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Receiver headphone jack better than pcdp?

post #1 of 9
12/11/03 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
Well, I finally dug out my old Pioneer VSX-108 receiver and ran my Sony D-33 through it, and noticed that the headphone jack on the receiver sounded much wider, less midrangey and generally smoother than the headphone out on the D-33. This sort of surprised me because I really like the sound of the D-33's headphone out. And this was with the eq settings on the receiver set to zero.

Has anyone else come to realize that a receiver's headphone jack, even a cheap receiver, can sound much better than the headphone jack on some of their favorite pcdp's?

I'm thinking if it sounds this good, then it can only improve if I use a dvd player or something as my source instead of my pcdp. Not to mention when I use different headphones (looking to grab another pair of Grado SR80's soon....)

Anyone else come to similar realizations?

appar111
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post #2 of 9
12/11/03 at 1:42pm
I've seen that it's been written or should I say re-discovered on a regular basis on head-fi... the difference should be especially pronounced with high impedance phones.


The fact of the matter is that even the 'classic PCDPs' really aren't true audiophile material. They are compromise items, just like the iPod, Minidisc, etc. Some will successfully argue that they sound better than current portable sources... but the question of portability versus sound, really a re-iteration of the compromise point is still there with 'classic PCDPs'.


Any number of older CD decks of the same vintage or CD + receiver combination should be able to severely embarass even the most highly regarded of the generally available 'classic PCDPs'.
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post #3 of 9
12/11/03 at 2:31pm
Well, neither jack is ideal. I found the headphone jack of my receiver to produce muddy and distorted sound compared to the headphone out of even one of my mediocre PCDPs. And that's due to the receiver jack's extremely high output impedance: I had measured the output impedance of the headphone out on the receiver, and that impedance turned out to be almost 1,000 ohms! No wonder why any headphones whose impedance is lower than 600 ohms sound like crap from that receiver jack!
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post #4 of 9
12/11/03 at 2:48pm
Please delete as extraneous
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post #5 of 9
12/11/03 at 4:30pm
Any home receiver can easily provide much more current to drive headphones. Few P(whatever)P truly supply enough current to drive headphones to their full potential. Battery life would drop tremendously.

Some crappy receivers utilize a separate "headphone amp" while older, vintage receivers utilize the amplifier power output circuit to drive the phones.

Plug some 'phones into a Nakamichi 730 receiver if someone wants to hear "dynamics" and "slam".
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post #6 of 9
12/11/03 at 4:40pm
Quote:
Originally posted by D555
Any home receiver can easily provide much more current to drive headphones. Few P(whatever)P truly supply enough current to drive headphones to their full potential. Battery life would drop tremendously.

Some crappy receivers utilize a separate "headphone amp" while older, vintage receivers utilize the amplifier power output circuit to drive the phones.

Plug some 'phones into a Nakamichi 730 receiver if someone wants to hear "dynamics" and "slam".
On the other hand, most modern headphones will provide a very poor match for most receiver headphone jacks. When a headphone's rated impedance is much lower than the jack's rated output impedance, the volume output will drop severely, and severe distortion will creep in even at barely audible loudness levels, not to mention that the overall sound will become unlistenably muddy. And when a vintage receiver does utilize the amplifier power output circuit to drive the phones, they do so by incorporating resistors of very high values, drastically increasing the output impedance of such a jack! And the real reason for the poor sound quality of modern headphones driven from receiver jacks is largely due to the severe impedance mismatch.

As for P(whatever)P jacks, they have neither high voltage output nor high current output capability, hence they're "gutless".
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post #7 of 9
12/11/03 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 
So would it be safe to assume that getting a pair of headphones with a higher impedance, something at least closer to the receiver jack's rated output impedance would result in a better sound?

At first I was thinking of grabbing a pair of SR80's again to use with this receiver, but now I'm wondering if a pair of cans with higher impedance would be a better match. Maybe something like the DT531s, or the DT250-250?

Any recommendations?
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post #8 of 9
12/12/03 at 1:38pm
Hook up an old Stax SRD-7Professional to the speaker output and use the new Stax Pro-bias electrostatics.

Dynamic headpones can't touch it (in my opinion).
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post #9 of 9
12/12/03 at 1:59pm
Thread Starter 
if i had the money for Stax, I wouldn't be using a cheap receiver but I can dream.....
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