[dwthewhiteness]

I'm about to pull the trigger on a very good deal for a used Peachtree musicBox. My concern is that its headphone amp is not powerful enough to push the HE-500's that I've ordered. According to http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/musicbox-amplifier-with-dac.html the headphone amp has "Maximum Output Power: 50mW into 32 Ohms"
 
Recently, on this forum and elsewhere I've been seeing that the little Schiit Magni amp (http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=13) with "Maximum Power, 32 Ohms: 1.2W" is a really good match for the power requirements of the HE-500. If the Magni's counterpart DAC, the Mogi, had an optical input then I would get that pair in a second; but it doesn't.
 
So, unless I'm REALLY bad at math or I just don't have the faintest idea how math relates to electricity, the 50mW at 32 Ohms that the musicBox offers is 24 times less than the Magni's 1.2W at the same impedance. Is it fair to say, then, that the musicBox's headphone amp simply can NOT drive these headphones? And, if so, should I disregard Peachtree's offering and look for a different solution? Also, why the hell would Peachtree make a high-end DAC/preamp/amp/headphone amp and then put such a weak little amp into it? That kind of seems to defeat the purpose... Thanks!

 

[hodgjy]

You'd be better off using the speaker taps to drive the HE-500s.  The headphone jack won't do the job.

 

[dwthewhiteness]

Quote:

You'd be better off using the speaker taps to drive the HE-500s.  The headphone jack won't do the job.

That's a good idea; but the speaker taps require a left AND right input, don't they? The headphones only have a single 1/4" jack.

 

[MattTCG]

You'd need a speaker tap cable to accomplish this. Several of the cable companies will be happy to build you one for a price. Brian at BTG Audio is a good choice.