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Entry level headphone amp - better than Amp's headphone output

post #1 of 17
3/13/10 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone have an opinion, would en entry level Headphone amp such as a Project Headbox II provide any improvement on the headphone socket on my Cambridge Audio Azure 540A Amplifier?
Headphones in use are Grado SR 80i....
Or do I have to spend £300-500 to see any improvement?
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post #2 of 17
3/13/10 at 8:25pm
Hi Giles, I would suggest you read on the Musical Fidelity X-Can V2 or the V3. Although out of production you should be able to pick up on for about $175 USD or $250 USD respectively. Then if you feel adventurous check out the mods by PinkFloyd in the Rock Grotto Forum. The beauty of either of these two amps is that they work well with Grado, Denon, Senn, and AKG. Good luck.
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post #3 of 17
3/14/10 at 3:41am
Thread Starter 
thanks Miguel,

I will look in to it, they may be hard to find here in the UK!
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post #4 of 17
3/14/10 at 4:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GilesM View Post
thanks Miguel,

I will look in to it, they may be hard to find here in the UK!
Maybe not necessarily. Musical Fidelity is a UK based company. I suspect some of their product sales tend to stick close to home.
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post #5 of 17
3/14/10 at 8:04am
Thread Starter 
thanks, Ham Sandwich, I am looking at them now, interesting....
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post #6 of 17
3/14/10 at 8:19am
Thread Starter 
So, the V-CAN looks like a steal at £69.95.
If I can believe what I am reading this will 'open out' my Grado's sound.
I see the Grado SR80i have an impedance of 32 (is that 32 Ohm's?) and that the VCAN will drive these at an impedance of 5 Ohm's thus providing better sound and less distortion. Have I go the theory right? (assuming my headphone output in my Cambridge Amp has an impedance rating of 50-100 Ohm's)..
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post #7 of 17
3/14/10 at 12:17pm
The VCan is a newer solid state amp from Musical Fidelity. Some like it a lot, I have not listen to it to be able to comment on it.
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post #8 of 17
3/15/10 at 6:08am
I have the XCanV2 and although I consider it a very good amp for the price, I would not recommend it with Denons and Grados and, in general, low impedance cans (note: I have Denon D2000, Alessandro MS2i and ATH-W1000).
but with higher impedance cans (K501, DT880, DT990...) it is sure a good option.

I am curious about the VCan.

ciao
daniele
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post #9 of 17
3/15/10 at 1:43pm
Thread Starter 
There seems to be a lot of different opinions around as to if an entry level headphone amp will provide better sound than headphone out of my amp.....I guess the only way to really know is to buy one. Not so much in this thread but certainly other threads in the forum.

Still, not 100% convinced yet though, I feel a lot more research coming on...
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post #10 of 17
3/15/10 at 4:57pm
I think since those headphones are so easy to drive, a simple headphone amp such as a Cmoy would be most cost-efficient.

Your not going to hear a night and day improvement.
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post #11 of 17
3/15/10 at 10:15pm
Perhaps you should tell us what you find inadequate about the Cambridge 540A. I've heard that Cambridge amps have rather good headphone outs.

One thing's for sure: a Cmoy is unlikely to be better.
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post #12 of 17
3/15/10 at 10:56pm
Which version of the Cambridge Audio 540A do you have? I did a quick look at the manual for for the original and the V2 version.

The V2 manual says: The 540A V2.0 features a new preamp stage with buffered inputs for lower crosstalk and improved stereo imaging, whilst the headphone output is now provided be a separate Class A headphone driver circuit.

The manual for the original version doesn't say anything about the headphone out. It could be a real headphone amp or it could be resistors from the main power amp. Probably a headphone amp circuit if I had to guess, and that would be best for the Grados. Resistors off the main power amp can work fine for higher impedance phones, not ideal for lower impedance phones.

Do you know any specs on what the output impedance is on the headphone out for your Cambridge Audio amp? If it's nice and low then consider it good for the Grado. If it is high (say 100 ohm or more) then not so good of a fit.

As an example of impedance mismatch. My Mackie Big Knob has a headphone out with an impedance of 150 ohm. With my Grado SR60 (32 ohm) and Denon D2000 (25 ohm) the midrange is noticeably wonked. An odd sounding midrange. With my Sennheiser HD600 (300 ohm) the midrange sounds better. I'm assuming most of that is due to impedance problems due to the high impedance headphone out on the Mackie.
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post #13 of 17
3/16/10 at 4:32am
Thread Starter 
Ham Sandwich,

Right, so I have sent an email to see if my registered Amp is a 540A or 540A version 2 and what is the ohm rating of my product.
I guess there are 2 factors;

1) Dedicated Amp or circuitry or use of resistors from the main Amp
2) The matching of the ohm rating between the Amp and the Headphones.

If my amp is the original version then without the dedicated circuitry then a headphone amp (matched by ohm rating to the grado's) may provide an upgrade.
Also if my Amp is the original version and the impedance is way to high then again a headphone amp would be an upgrade.

So, as you pointed out, it all comes down to which version I have. I suspect it is the original, not version 2. If this is the case an ohm matched headphone amp looks like the way forward, if it's going to be worth it in terms of sound upgrade I guess there is only one way to find out!
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post #14 of 17
3/16/10 at 12:33pm
Thread Starter 
All,

Got this reply from Cambridge Audio;

"Dear Giles,

Thank you for your email.
If your amp says 540A v2.0 on the back, then it is a v2. Also, the v2 has Incognito multiroom connections at the rear.

The 540A v2, 640A v2, 740A and 840A have an opamp circuit which is much better quality than the v1 which uses a headphone circuit padded down off the speaker outputs, but in either case thay are better suited to headphones of 32 ohms impedance and above.

Regards,"

What a great service to get an answer same day like that. I really like Cambridge Audio.

So, my AMP is the V1 and so I would benefit from a dedicated Headphone AMP.
Now all I have to do is find the right one with the right impedance.

Thanks guys!
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post #15 of 17
3/16/10 at 1:45pm
Bummer about the headphone out on your speaker amp. The resistor network doesn't necessarily make for a bad headphone out. But it does make it more likely that it's not a good match with a low impedance phone like the Grado (a higher impedance phone would be better).

I'm curious about the V-Can. You've got good deals on it in the UK and being a UK company you'd be supporting the home team. A quick (very quick) search didn't turn up any reviews of the V-Can using Grados. There are mentions of the amp being loud (a little turn of the volume gets it loud fast). That can be tamed by using RCA attenuators on the RCA inputs on the back of the amp. -6dB attenuators was mentioned. Attenuators are generally inexpensive. The V-Can has a low output impedance. Looks good on paper. Proof will be with the ears.
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