Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › Is a preamp powerful enough to drive headphones? (Monarchy Model 22C)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Is a preamp powerful enough to drive headphones? (Monarchy Model 22C)

post #1 of 9
11/9/11 at 9:10am
Thread Starter 

Hi,


I recently bought a Monarchy model 22c, and it is due to arrive late December. http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/monarchy_22c_followup.htm (In case you're unfamiliar with it)

I was wondering if the Monarchy's built-in pre-amp is enough to drive Ultrasone pro2900 and Audeze LCD-2?

The reason for my question is that I want to run my headphones through a balanced setup, and so before I spend a lot of money on a balanced amp, I'd like to know if the Monarchy's preamp is powerful enough to drive these headphones well. My seller told me that it should be and he's heard of owners doing so, but he's never tried it, as he's always had a balanced amp at hand. Any input would be much appreciated, as I'm rather poorly versed in terms of dedicated sources and amps.

Reply
post #2 of 9
11/9/11 at 12:50pm

Some preamps are, but unless someone has tested it or the manufacturer states that it does, it's hard to know for sure.

Reply
post #3 of 9
11/9/11 at 1:03pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah, the thing is I can't find any specifications online. I'm afraid that the preamp will be two powerful, since the Monarchy wasn't really made with headphones in mind.

Reply
post #4 of 9
11/9/11 at 1:17pm

The problem is the other way around, will it have enough power, preamps a basically voltage amplifiers, most headphones require current more then voltage.

Another concern is output impedance.

 

The only preamps, without headphone outs, I know of that can drive headphones are the Aragon's (excluding 24k).

Reply
post #5 of 9
11/9/11 at 1:21pm

Another problem is that preamp's are designed to drive impedance's in the 47-100kohm range, much much higher then headphones.

Reply
post #6 of 9
11/9/11 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 

Well, with power I meant the product of voltage and current. In any case, if you factor in the resistance of the headphone vs speakers, everything becomes rather unknown, right? The person who sold me the Monarchy told me that he's heard of owners using it to amp headphones with a RCA adapter. I didn't inquire any further on the matter, so I'm not sure if he had more information. I just pmed him. I hope he'll have something useful to say. 

 

On another note, would a Little Dot mvii+ impede the performance of the Monarchy Model 22c? The Monarchy is obviously of higher tier, but would the net result improve by a lot if I went for a more expensive balanced ss amp?

 

 

Reply
post #7 of 9
11/9/11 at 1:58pm

I will deliver a lot of voltage, that's what a preamp does, it will probably also have enough gain to achieve high volumes.

Yes it's hard to predict how a preamp will behave when driving low impedance's, since few preamp's have been designed to do so.

 

It's important to know what the output impedance of that 22C is, if it is low (under 10-20 ohms) chances are it will drive headphones, it's also important to know if it's direct coupled or not.

I think it should be able to drive headphones if it is direct coupled, has an output impedance below 20 ohms, a big power supply and high bias/idle current (class A).

Reply
post #8 of 9
11/9/11 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 

Thank you very much! 

I'll contact Monarchy directly to see what the specifications are. Moreover, if the Monarchy does meet the perimeters you mentioned, will it mean that I wouldn't experience any sonic gains with high quality balanced amp?

 

Also, what cabling would I need to hook up SE and balanced headphone plugs? Could you provide some links? Here's a picture of the 22c's backside: http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/image.php?image=1628961&is_user=0

Cheers

 

Reply
post #9 of 9
11/9/11 at 2:40pm

Who knows, if the Monarchy is very good at driving headphones, you might need a very expensive amp to beat it, it all depends.

 

The Monarchy has both balanced and single ended outputs, the balanced outputs will most likely provide twice the voltage output as the single ended ones.

 

This would work for the single ended RCA outputs:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5mm-1-8-stereo-female-mini-jack-2-male-RCA-adapter-/180439984158?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a030fa81e

 

As for the balanced outputs, I'm not so sure, someone who has experience with balanced gear will be able to answer that, you may need to recable your cans for that.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Dedicated Source Components
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Dedicated Source Components › Is a preamp powerful enough to drive headphones? (Monarchy Model 22C)