[OCD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

Hello,
This is my first post here. I am looking for a headphone amp that will allow me to use two headphones at the same time. I don't know anything about amps. If it would be better to get an amp/dac combo then I can go that route if it doesn't cost too much. I can spend around $350 USD. I want good sound quality (if that is possible in my budget). I have an emu 1212m soundcard and shure srh840/audio-technica m50 headphones. The 1212m has balanced 1/4" outputs and from what I understand decent analog output. I'm currently using a presonus hp4 amp, but just want to upgrade to something better. I don't care about portability since I listen to music at my computer mostly.

I really do want to have the ability to use two headphones at the same time, since my ol'lady likes to listen too sometimes.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Drubbing]

Find an amp with two headphone outs.

I was given one of these a while back.

YULONG HEF188 hi-end Headphone Amplifier : hi-end headphone amplifier

Not a top end amp by any means, you could get better if you've got $350 to spend. Some threads on here have given it a hard time, but they were comparing it to the Lehmann that it is a clone of, and sort of expecting it to be as good, but the Lehmann costs 10X as much.

I've found it fine, if lacking midrange - and some of that really depends on what you pair it up with.

 

[elwappo99]

I have a x-head from av123. Pretty good solid amp, gives a great life to any stringed instruments. Can drive my hd650 without any problems.

http://www.av123.com/index.php?page=...hk=1&Itemid=37



If you're interested, I could sell mine for a lot less, I really don't use it too much anymore.

 

[FallenAngel]

Amazon.com: 1/4" (6.3mm) Stereo Headphone Splitter 1 Male To 2 Female Free Shipping: Electronics
Congratulations, I just saved you $345 - use it with whatever amp you want. This is exactly what happens in all headphone amps - simple splitter.

As for listening with 2 headphones at once, unless you want to have funky impedance matching, you must use 2 identical headphones.

 

[RayfromTX]

P R O - J E C T

here ya go.

 

[Big Werm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Amazon.com: 1/4" (6.3mm) Stereo Headphone Splitter 1 Male To 2 Female Free Shipping: Electronics Congratulations, I just saved you $345 - use it with whatever amp you want. This is exactly what happens in all headphone amps - simple splitter. As for listening with 2 headphones at once, unless you want to have funky impedance matching, you must use 2 identical headphones.

Ha ha! That is exactly right. But if you still want to go down this expensive road, I know HeadRoom makes amps with 2 headphone outputs. Otherwise if you have a few grand lying around Grace and Benchmark also have 2 headphone outputs.

 

[OCD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

Thanks a lot,

It looks like, in my budget, that if I get a single headphone amp and use a splitter, then I will get maybe a better product. Can I damage the amp by using both the Audio Technica m50 and Shure SRH840, or are these headphones close enough in impedance to not cause a problem?

I did a search and found that the Head-Direct EF1/EF2 and Ibasso d10 might work well with the shure's. Should I get one of these amps or something else?

 

[Currawong]

I'd just go the headphone splitter and two identical pairs of headphones and see how that works out.

I will throw in here that the Audio-gd C2C can likely be ordered with 2 headphone jacks, as there are points for two on the board and enough room on the front panel. After shipping it's a bit over budget though. It's rather overkill for such a cheap source though.

 

[darlim]

XcanV8p. It over ur budget. But more choices for your consideration

 

[OCD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

Yeah, I, also, agree that my source isn't the best; I'll upgrade that in the near future, too. But since I am upgrading my amp I want to spend the money right the first time and get something that I will be happy with for years to come. So, If I up my budget to around ~$500 USD then what amp or 'amp/dac combo' would be good for the headphones that I am using.

 

[socrates63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can I damage the amp by using both the Audio Technica m50 and Shure SRH840, or are these headphones close enough in impedance to not cause a problem?

No, you're not going to damage the amp.

I suggest that you try your two headphones with your current amp and see whether they produce similar volume levels without adjusting the volume using the amp. If the two headphones have similar volume levels, then you're OK. If one is much quieter than the other using the same volume output level on the amp, then you should consider getting a second pair of one of the headphones.

 

[OCD,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socrates63 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, you're not going to damage the amp. I suggest that you try your two headphones with your current amp and see whether they produce similar volume levels without adjusting the volume using the amp. If the two headphones have similar volume levels, then you're OK. If one is much quieter than the other using the same volume output level on the amp, then you should consider getting a second pair of one of the headphones.

Thanks, the m50's and the srh840's have about the same volumes.

 

[FallenAngel]

While the headphones are actually pretty similar in specs at 1K, no headphone is has matched impedance across all frequencies and once you start mixing different headphones with different impedance graphs, they'll start affecting how the other sounds when run in parallel. With identical headphones, this is nor an issue, with different ones, it is (or at least can be).

SRH840 : 44R, 108dB/mW @ 1K
M50 : 38R, 99dB/mW @ 1K

 

[Ham Sandwich]

If you're using two different headphones you will want an amp that has separate volume controls for each headphone and separate amp circuitry for each headphone. That means a studio style headphone distribution amp similar to your Presonus or one of the few hi-fi headphone amps that do two volume controls. And in the case of the hi-fi amps you'll need to make sure that they actually use separate amp circuitry for each headphone rather than just splitting off from a single amp.

My headphone amp (AV123 x-head) has two headphone jacks. If I plug in two identical headphone it works wonderfully with no loss in audio quality. If I plug in two different headphone the results vary depending on the two particular headphones. There are the expected volume differences between the two headphones, but there is also varying degrees of audio quality loss (tone changes, dynamics change, soundstage size changes, etc.). The two different headphones very definitely can change the audio quality. The degree of the change will depend on the particular headphones, but a change will be there.

The reason I have both the HD580 and HD600 is so I can plug in two headphones and share. The HD580 and HD600 are essentially identical (same drivers, same impedance curves, same everything that is important).

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Amazon.com: 1/4" (6.3mm) Stereo Headphone Splitter 1 Male To 2 Female Free Shipping: Electronics Congratulations, I just saved you $345 - use it with whatever amp you want. This is exactly what happens in all headphone amps - simple splitter. As for listening with 2 headphones at once, unless you want to have funky impedance matching, you must use 2 identical headphones.

The Elekit TU-882's outputs are connected to an output transformer for low, medium, and high impedance headphones so you could use non-identical headphones

. Too bad it's $100 out of his budget unless he's feeling like DIY.