Gadget: Hifiman EF2A Headphone Amp

I'm a young guy. I don't have any intention of calling myself an audiophile. My expertise in Hi-Fi audio is at the level of an apprentice at best, but I am on the road. My most recent obsession was how to get the most out of a pair of studio headphones I bought for recording. When I first got them, I tried them out with some favorite tunes but was never impressed with the output. After months of dealing with their lack luster performance I had an epiphany. What if the headphones were just under-driven? The drivers are quite big to be fully powered by a sub-standard on-board sound card.

So I went looking for a headphone amp... something with charm, warmth, enough power and still budget friendly. These filters led me right to the Hifiman EF2A Tube headphone amp. It was easy to setup, just plugged it in via USB and Windows immediately recognized it as the default sound device. And from there it's just a matter of leveling it correctly. This is an important note which I found after doing a little research. Amps don't like to boost overly weak signals, so it's important to max out the volume on the PC first, then use the volume control on the amp to adjust to a comfortable level.

As for the sound... I am more than impressed. I finally understand what all these geeks are talking about when they say "sound stage." With this unit you can clearly hear the stage on which each instrument resides. There is so much space and clarity in whatever I throw it at, it's as if I'm listening to all of my favorites for the first time. The highs are crisp and unbelievably detailed and the lows are accurate and hit harder than I ever expected them to on this set of headphones. Overall I couldn't be happier, and this is still an entry level setup so I can only imagine what the really high end hardware sounds like...

As an aside, if you get this amp, I would recommend replacing the cheap Chinese made tubes with some old new stock made in the USA 6AK5's. You can find them all over the place on Ebay. They're not that pricey and give the amp a little more warmth.

5/5