[Circuitbender]

Hey guys,
 
Alright, so I'm not new to electronics, nor to audio, but there is something I've never really understood. If you are amping the audio coming out of a portable source (for now let's just say an iPod), how could the quality possibly be better than plugging the headphone straight into the source? I'm not talking about line-out here, I'm talking about taking the regular, amped, analogue signal coming out from the 3.5mm on the iPod, putting it into an amp, and then listening to that amped output with headphones. You're still getting the lower-quality DAC and amp in the iPod, and you're taking that crappy output and essentially making it louder. I always thought garbage in, garbage out, however, it seems that's not the case. Please explain?
 
Also, not trolling or joking. I'm completely serious, and confused.
 
Thanks,
Mark

 

[Nebby]

IMO, you should provide what you saw/read/experienced that prompted you to post this question, otherwise it looks very strongly like trolling or joking.
 
As a general example, if you have a difficult to drive headphone that is completely overwhelming the built-in amp of a mp3 player, it's plausible that taking the amp out of the and sourcing that into another amp would be better than no amp.

 

[Circuitbender]

Thank you for the prompt reply.
 
I don't have any specific example I can refer to, but I've definitely read it on this and many other forums. Usually I would take things read online with a grain of salt but in this case the opinion seems to be so prevalent that I became curious.
 
That makes sense, would that be the only situation where amping straight out of a lower-quality output would increase SQ?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Using the headphone out on a portable source to feed an amp powering a headphone with too high or too low impedance is a lot like using a Musical Fidelity or Burson buffer between a CD player and an integrated amp from two different manufacturers. Primarily, it deals with impedance issues. Although personally, if it's just that, then I'd rather use a headphone that's easier on my portable source, or use the line out. My iPod Video sucks on 16ohm IEMs and on 300ohm cans, but of course, I need the IEMs on the move. But if I don't have some sort of bag (like a cam bag or a messenger bag for other stuff) I don't bring the amp and just keep the volume below bass-distortion levels. The isolation's good enough anyway.

 
Quote:

Thank you for the prompt reply.
 
I don't have any specific example I can refer to, but I've definitely read it on this and many other forums. Usually I would take things read online with a grain of salt but in this case the opinion seems to be so prevalent that I became curious.
 
That makes sense, would that be the only situation where amping straight out of a lower-quality output would increase SQ?