Scored & ranked
Every amplifier in the catalogue, in one place - desktop headphone amps and DAC/amp combos alongside speaker power amps, integrated amps, and line preamps. They are reviewed as the separate device classes they are (a headphone amp is never cross-shopped against a speaker amp), so pick the focused hub for your decision; this umbrella simply lists them all.
7 reviews published so far, scored against the same reference list.
headphone-amps Serenade9.3
HIFIMAN Serenade Review: One Box to Replace Your DAC, Amp, and Streamer
HIFIMAN's all-in-one R2R DAC, discrete Class A amp, and hi-res network streamer in one 3kg box - lush, musical, and powerful enough to drive almost anything.
speaker-amps Hades 12th9.0
Denafrips Hades 12th Review: The R2R Preamp That Changes Things
A pure Class A, fully balanced, true discrete preamp with a 60-step relay-based resistor ladder volume control - perfect channel balance, 0.00045% THD, 122dB SNR.
speaker-amps AD-1PA+9.0
Tonewinner AD-1PA+ Review: A $4,000 Class A/AB Beast
A 43kg switchable Class A/AB power amplifier paired with a fully balanced preamp - 100W Class A or 500W Class AB into 4Ω with serious bass control and golden-hued mids.
headphone-amps EF5008.2
HIFIMAN EF500 Review: The Cheapest Himalaya R2R Ever
The most affordable HIFIMAN unit to feature their proprietary Himalaya R2R DAC chip - 4.5W per channel balanced, network streaming, and a vertical tower form factor.
headphone-amps EF4998.1
HIFIMAN EF499 Review: A Real R2R DAC/Amp Under $300
A balanced R2R DAC/headphone amp with built-in network streaming for under $300 - warm, musical, and a serious one-box answer to the separates-or-not question.
speaker-amps AD-2PRO+8.8
Tonewinner AD-2PRO+ Review: Heavy and Powerful Class A/AB Integrated Amp
A 40 kg, 240W integrated amp with switchable Class A and Class A/B modes, neutral tonality, and the kind of dynamic headroom that pairs well with virtually any speaker.
headphone-amps EF4007.5
HIFIMAN EF400 Review: Entry-Level R2R DAC + Class AB Amp Combo
An entry-level Class AB amp/DAC with HIFIMAN's Himalaya R2R DAC, fun subjective sound, and a slightly soft character - underpowered for the hardest planar loads.
Go deeper
Curated shortlists and free calculators to take you from browsing the list above to a decision you can act on.
Buying primer
Every amplifier review on this page was run on the catalogue's reference loads (the HIFIMAN Arya Organic for headphone amps, the Triangle Australe EZ for speaker amps), fed from the Denafrips Enyo 15th DAC and Hermes 12th transport. Output is measured for clipping headroom into the actual load, not just the spec-sheet nominal impedance, so the amp's real behaviour at musical levels is what we score.
Power and drive
Continuous output into the actual load, peak transient capability, behaviour at the impedance dip rather than the nominal spec. Whether the amp can drive the catalogue's hardest-to-drive references with crest-factor headroom.
Tonal character
How neutrally the amp delivers the signal: solid-state transparency, the harmonic texture of Class A, the upper-harmonic spice of well-implemented tubes. Both transparent and characterful approaches can earn high scores; both have to be coherent.
Dynamics and noise floor
Quiet between notes, dynamic swing on demand, no soft compression on transients. Output stage noise relative to the load's sensitivity is part of the score for headphone amps especially.
Build and connectivity
Inputs (XLR, RCA, headphone outs of various types), output impedance behaviour, gain options, build quality of switches and knobs, daily-use ergonomics over multi-month listening windows.
Value and synergy
Performance against reference amps in the same bracket, and whether the amp's character pairs well across a range of headphones or speakers rather than being a single-pairing specialist.
How to read the scores: A 9.0 amplifier is a category benchmark, usually a piece that combines reference-tier power, low-distortion electronics, and a coherent voicing. An 8.0 amp is the top of its price bracket without being category-defining. The lower the score, the more specific the flaw: insufficient power for the load, audible coloration that does not serve the music, or build quality below the price bracket.
We do not score amplifiers by published wattage, by topology marketing, or by tube nostalgia. The rubric is built around real measurement into real loads and weeks of listening with the actual reference transducers downstream.
FAQ
Buying advice, terminology, and how the amplifiers category is reviewed on The Audio Stuff.
It depends on the headphone's impedance and sensitivity: a 600 ohm Sennheiser HD 800 needs orders of magnitude more voltage than a 32 ohm Audeze, and a low-sensitivity planar like the Susvara wants watts where a sensitive IEM wants milliwatts. The headphone power calculator gives the exact requirement from those two numbers, so you can match drive to the load instead of guessing.
It comes from three numbers: speaker sensitivity (dB/W/m), your listening distance, and your target SPL. An 87 dB/W/m bookshelf at 3 m playing realistic peaks wants far more power than a 92 dB/W/m floorstander up close. Use the SPL distance and speaker power calculators with your figures - and leave 10-20 dB of headroom for unclipped dynamic peaks rather than buying to the average level.
Class A runs hot, draws constant current, and historically sounded best at the cost of efficiency. Class AB is the mainstream high-end choice: clean enough, efficient enough. Class D used to be a compromise; modern implementations (Hypex Ncore, Purifi) measure better than most Class AB and run cool. The class is no longer a quality marker - the implementation is.
For most headphones, no. Single-ended is fine and often electrically simpler. Balanced amplifiers double the voltage swing on tap, which helps with low-sensitivity flagships (Susvara-class) that need extreme drive, and usually lower the noise floor a few dB. If your headphone is easy to drive, balanced topology buys you nothing audible.
A preamp selects the source, controls volume, and drives the high-impedance line-level input of a power amp - it provides voltage gain and a clean output stage, not the current that swings a speaker driver. A pure preamplifier like the Denafrips Hades has no speaker or headphone output of its own: it feeds a separate power amp, which feeds the speakers.
