What goes into finding a solid desktop amp for your headphone?

It's depend you are using single eneded or balanced headphones and some AMPs offers both but balanced AMPs sound better and price range also come in acount too.

Make sure that the input matches your source and the output matches your headphones.

For example, a 2 Vrms source with a fixed gain of 5x is not a good match for sensitive headphones.

A high output impedance is usually not a good match for IEMs and many dynamic headphones.

Low distortion and flat FR is another thing to look for, and a low noise floor if you're using sensitive headphones.

There are also some amps with additional features like bass boost, crossfeed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperwill0 

I've been reading around and I feel as if I've failed to find a good answer. What are some of the things one should take into account when looking to buy a desktop headphone amp? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

It might help to know if there are any particular DACs or amplifiers or DAC/Amps and headphones your looking into.

And what source(s) your using?

Is the setup just for music? gaming? movies?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperwill0 

I currently have a pair of SRH 940s that I want to amp. I'm currently looking at the FiiO E09k, however I have read that the two won't make a good combination. I have also read that the 940s can acheive greater sound quality if amped properly. My source right now is my laptop, so changing sound cards is out of the question. I mostly listen to music, but I also watch movies and game.  

Your 42-Ohm Shure SRH940s would work best with a headphone amplifier with an output impedance that is 5-Ohms or less, the Fiio E09K is 10-Ohm.

Something like the Fiio E10 USB-DAC-Headphone amplifier ($68) would have a better DAC (then your computer) and a very low impedance headphone amplifier.

But you would only have 2-channel stereo audio, so no surround sound for movies or gaming.

Does your laptop come with S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) output?

There are external sound cards, but I'm not sure on their sound quality.

Read this thread. Its similar: http://www.head-fi.org/t/644978/the-purpose-of-a-great-amplifier

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperwill0 

Great, thank you for the suggestion! 

 

No, I don't think I have S/PDIF output. What does it do? 

The S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) is a digital connection that can pass 2-channel PCM (uncompressed) audio or compressed audio, up to 6-channels (5.1).

USB is a digital connection, but it's really only used normally for 2-channel thru put