[gyrodec]

Two questions about these pre-amps:
1. They have a headphone out, and knowing Bryston id high quality and in to fully descrete as a general approach, I was wondering how good the head amp was.

2. Even more fun. Reading the specs I found it will swing 30v into 600 ohm from its balanced pre-outs. If people find the Benchmark DAC1 balanced out OK for driving sens, this even more robust output should be even better for my HD-600s. Anybody tried this, or want to make an educated, or even shot-in-the-dark, guess as to how that might perform.

 

[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gyrodec /img/forum/go_quote.gif Two questions about these pre-amps: 1. They have a headphone out, and knowing Bryston id high quality and in to fully descrete as a general approach, I was wondering how good the head amp was. 2. Even more fun. Reading the specs I found it will swing 30v into 600 ohm from its balanced pre-outs. If people find the Benchmark DAC1 balanced out OK for driving sens, this even more robust output should be even better for my HD-600s. Anybody tried this, or want to make an educated, or even shot-in-the-dark, guess as to how that might perform.

hmmm, mebbe you could take 1 or 2 for the team and score the brystons and let us know how it works out.

 

[agile_one]

Dew eet!

HD-600 from the balanced preamp outs of the Bryston should be very nice. Ideally the output impedance of the xlr outs is less than the 300 ohms of the 600s. I've tried headphones from many high quality preamps (Krell, Proceed, Plinius, etc) with varying results, but never any harm. The key is the have a low output impedance.

Let us know what you find - both from the headphone out and the pre outs.

 

[Drag0n]

My friend uses a Bryston BP20 with Senn. HD650's and loves the sound and says its similar to his Martin Logan SL-3 in sound.

Hes not a headphone geek, and hasnt heard any headphone amps, so ymmv when it comes to his opinion on this.

He says it sounds great, and has heard many speaker systems, but as i said, hasnt heard headphone amps or many headphones, but anythings better than his ibuds,so.

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gyrodec /img/forum/go_quote.gif Two questions about these pre-amps: 1. They have a headphone out, and knowing Bryston id high quality and in to fully descrete as a general approach, I was wondering how good the head amp was. 2. Even more fun. Reading the specs I found it will swing 30v into 600 ohm from its balanced pre-outs. If people find the Benchmark DAC1 balanced out OK for driving sens, this even more robust output should be even better for my HD-600s. Anybody tried this, or want to make an educated, or even shot-in-the-dark, guess as to how that might perform.

I can't believe I missed this post until now.

The BP-25 does not have a head-amp! The signal from the headphone jack is the exact same signal fed to the amplifier outputs.

Here's something I found a while back while lurking on audio circle:

Quote:

Hi James; The headphone output is in fact the same feed as the output to the amplifier, and is nominally around 1-2V. This is to prevent ear damage from excessive loudness levels. It is designed to require the volume control to be advanced quite a bit to give loud levels. This also eliminates an amplifier stage, which reduces noise and distortion on the headphone feed. I hope this is helpful information. Thanks for thinking of Bryston. Chris Russell Bryston Ltd.

Now, I guess 1-2V output may mate very well with some headphones (I love it with my 600/650s). But YMMV.

Something I can say with conviction: the Bryston is neutral and transparent to a fault. It will reveal deficiencies with your source and recording.

I'm bringing my gear to the Upcoming Atlanta meet. I'd like to try hooking up some cans directly to the BP-25's balanced output. My guess is, given good input, it will amaze and astound! (Hopefully by disappearing completely!)

 

[gyrodec]

ingwe, thanks for the info and AudioCircle links.

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gyrodec /img/forum/go_quote.gif ingwe, thanks for the info and AudioCircle links.

My pleasure!

 

[adalyan]

Hi there,
I did have a B60 integrated for 5 years . If I remember correctly the B60 had the same preamp stage at the BP20.
I was using it with Grado 225's and was very happy with the result. Very transparent..
If you are not moving up the ladder in the headphone amp world, it should be more than enough and very enjoyable to listen to.

 

[Bostonears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ingwe /img/forum/go_quote.gif The BP-25 does not have a head-amp! The signal from the headphone jack is the exact same signal fed to the amplifier outputs. Here's something I found a while back while lurking on audio circle

Saying that the BP-25 does not have a head-amp is kind of a distorted way of looking at things. IMHO, the entire BP-25 is a head-amp, in addition to being one heck of a good preamp.

By the way, the Audio Circle link in ingwe’s post leads to a discussion of some people finding they need to turn the BP-25’s volume knob way up when using the headphone jack. I’ve got a BP-25DA (with optional built-in DAC) and beefy MPS-2 power supply (upgrade for the BP-25 and standard with the newer BP-26 series). With any of the headphones I’ve tried (Grado GS-1000, Sennheiser HD580, Shure e4C, etc.), I’ve never had to turn the volume knob past about 11 o’clock. That’s a little higher than the 9 or 10 o’clock position I use when listening to speakers, but it’s nothing like some folks are reporting on Audio Circle, where they have to max out the knob. Maybe the MPS-2 power supply is giving me a little more oomph than the standard power supply, but I don't see how that could account for all the difference.

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bostonears /img/forum/go_quote.gif Saying that the BP-25 does not have a head-amp is kind of a distorted way of looking at things. IMHO, the entire BP-25 is a head-amp, in addition to being one heck of a good preamp. By the way, the Audio Circle link in ingwe’s post leads to a discussion of some people finding they need to turn the BP-25’s volume knob way up when using the headphone jack. I’ve got a BP-25DA (with optional built-in DAC) and beefy MPS-2 power supply (upgrade for the BP-25 and standard with the newer BP-26 series). With any of the headphones I’ve tried (Grado GS-1000, Sennheiser HD580, Shure e4C, etc.), I’ve never had to turn the volume knob past about 11 o’clock. That’s a little higher than the 9 or 10 o’clock position I use when listening to speakers, but it’s nothing like some folks are reporting on Audio Circle, where they have to max out the knob. Maybe the MPS-2 power supply is giving me a little more oomph than the standard power supply, but I don't see how that could account for all the difference.

I envy your power supply sirh!

I too keep it between 11-12 o'clock. I don't think the power supply would affect this. But I'm no EE.

Oh, yes...I think of the Bryston as a class-A premium headphone amplifier--when it isn't feeding my 4bsst, that is.