Audeze EL-8 (200-E8-1113-00) + Beyerdynamic A20

Power & Sound

This is a very nice little amp. It has has plenty of power to drive my HD800, LCDX, and others. It sounds great: improves bass quality (tighter and little stronger), slightly attenuates upper range highs. There's not much too it so its easy to use. It's a well built and has a nice industrial look. For the price its worth the money.

Beyerdynamic A20

This desktop headphone amp is very solidly built, it weighs nearly 4 pounds and feels just like a solid chunk of metal. It is of course not portable and needs to be connected to your AC plug. It is just plain terrific in driving medium-impedance headphones such as my 250 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT1770 for which it makes a natural partner. I am using it with a Chord Mojo DAC set to fixed line level out at 3 volts and this configuration offers a highly immersive listening experience with a very dynamic and clearly delineated soundstage as it seems to tighten up the sound while preserving micro- and macro-dynamics. The improvement over driving the headphones directly by the DAC is real and obvious but not strictly necessary, think of it as icing on the cake – for perfectionists only. A power rating of only 170mW (when some other brands desktop amps offer a full watt or two) may seem week on paper but it absolutely plays loud enough and with sufficient authority -- certainly more than the typical USB or battery-driven dac/amp can provide. Highly recommended.

Rock Solid

This amp is rock solid. The sound it delivers is really clean and doesn't change the characteristics of the source much. It slightly takes the edge of highs and adds just a touch more bass. It isn't the most powerful amp for use with headphones like Audeze LCD-3 it is enough. It's a great combo with nice DAC.

Beyerdynamic A20

This desktop headphone amp is very solidly built, it weighs nearly 4 pounds and feels just like a solid chunk of metal. It is of course not portable and needs to be connected to your AC plug. It is just plain terrific in driving medium-impedance headphones such as my 250 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT1770 for which it makes a natural partner. I am using it with a Chord Mojo DAC set to fixed line level out at 3 volts and this configuration offers a highly immersive listening experience with a very dynamic and clearly delineated soundstage as it seems to tighten up the sound while preserving micro- and macro-dynamics. The improvement over driving the headphones directly by the DAC is real and obvious but not strictly necessary, think of it as icing on the cake – for perfectionists only. A power rating of only 170mW (when some other brands desktop amps offer a full watt or two) may seem week on paper but it absolutely plays loud enough and with sufficient authority -- certainly more than the typical USB or battery-driven dac/amp can provide. Highly recommended.