Best solution for an amp without headphone socket?

[Emkayu]

Hi, I just recieved a phonecall for a free vintage amp; Cambridge audio A4, but it doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone out, I don't know what outs it has, anyone who has seen it/owns it or knows what outs it has, is there a solution to using headphones on them?

 

[Uncle Erik]

Yes, there are various ways to add a voltage dropping resistor to get a power amp to drive headphones. I believe there are a couple of devices on the market that do this. However, keep in mind that this amp was engineered and developed to drive speakers, not headphones. You can get away with more noise and class AB operation with speakers - things that might be fine when you're eight feet from the driver but not when the driver is 1 cm off your ear. Second, the cost of buying a commercial adapter plus what the amp would sell for might be enough to pay for a good headphone amp. That's worth considering.

 

[krmathis]

"Best" solution = AKG K1000

 

[Emkayu]

Hmm...okay i think i'll just use it to drive some speakers, using my BD player as a source (i don't have home theatre

) just for some extra oomph to films. So would it be better to use the headphones straight from source, rather than go through the amp, I'm using sennheiser HD555s and they dont really need an amp to drive, but would it be beneficial?

 

[moonboy403]

All headphones can benefit from a good headphone amp to some degree.

When you said you would drive your headphones straight from the source, what do you mean by that? What's your source?

 

[Drag0n]

If you have a line-level output on a preamp or something, and no headphone jack, then just use the preamp out into a headphone amp. Then youll have control over the volume also.

 

[iriverdude]

Quote:

then just use the preamp out into a headphone amp

Incorrect you want to use the line out from integrated amp to the headphone amp, as long as the headphone amp has a volume control. Use the record/tape outputs.

 

[vkvedam]

Get a line out cable RCA--->3.5mm--->Stereo Coupler--->Inline Volume Attenuator--->Headphones. I have done this with quite a few high end CD players such as Arcam CD73. Sounds great.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Incorrect you want to use the line out from integrated amp to the headphone amp, as long as the headphone amp has a volume control. Use the record/tape outputs.

Are there headphone amps without volume controls? Does anyone have the idea to make a "headphone power amp" paired witht a "headphone pre amp"? Let's hope that idea does not catch on....

 

[iriverdude]

I guess it's possible there may be seperate "pre" and "power" boxes for headpohnes, just like to get with pre/power for speakers. Usually more higher end, I've left integrated & av amps behind and gone down pre-power for both home theatre and 2 channel Hi-Fi.

 

[Emkayu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moonboy403 /img/forum/go_quote.gif All headphones can benefit from a good headphone amp to some degree. When you said you would drive your headphones straight from the source, what do you mean by that? What's your source?

5.5g ipod video with line out from a logic3 dock, or macbook+generic japanese DAC