[Nova40]

And you think that an AudioNote will be able to drive the HE-6 pretty well too? As well as work ok with my current 686s?

 

[MinedSafe]

I have no idea about the Audio Note headphone capabilities, that time I was speaker orientated and would never purchase a headphones. Audio Note I have heard on many speakers, cheap and expensive. Honestly, u can't get wrong with it I do not remember AN not to push any system to its limits. 
 
I assume that if u get the speaker to headphone conversion box ( with 2 resistors inside, basically that what it is ) I see no reason why It would not handle HE-6 with ease. I don't remember if he AN preamp had headphone out, but as far as I can remember, it didn't. 

 

[Nova40]

Is there a particular model of their integrated amps that you would recommend given my my budget and use case? And I've never considered a preamp for my system, what might help with?

 

[buson160man]

  And you think that an AudioNote will be able to drive the HE-6 pretty well too? As well as work ok with my current 686s?

I do not know about the audionote products but may I suggest the rogue audio sphinx integrated amp. It offers a lot of bang for the buck and the unit has a discrete headphone amp. It is a hybrid unit  with two tubes in the preamp section and 100 watts rms per channel. It also has a moving magnet/ moving coil phono stage onboard. The sphinx has received favorable reviews in audio magazines. It offers a lot of value  and probably has the chops to drive the magnepans. The magnepans need some juice . The rogue is very reasonably priced for what it is and is well built. It is not much on looks but under the hood it is a impressive unit.
   The rogue audio magnum unit is very good too a friend of mine had the power amp version of the magnum unit and used it for driving his quad 2805 electrostatic speakers and it worked pretty well with his quads. The integrated is a little more expensive but not that much for the integrated version.
   The top of the line pharaoh is a hybrid unit and offers 175 watts rms per channel and doubles into 4 ohms at 350 watts rms. I have not heard the pharaoh but it like most of the rogue audio line offers a lot of performance for reasonable prices.

 

[Oregonian]

  I'm driving a pair of B&W 686s and am currently using it with my Hifiman HE-500s as well.  But I will be upgrading to the the HE-6 pretty soon.  I'm looking for something that can compliment how resolving the HE-6s can be while also being able to power my 686s (and eventually Magnepan 0.7s).  So I would say I want to make sure my amp isn't the bottleneck for my setup (or at least minimally) with emphasis on resolution.
 
Also, if it helps, my dac is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100.

Might consider running the HE-6 out of the speaker taps regardless of what amp you get instead of the headphone out.  I heard a pretty large improvement doing this with a vintage Pioneer Spec system, which has ample power out of the headphone out yet is so much better out of the taps.

 

[buson160man]

  Might consider running the HE-6 out of the speaker taps regardless of what amp you get instead of the headphone out.  I heard a pretty large improvement doing this with a vintage Pioneer Spec system, which has ample power out of the headphone out yet is so much better out of the taps.

 I have heard and or read somewhere that driving headphones through the speaker taps is not a good thing. It was supposedly bad for the transformer.

 

[Mr Rick]

 
 I have heard and or read somewhere that driving headphones through the speaker taps is not a good thing. It was supposedly bad for the transformer.

What transformer??

 

[Coolzo]

 
 I have heard and or read somewhere that driving headphones through the speaker taps is not a good thing. It was supposedly bad for the transformer.

When you're driving planar-magnetics (ESPECIALLY the HE-6), you won't have any problems. I'd only be sketched out about driving a regular dynamic off the speaker taps without a headphone box. Or an electrostat, which needs it's own special box anyway, but that's beside the point. 
 
It is worth mentioning though, that in some cases a headphone box might sound better than direct of the speaker taps. Just depends on how noisy the taps are and how sensitive your particular planars are. In the case of HE-6, again I wouldn't imagine there'd be a problem.

 

[buson160man]

  What transformer??

 The output transformer.

 

[PhoenixG]

 
 The output transformer.

I don't see how it would make any difference whatsoever to the output transformer (if you happen to have one and most amps don't).
As long as it's set to the highest impedance setting and you don't short it out, you shouldn't have any issues with overvoltaging or overloading. I wouldn't wring your hands about the output transformers. If they have steps, that's to help increase output at the top end (especially at low impedances) more than almost anything else.
Anyone else know something I don't or that I haven't considered?

 

[wotts]

 
 I have heard and or read somewhere that driving headphones through the speaker taps is not a good thing. It was supposedly bad for the transformer.

 
This conversation first started in the Musical Paradise MP-301 thread. Since it was capable of running speakers, some folks had wanted to try the HE-6 off the taps. The way the output transformer is wired in the circuit, it wants to see a speaker load. With out the resistors or an adapter box, Garry (amp designer) said it would be hard on the transformer since the HE-6 is 50 ohms. As for the solid state gear, it does not seem to have this issue. Some EE can come along and explain this better I assume.

 

[Skylab]

Just to be clear, 99.9% of solid state amps and receivers do not have an output transformer and as such there is no issue using the speaker taps. There is the question of whether it is worth bothering, when in many cases there is more than enough power from the headphone jack.

 

[analogsurviver]

Just to be clear, 99.9% of solid state amps and receivers do not have an output transformer and as such there is no issue using the speaker taps. There is the question of whether it is worth bothering, when in many cases there is more than enough power from the headphone jack.

Each headphone should be driven with an appropriate output impedance amplifier. In practice this means it is easier to put the required resistor in series with the speaker output taps - the fixed resistor in series connected to headphone jack may well be too large in value. It is case to case dependant and no generalizations are possible - save for the desirability of low output amplifier impedance; within reason, of course.

 

[Exacoustatowner]

Hi
Not as "vintage" as some! I have a 1991-2 Denon Receiver. DRA-635R. I recently got a pair of HiFiMan HE-560 Headphones which were being driven by the HP out of my 2005 Yamaha RXV 657/
Out of curiosity, I checked to see if I could hear any difference with the HP out from the Denon,
Turns out the HP out is MUCH better than the newer Yamaha. Deep bass, more dynamic range, cleaner treble.

 

[PhoenixG]

Just to be clear, 99.9% of solid state amps and receivers do not have an output transformer and as such there is no issue using the speaker taps. There is the question of whether it is worth bothering, when in many cases there is more than enough power from the headphone jack.

You're absolutely right. Most amps don't have output transformers. I'm about to bring home two more autoformers (just for a visit) and I'm practically jumping out of my skin with excitement.
 
Anyways, Wotts suggested an EE take a look at the whole transformer issue, so here's what I've come up with - 
 
If you have a low powered amp, where the output acts like a current source, and goes through an output transformer (so MANY 'ifs'), then having an impedance mismatch (high) might cause a very high voltage condition at the input of the transformer which could lead to dielectric breakdown, excess heating, and/or shorting.
The musical paradise amp meets all these conditions, and it's cap coupled as well - adding one more thing to not like excess voltages. 
 
Say that three times fast haha.
 
So what does that mean? It means that if you really want to use high impedance cans on an amp that meets those conditions, the signal would need to go through another few loops around the transformer (or the impedance of the cans would have to be lowered with resistors in parallel) to meet the safety margin of the amp at higher volumes. In short, use the headphone jack - it's made for them.