Rega Ear: A bargain!!!

I paid £118 for this Rega ear amplifier....



It was brand new, and decided since I felt the Perreaux was not really for me (a bit too laid back and "tubey" sounding), and also the fact I felt the Perreaux couldnt provide the bass kick I like for my dance music with these power hungry Beyers (250 ohm, 94 db sensitivity / mW).

I felt the Rega Ear would be a good choice, since its designed for power hungry headphones like these; probably not such a great choice for high sensitivity and low impedance headphones like Sony's, as getting the right volume would be "interesting" to say the least - this thing has tons of gain. Even on my most dynamic music (where the normal level is set quite low for dynamic purposes), any more than 12 o clock even with these insensitive headphones would almost certainly cause my ears to bleed - I actually had to use my old Perreaux at almost full volume sometimes and even then it could be louder I felt.

It has to be said, I am very impressed with this little amp for the money. £118, and yet its easily capable of taking on just about any sub £300 design and beating it! (and before anyone says anything, I have owned quite a few more expensive amps) It has a strong sense of timing and rythym, excellent punchy bass, enough volume for even the most sadistic listener, good clarity, plenty of detail and importantly a VERY sweet sound. How they have achieved this kind of sound for that price when other headphone amps can hardly match it despite costing over double the price, suggests to me that they either have a REAL winner on their hands with this amp, or that other manufacturers are not offering good VFM with their amps; for example, the Rega Ear runs from a walmart adapter, and yet offers a very powerful, full bodied sound. Yet the X-Can v3 costs twice the price, does not sound as powerful or clean as this (or as groovy), and yet the cheeky bastards are going to charge £200 for an X-PSU to make it better. Its quite obvious that a headphone amp does not need a big torroidal transformer to sound good, based on this one.

Anyway, this amp is a bargain, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a headphone amp with excellent VFM and a sweet sound.

OK, thats enough from me, cue the bets on how long I will keep it... go on!! :lol: I aint gonna say that I am gonna keep it forever, but I still have no hesitation in recommending this amp, wholeheartedly.

 

So with the rega ela, and the rega Ear, how long till a Rega CDP enters the fray?

 

my bets are on a rega amp next. although you really should try a nait 5i though paul.
cheers


julian

 

I must admit I have no plans to change the Rotel at this time, it really does make the Ela's sing pretty damn well to these ears. CD players are out of the question though, stuck too much in my PC-fi ways.

So no plans on changing the amp just yet, but if I did, I doubt it would be a Rega because I never fancied the likes of the Brio or Mira, but then again they might be better than I expected. If I did change I'd probably look at the Naim, yes, but alas, I am not rich so that will be put on hold indefinitely.

 

looks good, pray tell where you got it for £118 i'm in need of something to drive my hungry 400Ω DT100's...

 

Lintone audio got it for me from Rega. Your local hifi dealer should be able to get one for you (Lintone dont normally stock them, but they offered to get it for me).

What a great little amp. I cant remember the last time I sat listening to headphone with a silly grin like I've got now.

 

sounds good i'll have to enquire.

edit: googled for 'rega ear' and your sig comes up on the first page

 

I've got the Mk1 Elas and Ear, and they both, err, rock The Elas can make the Senn 580s rock out as well - you might well be surprised how well Senns and Rega Ear work together, Paul

MikeD - who's the girl on the left in your banner thingy at the bottom of your posts??

 

Yep Paul's definitely going flat earth. I reckon the early pre-powers are the ones to go for for Nait 5 money. Paid about £425 for a 62/140, is the absolute nuts, much more oomph and more boogie than my mates Nait 5i, which I like but find a tad restrained. Mind you he's using it with Rega Alya's. They look nice but have a very forward bass light presentation, somehow they don't pull off the same stunt that the Rega Kytes do

 

I've heard about the synergy between the 580's and Ear, although the last time I had the 580's I found them not quite to my tastes - the DT531's are a lot like the 580's with a dash of CD3000 thrown in - that is, a bit more forward sounding with a bit more slam, and maybe a bit sweeter too - I've obviously not heard the 580 with the Ear, but you may be surprised by the DT531, Dom

 

If these Rega products are swaying me in that direction, I'd definitely say you were right - I cant ever remember music being so enjoyable and satisfying as it has in the last week or so....

I was listening to BP Empire on the Rega Ear + DT531 last night when it was late, and dark, and boy did that sound good, very, very good indeed, so good it in fact almost scary, and that bass!! ((((eek: ))))

 

she's the lovely Allyson Hannigan. she played Willow in Buffy, and Michelle in American Pie.

 

I'm still not sure if it'd really be worth my while buying a headphone amp for my senn 575s. I get a very good sound out of them from my Denon 3802, strangely they sound better through that than directly plugged into the CDP. I think I'm going to use my money to buy some large air moving towers instead

 

Might have to consider one when I buy another set of cans (I sold the grados), seeing as the S300 doesn't have a 'phone out...

 

:mana:

Hardly had time to glance at this forum for a couple of months, but now I do I see Paul's sold his Perreaux! I thought that at least might have been a keeper...

 

Martin, I thought you knew me better than that by now (The Sony's have gone now as well)

How are you enjoying yours?

 

Another pair of DT531's Paul?

Suprised you didnt ask to buy mine back!!

 

Only about a month after I sold them to you, I regretted it The DT531's are my only headphones now - I still have not found a pair that can beat them as all rounders. Comfort, great sound, and reasonable price, what more can you ask for?

 

ummm...

cables of a decent length?

 

True enough. By your standards you'd had them a good while though... A bit surprised to you trading it for the Rega, but I can understand the change since you moved away from the Sony's. There's no doubt the Rega is a quality amp either; it certainly impressed my humble little ears.

Sounding good thanks, although I haven't had much chance to listen just recently. I'm not going to be replacing it in a hurry anyway .