[Jbucla2005]

I am using a headphone amp as a preamp / line stage to warm up the sound before it gets to the power amp for my speakers. I have tried with and without using the amp in the chain and can’t decide whether I prefer the sound with just the power amp, or with both the preamp and power amp together. I realize it’s not ideal to add another gain stage and volume control but it seems to warm up the sound and add some body.

setup:

MHDT Labs Havana with Tung Sol 6SN7
Whammy headphone amp
SMSL SA-36A amp
DIY full range driver speakers

 

[Jbucla2005]

I am using a headphone amp as a preamp / line stage to warm up the sound before it gets to the power amp for my speakers. I have tried with and without using the amp in the chain and can’t decide whether I prefer the sound with just the power amp, or with both the preamp and power amp together. I realize it’s not ideal to add another gain stage and volume control but it seems to warm up the sound and add some body.

setup:

MHDT Labs Havana with Tung Sol 6SN7
Whammy headphone amp
SMSL SA-36A amp
DIY full range driver speakers

I realized I needed to get rid of the extra gain stage so I removed the headphone amp and used a different power amp with
Home made passive pre and it sounds better.