[notoriousmatty]

Im purchasing a pair of beyerdynamic 880 pros and want to get an amp to drive them probably the little dot mkiii . I have a receiver hooked up to components using hdmi. How does the amp hook up to the receiver..is it in between the headphones and the receiver still using the headphone jack? Again I need the audio to stay in hdmi for Lossless audio from sources. thanks.

 

[MoodySteve]

If your receiver has both a preamp and amp stage, you probably won't want to use both the receiver and the headphone amp together, as this would give you an exorbitant amount of gain and your headphone amp would amplify the noise coming from the receiver, which probably won't be a trivial amount.

If your receiver has a loop out (an output which receives the signal going into the currently selected input, bypassing the circuitry inside) then connect the loop out to the input of your headphone amp.

Can you post the model # of your receiver?

 

[notoriousmatty]

Denon 788. I dont think it has a loop out.

 

[sunseeker888]

Hi Matty... yes that receiver has 2 analog out's which can be used to send RCA audio L and R into the Little Dot's RCA inputs. Should work fine. Use the receiver as a source selector, just as you would with speakers. I do this with some of my gear and its fine.

 

[ATHFan]

Does the same apply to the Yamaha RX-V663 receiver? What is the best method to connect a headphone amplifier to that system?

 

[ATHFan]

Anyone?

 

[Navyblue]

If your Yamaha has some sort of by pass line out or tape record line out, that's where you'd want to plug your headphone amp into.

Or else you might want to split the source output, one to your headphone amp and another to the receiver.

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif If your Yamaha has some sort of by pass line out or tape record line out, that's where you'd want to plug your headphone amp into.

I'm new to this kind of stuff, so I don't really know if it has what I'm looking for. Could you help me out?

You can find the product page here: RX-V663

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Or else you might want to split the source output, one to your headphone amp and another to the receiver.

I'm making use of multiple sources. Because of this, I would prefer to connect the amplifier to the receiver, since the receiver is connected to these sources.

 

[kingmajix]

ATHFan:

What is your source? And do you want to use the DAC in the source or in your receiver?

Scott

 

[Navyblue]

ATHFan:

If you can post a picture or a diagram of the back of the receiver, I'm sure many here can help you (or not).

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingmajix /img/forum/go_quote.gif ATHFan: What is your source? And do you want to use the DAC in the source or in your receiver? Scott

One of my sources is a PlayStation 3 which will be connected through HDMI 1.3.

The other source is a PC which I plan to upgrade in the near future. The current setup has a ATI Radeon 9700 graphics card with S-Video/VGA output and a Creative Xmod external audio card with TRS (3.5mm) output. How should I connect this to the receiver is beyond me as well. Can anyone help me out here as well?

The upgraded PC setup will have a ASUS EAH3870X2/G/3DHTI/1G graphics card with DVI output and a ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 audio card with HDMI 1.3 output. With this setup, I can connect the graphics card to the audio card with a DVI-to-HDMI cable and the audio card to the receiver through HDMI 1.3 to get full HD video/audio output with one source.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif ATHFan: If you can post a picture or a diagram of the back of the receiver, I'm sure many here can help you (or not).

Sure. Here they are:

Yamaha RX-V663 front panel: http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/Imag.../EV_rxv663.jpg
Yamaha RX-V663 back panel: http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/Imag...xv663_rear.jpg

I hope this clears things up. Thanks!

 

[arteom]

You can also look at some amps that have a loop out, I think the gilmore light does, and I know the x-can v8 does.

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif One of my sources is a PlayStation 3 which will be connected through HDMI 1.3. The other source is a PC which I plan to upgrade in the near future. The current setup has a ATI Radeon 9700 graphics card with S-Video/VGA output and a Creative Xmod external audio card with TRS (3.5mm) output. How should I connect this to the receiver is beyond me as well. Can anyone help me out here as well?

I think you can buy a cable with S-Video on one end and component video on the other end, but I've never seen one. You can also buy a cable with mini plug on one end and RCA plugs on the other for the XMod.

Unfortunately your receiver doesn't have a bypass output, so it is not recommended that you plug your headphone amp into it.

Though it would work if you connect the input of your headphone amp to the "FRONT" under the "PRE OUT" section. That way the audio signal would unnecessarily pass through the pre amp section of your receiver, and you'll have two volume knobs to control the volume of your headphone amp.

If you really want to do this, it is recommended that you put the receiver's volume knob to the max and control the volume from the headphone amp.

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think you can buy a cable with S-Video on one end and component video on the other end, but I've never seen one. You can also buy a cable with mini plug on one end and RCA plugs on the other for the XMod.

What if I want to use the VGA out of my PC? With VGA it can output a higher resolution than S-Video.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortunately your receiver doesn't have a bypass output, so it is not recommended that you plug your headphone amp into it. Though it would work if you connect the input of your headphone amp to the "FRONT" under the "PRE OUT" section. That way the audio signal would unnecessarily pass through the pre amp section of your receiver, and you'll have two volume knobs to control the volume of your headphone amp.

So the only way to connect a headphone amplifier to the receiver is to connect the receiver's front headphone jack to the amplifier's RCA input? Correct?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you really want to do this, it is recommended that you put the receiver's volume knob to the max and control the volume from the headphone amp.

Wouldn't this make the amplifier's volume control extremely sensitive?

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif What if I want to use the VGA out of my PC? With VGA it can output a higher resolution than S-Video.

I am no expert on the video side, so I could be wrong on this. I know that VGA can be converted to DVI-A. HDMI can take DVI-D signal, I'm not sure if it can take DVI-A signal, my guess is it can't.

If the above is true, you can only use the S-Video or component video input on the receiver. To correct my previous post, you don't need a S-Video to component video converter, you can just use an S-Video cable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif So the only way to connect a headphone amplifier to the receiver is to connect the receiver's front headphone jack to the amplifier's RCA input? Correct?

Nope. At the back of your receiver there is the "FRONT" RCA jacks under the "PRE OUT" section (essentially the analog audio signal of front left and right channel), that's where you hook up with the RCA input of the headphone amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wouldn't this make the amplifier's volume control extremely sensitive?

Think of it like a water tap. In the ideal case, we have a tap sticking out of the wall, once you open it and you get water.

However in your case you have another valve before your water tap. So you have to open the valve (ideally full blast) so that you can get water out of the tap. If the valve is opened half way, even if the tap is opened all the way, you'd only get half of the full blast.

Personally, I wouldn't do this. If the headphone jack of the receiver is decent I'd just plug straight into it for casual listening. and I'd plug the headphone amp to the source for my serious listening. But you don't necessary hear any deterioration in sound quality, depending on your gears and ears.