Hi-Fi Amps

You should be answering that question, since you're the owner of the 6003. I used my Senn 650s with a 5003 with great results, and the 6003 is a better amp. However, it's just possible the lower impedance of the AT could slightly complicate things (though in my experience it generally doesn't). Truth is, if it sounds good to you it is good. Try it and let us all know.

Why do you guess that? They are a substitute for a headphone amp is what I'm saying.

Amps really depend on the headphones. Some headphones need a good dose of power and some don't.

Right.  The PM6003 does not offer a very powerful headphone out - 160mW at 32 ohms, according to the manual.  That will mean you will want a pretty efficient headphone to be paired with it.  Fortunately, your AD700 is a very efficient headphone. 

 

There are some integrated amps and receivers that offer MUCH more power that than from their headphone outs.  Again, the sound from the PM6003 may be great with efficient headphones, though.

 

Though I'm not equipped to challenge it on a technical level, I'm suspicious of that figure. The output will be determined by the value of the output resistor, and I can think of no reason why Marantz should limit output more than any other manufacturer. Plus I've owned a lot of Marantz amps and never noticed a lack of output; the problem is usually that there's so much output it's hard to get accurate channel tracking with the volume control at such a low setting. I'd like someone with some technical knowledge in this area to chime in here.  

That is the figure provided by Marantz itself. I've no way of knowing the validity, but why would Marantz deliberately UNDERSTATE the output?

 

FWIW 160mw @32ohn is pretty well consistently with most modern dedicated headphone amps so theres really nothing too fishy in these waters.

Edited by scottiebabie - 4/9/11 at 8:45pm

I'll say no more about the output figure, but I would say for a virtual certainty that the 6003 HP out is powered from the main amp through resistors and does not use a dedicated HP amp. If it does, it's a major departure for Marantz.  

pp312 do you have a theory as to why Marantz would quote such a figure if it's not right?

 

BTW I don't have a dog in this hunt - I am using integrated amps and receivers almost exclusively these days to drive headphones, between my Leben, Decware, and my vintage receivers.  So It would be cool if that Marantz's headphone out was a good one.  But Marantz's own specs don't make it seem very powerful.

Edited by Skylab - 4/10/11 at 7:15am

 

If it's a virtual certain that there's no separate headout opamp circuit & marantzs specs isn't a misprint, then there's atleast 2 other ways to skin this cat. The headout is either taken off a separate secondary winding off the main trafo -ala Leben- or the main out is run thru a rather more intricate network of series & parallel resistors to step down both voltage & output Z.

The usual method of using a couple of series resistor of the main out cannot account for both low output AND low Z otherwise.

I choose option 2.

 

What's my prize?

LOL unfortunetely no prize for u yet sonny as i still think its just a cheap opamp headphone out. inquiring minds await with abated breaths for u to access a schematic of said unit to see for yourself if u do win a case of slap-yo-ass-silly for choosing correctly! goodluck