I've never seen any comparisons between dedicated headphone amps and built-in headphone amps on amplifiers. I recently had a chance to compare an MG Head DT with the headphone jack on my NAD C-370 Integtrated amp. Same cans (Senn HD-600s), same music, etc. I expected the MG Head to be better because it is a dedicated amp, but I thought that the NAD amp beat the MG Head hands down. Better detail, better sound stage, better overall "karma."

Is this unusual?

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Actually, it is a bit unusual.......but not unheard of. In my experiences with various headphone jacks on receivers and amps (Yamaha, Carver, Pioneer, Denon), I've never found a dedicated amp to sound worse than the headphone jack. Since I've never heard the NAD amp you listened to, I obviously can't comment. However, I will say that, from what I've personally experienced, and what I've read here and elsewhere, it's rare when the headphone jack of an integrated amp sounds far superior to a dedicated headphone amp. What's surprising about your post is that it was the MG Head that was beaten, since it is generally regarded as one of the best amps out there for driving the Senn HD600s. Maybe you just got lucky with that NAD.

Or maybe you have a lemon mg head? Or maybe its just that you prefer the sound of your NAD... or maybe the NAD is really better...

Anyways, my Onkyo's headphone amp pales in comparison to my MG Head's...

Hey, how exactly was the MG head hooked up?

That's discomforting. I was considering buying an MG Head DT!!

Brett

Yes ! It is possible a received Headphone Jack better than a dedicate Headphone amps ! If it not only series a Resistor between Headphone and amps. Most solid state amps have better bass , better high but MId is not sweet as Tube !
So I have to upgrade MG-Head to become OTL mode in new Version. It will have transformers out and OTL mode both in 1 amps.

In case people aren't familiar with Joseph Lau's name, Joseph is the designer of the MG Head! Glad to have him at Head-Fi!

Thanks for the replies. I should have noted that the MG Head was hooked up through the C-370 as a pre-amp and the music was being played on an NAD C-541 CDP.

This has been discussed before. Some preamps (i.e. Melso SHA)and integrated amps (McCormack MID) are actually used as headphone amps. Some preamps have very good headphone outs. For example the headphone jack on my Adcom GFP-565 to me sounds better than my OBH-11/OBH-2 but does not sound better than my McCormack MID. Actually NAD has been discussed before as having relatively good sounding headphone jacks.

NAD prides itself in having a real headphone amp inside its preamps- no resistors or BS. I can believe that it could outgun an MG if you're not into the tubey sound.

The Melos is actually a vacuum tube headphone amplifier. The preamp was an afterthought It serves both purposes exceptionally well.

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It depends on who you talk to as to which came first in the design stage. Agreed that it does do both functions well.