SMSL SAP-1 Headphone Amplifier Reviews | Drop

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SMSL SAP-1 Headphone Amplifier

Audiophile

FULL DISCUSSION

Infamy

Mar 22, 2021

Verified Buyer

Amazing equipment for the price

This is the first headphone amp I've personally owned - typically I've used the headphone output on my Focusrite or NI audio interfaces. I've tried my HD 6XX on a friend's valve amp before and there was a clear improvement, so I wanted to just dip my toes without spending too much. I'm really happy with the sAp-1 - my 600 ohm HD 6XX sound much fuller now. The revelation for me though was my 250ohm Beyerdynamic DT880s which sound like a different pair of headphones now. I always felt like they were just so clinical and thin, good for reference stuff but lacking any character, but now they feel like I always hoped they would - accurate (with Sonarworks Reference) but without the fragility they had before. I think I paid $42 US on special for the amp and at that price you couldn't really go wrong. Now in constant use. My Dekoni Blue Planars, on the other hand, don't really seem to have changed much when run through the amp. I think their impedance is around 50 ohms (certainly less than 100 from memory) so that makes sense I guess. I'm sure others can give a more informed opinion based on a much deeper knowledge of headphone amps but if you have yet to take the plunge like me, then it's pretty much the perfect starter if you've got any cans above 250 ohms that aren't quite living up to expectation.

Recommends this product? Yes

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mattris

1266

Keyboard Club Member

Oct 9, 2021

InfamyJust in case you hadn't learned: To be driven properly and reach their potential, the Dekoni Blues require much more power than the SAP-1 can provide, say, around 1 Watt per channel.

Oct 9, 2021