[choka]

I guess the appropriate answer would be a YES, it can be used as long as there is a headphone out. BUT how good it will perform would depend on the particular amp involved. I have one of the cheapest Onkyo HT amp and I think I am pretty lucky that the headphone out performs extremely well with my headphones and I use that very often.

 

[beamthegreat]

I inherited the Denon DRA-CX3 amplifier/tuner from my dad today and it worked perfectly fine with my HD595. Thanks everyone!!

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by choka /img/forum/go_quote.gif I guess the appropriate answer would be a YES, it can be used as long as there is a headphone out.

Well, it can be used regardless if there is a headphone out or not. As long as you have a suitable headphone...

 

[Headphony]

A few old threads that might be of interest:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/usi...ed-amp-329395/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rec...plifer-175196/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/req...eivers-353333/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/hid...ne-amp-402065/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/bud...reo-amp-87913/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/my-...p-well-397215/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/do-...ne-amp-396833/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/bes...e-jack-385155/

 

[nickchen]

Lots of Beyers love those crappy high ohm stereo amps, but Gradessandros and ATs hate them IMO.

 

[CrazyRay]

I use a Kenwood KA-907 preamp (1978-1979) and a Pioneer SA-8100 integrated amplifier (1973-1974) as a headphone amp along with my Woo Audio WA6 SE.
All of them sound great/different.

I go back and forth between them depending on my mood.

All of them all more than capable of driving my headphones.

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrazyRay /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use a Kenwood KA-907 preamp (1978-1979) and a Pioneer SA-8100 integrated amplifier (1973-1974) as a headphone amp along with my Woo Audio WA6 SE. All of them sound great/different. I go back and forth between them depending on my mood. All of them all more than capable of driving my headphones.

No wonder, those Oldies were beautifully built and mostly had own headphone amplification circuits.

The "watershed" when they started to build those consumer amps with plain high ohm HP outputs was in the late 80s / early 90s.

 

[mypasswordis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickchen /img/forum/go_quote.gif No wonder, those Oldies were beautifully built and mostly had own headphone amplification circuits. The "watershed" when they started to build those consumer amps with plain high ohm HP outputs was in the late 80s / early 90s.

It's the other way around. The vintage receivers had headphone outs which were just the speaker outs with a resistor in series to keep the receivers from blowing the headphones. The later receivers put in cheap simple opamp circuits as separate amplification circuits for the headphone outs.

 

[nickchen]

Who is right now?

I'm no electrical engineering technician though...

 

[Drosera]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mypasswordis /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's the other way around. The vintage receivers had headphone outs which were just the speaker outs with a resistor in series to keep the receivers from blowing the headphones. The later receivers put in cheap simple opamp circuits as separate amplification circuits for the headphone outs.

Please, not this argument again!

Read this thread first:http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/man...-jacks-338299/

(The first post already tells you a lot of what you need to know.)

 

[mypasswordis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drosera /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please, not this argument again! Read this thread first:http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/man...-jacks-338299/ (The first post already tells you a lot of what you need to know.)

Please, not this lack of reading comprehension again! I never said all of them use opamps. Monolithic opamps weren't cheap and developed enough for widespread use in audio until the late 70s but really into the early to mid 80s.

(What I was trying to get at is cheap simple opamp circuits are worse sounding than running off the speaker amp with a resistor voltage divider, though resistor networks to optimize impedance matching would work better.)

 

[pp312]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drosera /img/forum/go_quote.gif What I actually meant is that a high output impedance usually has the effect of shifting a headphone's frequency response curve to the left, resulting in more (lower) bass and less highs (depending on where the headphone rolls off, of course).

To the left? Sounds like a square dance.

Actually I've never heard that, and I'm not at all sure the effect can be predicted so exactly. In any case the Yamaha's output impedance is 330ohms, matching well with the Sennheiser's 300 ohms. I wouldn't expect any effects from that.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Drosera /img/forum/go_quote.gif It sounds like you actually might be compensating for this effect by turning up the treble with the tone controls. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. )

The tone controls are flat; it's the variable loudness control which boosts the treble slightly, but at a higher frequency than tone controls, leaving the midrange untouched.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I have used my Mits DA A10 DC amplifier (100w dual mono block) to drive a pair of K701s once. I cut off the 1/4th jack (don't worry, the cord was mostly destroyed anyway), and inserted the appropriate cables in to the terminals. Sounded good but one must remember that the volume knob STAYS DOWN, otherwise you will destroy the phones and maybe your ears.

 

[pp312]

Just as a general aside, I contributed to (some would say dominated) most of the threads cited above, and started at least one of them, and after many long battles and much interjection from the gallery (none of whom had read any of the previous threads) it was pretty much conclusively proved that the vast majority of integrated stereo amps and receivers of the last 30 years powered their HP jacks through resistors from the output stage. That was a given, though it continues to come up with monotonous regularity. The argument then was what effect, if any, the relatively high output impedance of HP jacks might have on a given phone's frequency response. That argument is to some extent unresolved technically, but will certainly depend on the phone and its impedance. Probably the only true answer lies in anecdotal evidence: how individual users find the matching of their phones to the integrateds/receivers. The evidence thus far suggests that owners should not overlook their integrateds on the basis that a speaker amp couldn't possibly sound as good or better than a HP amp. Fact is, if we're to believe those who've tried them, they often do. What's more, they're often cheaper and certainly more versatile (in the sense you can use them with speakers, they have tone controls and more inputs). Only disadvantage seems to be that they use more power, which could be significant in this green age.

Phew! I hope this resolves the debate this time around, though no doubt it'll come up again. I've personally tried dozen of integrateds/receivers and found that the sound quality is entirely dependant on the sound quality of the amp itself, not its output impedance. Generally an integrated will have a slightly fuller sound, perhaps less tight bass, but this can often be advantageous. Certainly anyone with a higher impedance phone like a Senn 600/650 will be pretty safe buying a quality integrated (NAD, Marantz, Rotel) on the basis of reviews etc, just as they would for speakers.

None of the above applies to modern AV amps. Of those I have no experience.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

My Onkyo 9555 does a very good job of driving headphones. Full bodied and solid sound. I dont find the need to get a dedicated HP amp at home because of that.