CD player to headphone amp
Apr 10, 2013 at 10:40 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 5

georgelai57

Headphoneus Supremus
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Is it possible to connect the RCA Out on a CD player like the NAD C515BEE to a headphone amp? In addition, are there CD players with two pairs of RCA Outs and that allow you to flip between RCA Out to say that headphone amp and an integrated amp? Thanks.
 
Apr 10, 2013 at 10:43 PM Post #2 of 5
yes it is possible and your headphone amp should have an RCA in. If it has a 3.5 mm line in then just use an RCA to 3.5 mm adaptor.
 
yes there are cd players with multiple outputs.
 
Apr 10, 2013 at 11:01 PM Post #3 of 5
yes it is possible and your headphone amp should have an RCA in. If it has a 3.5 mm line in then just use an RCA to 3.5 mm adaptor.

yes there are cd players with multiple outputs.
Hi, thanks for the prompt reply. Cheers
 
Apr 10, 2013 at 11:13 PM Post #4 of 5
Aside from multiple outputs from a CDP, doesn't your integrated amplifier/preamplifier have a tape loop? That's basically just the input connected to an output jack. Other amplifiers have either a tape loop, or as is more common, a preamp output, so using a dedicated power amp, or if your integrated amp has a power amp-preamp bypass input, would be an option.

Also, multiple outputs on the same CDPs are usually not the same kind of output. Back when many CDPs had their own headphone drivers (and the amps didn't) one RCA pair was a preamp output controlled by the potentiometer on the headphone amp. Nowadays one set might be Balanced XLR, or as in tube CDPs, a solid state output that either bypasses the tube stage (in which case the tubes really just add color after the chip analog output stage, usually op-amps as rollable as the tubes), or it really has an option between two output stages. I've seen a few that have all three but can't recall what brands, and as far as I remember from users, they mostly use the SS output for when they haven't replaced broken tubes yet; XLRs almost never, but that's with speaker set-ups. Given you can probably find a headphone amp with XLR inputs at a lower price than balanced speaker amps, one with deep pockets could conceivably use such a player on a speaker system then hook up something like a Mjolnir via XLR for when headphones would be more appropriate, like late at night.
 
Apr 10, 2013 at 11:51 PM Post #5 of 5
Aside from multiple outputs from a CDP, doesn't your integrated amplifier/preamplifier have a tape loop? That's basically just the input connected to an output jack. Other amplifiers have either a tape loop, or as is more common, a preamp output, so using a dedicated power amp, or if your integrated amp has a power amp-preamp bypass input, would be an option.


Also, multiple outputs on the same CDPs are usually not the same kind of output. Back when many CDPs had their own headphone drivers (and the amps didn't) one RCA pair was a preamp output controlled by the potentiometer on the headphone amp. Nowadays one set might be Balanced XLR, or as in tube CDPs, a solid state output that either bypasses the tube stage (in which case the tubes really just add color after the chip analog output stage, usually op-amps as rollable as the tubes), or it really has an option between two output stages. I've seen a few that have all three but can't recall what brands, and as far as I remember from users, they mostly use the SS output for when they haven't replaced broken tubes yet; XLRs almost never, but that's with speaker set-ups. Given you can probably find a headphone amp with XLR inputs at a lower price than balanced speaker amps, one with deep pockets could conceivably use such a player on a speaker system then hook up something like a Mjolnir via XLR for when headphones would be more appropriate, like late at night.

I didn't know how to use the tape loop. Now I do. Thanks.

Basically I hardly use my CDs anymore having ripped them all to MP3 (128 to Lossless). Sometimes when I listen to a 128 track I wonder how much better the CD might be. So there and then I'd like to pop the CD into a player (not the PC) and hear the same song through the same headphone amp and the same headphone.

Thanks
 

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