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Using a Home Theater System as a Headphone Amp?

post #1 of 4
7/5/11 at 9:13pm
Thread Starter 

Hi guys, 

 

First off this is my first post and I thank you in advance for allowing me into our forum. My question is that I recently got a pair of Sennheiser HD598's that I absolutely love. Currently I'm using a Pioneer home theater surround system amplifier with my headphones plugged into it serving as my headphone amp. It allows me to change bass/treble and volume entering the headphones.  The immovable factor doesn't matter for me, as my headphones are used exclusively right next to the system. So my question, am I losing anything by going this route compared to a headphone-dedicated amplifier?

 

Thanks in advance,

wanderson9


Edited by wanderson9 - 7/9/11 at 12:17am
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post #2 of 4
7/5/11 at 9:22pm

I was until recently doing the same thing you are, powering my HPs thru my onkyo receiver. I now have a Little Dot iii which is an entry level tube amp and I will say that they have a different sound and I do prefer my LDiii but the onkyo did a good enough job. The onkyo can even drive my DT880 600ohm which are not the easiest things to drive but they sound a lot less lively then the LDiii. I would say stick to the receiver if you feel that it sounds good already but if you have a lower end pioneer and it doesn't sound that great go ahead and buy an amp.

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post #3 of 4
7/5/11 at 9:44pm

I think the difference between amps is not so much in the powering as playing with different sound signatures. So while many would dismiss the headphone outs on a receiver or integrated, I would say it's not that important unless you have hard to drive cans. So if you like the sound stick with it and save your money. If you want to experiment go ahead and buy a used amp to compare and you can always sell it back. You'll never really know until you hear the differences for yourself, even if you don't end up hearing that much of them (they can be subtle). 

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post #4 of 4
7/6/11 at 2:05am

Yes you are missing a lot, but it all comes down to how much money you want to put into your headphone system for movie and music soundtracks.

 

You can check out my profile and get some idea of what can be done, and yes a headphone system for HQ MC ( like DTS HD MA 5.1/7.1) will blow away your speaker system, and for that matter most home theater systems.

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