Generally speaking, are the headphone amps in receivers good quality? I'm probably going to get a receiver for $200-300 and I want to use my headphones with it at night when I can't use the speakers. Thanks!
Heya,
They're ok. Often better than cheap portable players. They have plenty of power behind them. No issue there. The problem is matching impedances. The output impedance of headphone jacks are generally
undisclosed in the manual, so you have no idea what it is. But as a rule of thumb, it's generally higher, so think 10ohms or so as a safety point when you can't find the real information. That means for proper matching, you'll want to use headphones with impedances that are higher. That doesn't mean it will sound awful if you don't. This is merely the sound science stuff talking. Generally speaking, I've plugged my lower impedance headphones into receivers and it sounded great. Was it as crisp, black background, no hiss, and energetic as a really good headphone amp? Not quite. But it's close enough that if you're not doing serious critical listening, then it's fine.
I see you're simply looking for a way to use a receiver that you already plan to buy for stuff, to power headphones at night when speakers are no longer an option. Receivers are excellent for this and it's why they all have headphone jacks.
For headphones, I think Yamaha makes some really good receivers that have silent cinema for headphones. Great way to go if you want to cover all bases.
It'll work fine with any of your headphones. Again, don't let sound science make you think you need to spend more money, as you don't.
Very best,
