Solicitation of Audiophile Opinions

In My Humble Opinion
1

Harrumph! Y’know, I almost never start threads. But the one time I wanted to, the board drops out :smack:. Hopefully it is not some sort of bad omen. Anyway…

So I am finally getting around to doing what I said I’d do a year or two ago and upgrading from my old Marantz receiver to an integrated amp + tuner. After fishing around a bit and auditioning a few different pieces, I had decided to go with a Creek 4330se integrated and a Creek t43 tuner. Nice, matching components - The tuner is adequate for my needs and the Creek amp ( 50w/channel for the beefier se model ) should be sufficient to drive my B&W 602s2’s reasonably well ( in case you’re not familiar, they’re large bookshelf models, 25-120 watts into 8, sensitivity is 90dB ) and I like the sound. However, the 4330 models lack a headphone jack. That’s a problem. Though I like my speakers, I listen to headphones ( Sennheiser HD600’s ) a good 60-70% of the time, for various reasons.

So, okay. I figure I’ll get an Creek OB-11 headphone amp at the same time, hook it into the tape loop and I’ll be good to go. However, now another thought strikes me. The Creek 5350se ( 85w/channel ) integrated ( which I haven’t listened to, but is supposedly very sonically similar to and even more highly rated than its little brother ) does have its own headphone amp. It’s also several hundred dollars more - But when you factor in $170-180 for the extra headphone amp, the difference is not quite as huge. The other intangible is future upgrades. At some point ( not this year ) I will likely be moving up to slightly better speakers ( possibly the PSB Stratus Bronze, which I’m fond of ) and I imagine the extra amp wattage would certainly be a help then.

So, should I bite the bullet and throw a few extra hundred into my amp now, even though at this point the extra power and refinement will probably be redundant? Who’s familiar with Creek gear? Does the standalone OB-11 sound better than the internal headphone amp in the 5350? Is the the 5350 perhaps a bit much for the B&W’s ( not overpowered, I realize, but in other ways )? Has anyone auditioned Creek amps with PSB speakers ( assuming I later upgrade to the Stratus series ) - A decent match?

Any thoughts welcome :). As it happens I have pretty much made up my mind while the SDMB was down, but I’m still curious if anyone has any opinions ;).

  • Tamerlane
2

The way I figure it, focus on the part of the system that means the most to you. If it is the speakers that mean the most, go for the bigger integrated. If it is the headphones… go for the separate headphone amp.

Remember, though, the headphone jack is likely to be a fairly standard quality component, not up to the same standards as the separate amp. Your headphones are probably pretty detailed, and might let any deficiencies shine through. Without a doubt, I’d try to audition the headphone jack beforehand.

3

Audiophile checking in here. I have found that upgrading in small steps is a good way to loose money. The smaller Creek will be fine for now, but if you are thinking of getting new speakers, (I used to have B&W 604s a few years ago, nice speakers!) you will want the bigger better amp, and you will only get 50% trade in on the smaller creek, if you are lucky.

In the long run it always pays to buy the best you can and upgrade less often.

Having said all that, if you use headphones 60-70% of the time, then why not go for a really nice dedicated headphone system? Put the money where you will get the most out of it. Like something from
http://headroom.headphone.com/layout.php

Also check out the used equipment at

and the forums at

www.audioasylum.com

4

Eh, you’re absolutely correct. I’m just getting antsy ;). Now I just have to find a Creek dealer locally ( a friend has the 4330 I tried ). Hell, maybe I’ll get the beefier integrated * and* a separate headphone amp. I’ll just skip a meal or two :).

That’s pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to as well.

I’ve considered getting one of their amps before ( that’s were I got the headphones ) and it has been sort of a nagging possibility. I think I’m going to try to audition a couple of models and see how much difference I can discern.

But perhaps the bigger Creek will be sufficient.

Hey, nice auction site. Thanks :).

  • Tamerlane