Looking for a headphone amp? Use caution...

[zenith2134]

I sit here in front of my KA8100 integrated, which was working beautifully until I tried using my Little Dot MKII headphone amp as a preamp-a function which it is designed for.

I now have a blown right channel after the little dot sent a surge of DC into my power amp, causing the right woofer to propel outwards pretty far.

I am pissed off more than you can imagine. What a shame. I am scared it's gonna blow my Grado's next. This just isn't fair.

In any event i plan on digging in to see if i can fix this soon. Thanks for listening to my rant.

 

[hifi_nut]

That sucks, just don´t plug the Grados in till you have sorted it out.

 

[Stanga]

My sincere sympathy with your unwelcome setback.
I have been wondering about many of these so called head-amps for a long time. Having dismantled quite a few, many appear to be more of a small power amp. Some, like yours, are DC coupled to the headphone outputs. Call me chicken, but I don't trust my expensive collection of headphones with any sort of DC coupling.
Anyhow, look at the bright side of things. You got one channel still working.

 

[Citizen Gain]

Ruining a pair of Grados would be like dropping a bottle of your favorite champagne... No... It'd be like dropping the bottle on the button that launches a twelve-thousand megaton bomb on the vineyard.

 

[zenith2134]

HAHA citizen gain that's so true.

And yes one channel still works. Fun.

Did I mention this is the 3rd unit from them which failed for me? I don't understand.... It is barely broken-in.

Bad luck is following me around with these amps...I use surge protection, and never crank the amp!

 

[SpruceMoose]

oh man! the 8100 was my first decent amp, bought new in '78 or so. ran it for many years, never a problem. sold it to a co-worker for 50 bux, about 15 years ago. it was stolen within a week!

sorry for your loss...

 

[hifi_nut]

I´ve had an original Musical fidelity X-Cans Headphone amp for years and never had any troubly with it. I´ve know idea whether it´s DC coupled to the outputs, though.

 

[OneMalt]

I´ve had an original Musical fidelity X-Cans Headphone amp for years and never had any troubly with it. I´ve know idea whether it´s DC coupled to the outputs, though.

Same here. I've used a Grado RA-1 and a Headroom Cosmic Reference Series with regularity for years with nary a problem. YMMV, I guess.