[RobMal]

Hi all. I'm quite new to all this. I've had a Pro-ject Carbon tt with a Cambridge Audio SOLO pre-amp, a Marantz CD6006 cd player and a Cambridge cxa60 amp for a few weeks now. I mention this because I've just purchased my first headphones which are Sennheiser hd700 and I haven't got a clue with headphone amps. Do I need one or is my equipment sufficient enough, if I do need one how do I work out which one is suitable. Also do I just need a headphone amp or do I have to have a dac as well and would that have to be separate or is a combo ok. So much head work lol. I'm looking to spend between £100-£150
Any advice would be appreciated

 

[PaganDL]

Hi @RobMal,

Honestly, it all depends on you.

Given your Marantz CD 6006 & Cambridge CXA 60 both have head outs, albeit whether the sound is decent or not will it depend on you, how good your hearing is, your head shape, ear shape, ear canal shape, etc.
Have you used either unit's head out, by the way, with the HD 700 or any other headphone?

In general terms, speaker amplifier amps, if they have a head out, can lean in several directions, usually rated with high impedence & more a throw in thing than a dedicated unit unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer.
Saying that, while not officially dedicated, Marantz generally has a better track record for decent head amp units in their amps, usually with average medium impedence with some tuning so it sounds decent to good, though this will still depend on how good your source & source recording quality is as well, not to mention how all three will synergise to give you at least an enjoyable listening experience.

If you're interested in trying a dedicated head amp, there are so many choices available nowadays, it gets tricky to recommend unless you can demo any suggested as sound is highly subjective on top of said source synergy & source recording quality.
Regarding suitability will depend on you & which amp you are connecting it to.
Though for simplicity & common, easy connectivity with most head amps, RCA Out would be the best option via RCA cables as that is the main connection your amps support, to said potential head amp.
DACs just refer to the chip involved, not the amp itself, in this case, Digitial To Analogue Converter which converts the audio signal from digital to analogue & vice versa.
Saying that, some head amps also have built in DACs but keep in mind unless you're using your CXA 60's digital outs, the signal will still be analogue.
An even simpler foolproof connection is using either the CXA 60's or CD 6006's head out to the potential head amp, with one end of the cable terminated in 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm or dual RCA.

Some head amps I cam reccommend considering in your budget are Presonus HP 4, JDS Atom or Loxjie P20.
Out of the three, the only one I don't own is the JDS Atom though it is certainly under consideration as I have heard many good things though I am in no hurry to get the Atom.

Hope this all makes sense, feel free to ask more if you need.

Hope you have a great day !

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hi all. I'm quite new to all this. I've had a Pro-ject Carbon tt with a Cambridge Audio SOLO pre-amp, a Marantz CD6006 cd player and a Cambridge cxa60 amp for a few weeks now. I mention this because I've just purchased my first headphones which are Sennheiser hd700 and I haven't got a clue with headphone amps. Do I need one or is my equipment sufficient enough, if I do need one how do I work out which one is suitable. Also do I just need a headphone amp or do I have to have a dac as well and would that have to be separate or is a combo ok. So much head work lol. I'm looking to spend between £100-£150
Any advice would be appreciated

That's up to you.

If you like the sound of the HD700 hooked up to your equipment then might as well not get an amp. It has a high enough impedance anyway that it might not be that big of a problem on your equipment; though if anything there's a chance you're getting distortion, but a headphone amp not having that distortion might subjectively be worse for you. That said I had a CD60 and the headphone output worked fine with my HD600. Nothing like a Violectric or my Meier amp, but at moderate output it works fine and doesn't have the deliberate distortion my Little Dot MkII had.

One other reason to get a DAC-HPamp is the form factor but you're not using them on a crowded desk that already has a computer and peripherals and such on it so this doesn't apply in your case.

 

[RobMal]

I've not yet received my headphones they will be here in a day or two and I have no other headphones apart from some cheap wireless ones so don't know what it sounds like.
So basically it might sound ok if I want to improve get the headlamp.
The DAC is still confusing me though, do I only need one if my headphones are hooked up computer? Or is it when I'm playing music through Spotify for example?

 

[buke9]

The computer should have a headphone jack on it well most of them do but you will need a 1/4” to 1/8” “6.35mm to 3.5mm “ adapter as the 700 is terminated in 1/4” 6.35mm. What are you listening Spotify from?.

 

[RobMal]

I use spotify on my samsung s8 bluetoothed to my cambridge cxa60 and out my loud speakers. I dont hook up to the computer at all, occasionally use spotify but mainly listen to vinyl, I'm just trying to figure out if I need a DAC.

 

[buke9]

In your case probably don’t need a dac if your fine with the sound out of Bluetooth .

 

[Watagump]

In your case probably don’t need a dac if your fine with the sound out of Bluetooth .

Be careful around this troublemaker. He flipped me the bird, then decided to come to dinner with us at CanJam Socal.

 

[RobMal]

Awesome thanks guys. I quite like the look of the Loxjie p20 so I'll get one ordered.

 

[buke9]

I have yet to try the Loxjie and have heard some good things about it and it is pretty cheap.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

The DAC is still confusing me though, do I only need one if my headphones are hooked up computer? Or is it when I'm playing music through Spotify for example?

If the line output signal from the computer's DAC chip (ie the motherboard) isn't a clean, fixed, 2V output then maybe get a DAC.

I use spotify on my samsung s8 bluetoothed to my cambridge cxa60 and out my loud speakers. I dont hook up to the computer at all, occasionally use spotify but mainly listen to vinyl, I'm just trying to figure out if I need a DAC.

The CXA60 is your DAC in that scenario. You don't have more bandwidth for lossless files but you are bypassing what might be a less capable analogue circuit on the motherboard or soundcard.

Also if you use the TT then there's really no need for a DAC.