Will a Home Theater Receiver work well as a headphone amp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambusanna 

HT receivers put out a lot of power and they are huge, meaning they must be good. Would a HT receiver headphone out sound as good or better than a dedicated headphone amp? I feel like it should right? Like I said they are bigger, put out huge amounts of power compared to headphone amps.

 

I have a Yamaha RX-V367BL receiver. Will this receiver drive my DT990/600 like an expensive headphone amp?

The primary job of a HT receiver is to drive speakers. The HP amp section is pretty much an afterthought, and is most likely just an opamp circuit, nothing to do with the speaker amp at all. It might be OK, or it might be junk. It will almost certainly not come close to a dedicated HP amp.

BTW, since when does "lots of power and huge" = good?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambusanna 

Would a HT receiver headphone out sound as good or better than a dedicated headphone amp?

 

Of course a HT receiver will sound better. As you posted, just look at the size difference.  If you need more proof, look at the disparity in numbers of knobs and LEDs. duhhh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambusanna 

I get the feeling that headphone amps are wayy overrated.

I have several headphone amps that won't hardly warm up my coffee cup sitting on top of them, so you'll get no argument from me there.

A good receiver can drive a variety of headphones, there is no doubt in that.  However, it does not mean receivers are better than a headphone amp, in regards to purely headphones.  Sound is subjective, if you can't afford a headphone amp, a receiver is great to get, especially if you want to connect other gear like a turntable or speakers.  Like everything in the Head-Fi game, each amp, DAC, receiver can provide certain coloration of sound which some care, and others might not.  Size doesn't mean anything these days.

But, when it comes to its ability to drive headphones, you'll have to take a look at the specification, but they should be able to drive a variety of headphones with no problem.

Audiophiles lean toward separate components because of specific power requirements and control flexibility.

In addition to high power,HT receivers offer all-in-one electronics that may be attractive to people leaning towards the former.

Can you adjust individual channel imbalance on a set of vintage electrostats with an HT receiver?

Another analogy would be integrated graphics vs. a stand alone video card to compete in PC gaming...follow that?

Decide if you want to enter the world of "Home Theater" or enter the world of Headphones.

A home theater receiver would give you Dolby Headphone,if that is what you are looking for and will adequately power most headphones.

From a purist standpoint,separate,dedicated components bring the most to the table for your favorite headphones but are not a requirement.

I will often hook up to the HO of a 'Stereo' receiver for a blast down memory lane.

Take a look at these vintage Stax that I hook up to the speaker terminals of a 1977 Marantz 2285.

The source is amplified by the Marantz receiver to the Stax Energizer,via the speaker terminals(easy,because it powers two speaker systems) and then onto the fabulous Stax SR-X MARK 3. (or JH-13's out of the HO)

Hell Yea!