labs Atom Amp has an output impedance of 0.1 and more power than the THX AAA 789 amp in single-ended mode.
I think that's a great match for the focals

Neither of those Focals are particularly hard to drive. JDS Labs Atom would be a great starting point. You might want a slightly warmer amp as the Focals tend to be very dynamic and a bit unforgiving and an overly analytical DAC/AMP (Like the 789) might be too much in tandem.

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JDS Labs Atom worked quite well with my Utopia and Kaiser 10, the Utopia is slightly easier to drive than my IER-M9. Better than Magni 2 and DragonFly Black v1.5 at least.

 

The Clear has the same sensitivity rating to the Utopia  at 104dB despite the latter having 80 ohm impedance.

 

Get the Liquid Spark or Magni 3 if you prefer sturdier build.

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Just now, feanorean said:

Neither of those Focals are particularly hard to drive. JDS Labs Atom would be a great starting point. You might want a slightly warmer amp as the Focals tend to be very dynamic and a bit unforgiving and an overly analytical DAC/AMP (Like the 789) might be too much in tandem.

You are correct. It needs a more 'warmer' sounding amp to tone it a bit (especially Elegia).

I have JDS Atom, but not overly happy with it. I believe Geshelli Archel PRO that I have is better than ATOM (may be not warmer though)

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Normally a warm sound comes from a high output impedance because it affects the bass hence why atom doesn't sound warm. Not trying to be negative or antagonistic but that's my understanding of warm sounding amps

You are correct. It needs a more 'warmer' sounding amp to tone it a bit (especially Elegia).
I have JDS Atom, but not overly happy with it. I believe Geshelli Archel PRO that I have is better than ATOM (may be not warmer though)
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6 hours ago, Farpun said:

Normally a warm sound comes from a high output impedance because it affects the bass hence why atom doesn't sound warm. Not trying to be negative or antagonistic but that's my understanding of warm sounding amps

Interesting -- what awesomely informative forum this is ...

I am looking at:

Violectric V100 (used)

any idea about this amp ?

 

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I haven't read anything about that amp before so I don't know much about it I'm sorry.
Maybe look at Burson Soloist or something similar?
Also Schiit Valhalla 2 has a low output impedance switch but it's not overly powerful.
Maybe something like that could make for a warmer sound?

Interesting -- what awesomely informative forum this is ...
I am looking at:
Violectric V100 (used)
any idea about this amp ?
 
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2 hours ago, AussieMick said:

The Slee Solo ULDE is renowned for its “tube like” nature, despite being solid state.

Dude - as much as I love the sound (I tested once) but its $1100 ...out of my budget :(

But thanks heaps for reminding me of this beautiful device.

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