[zeiter]

I would like to hook my headphone amp to the tape "out" of my 2 channel preamp . Is there any quality loss this way ? I was told that the Tape out is direct in the preamp, and is not affected by volume, balance or anything in the preamp. Reason I'm doing it is that I have multiple sources hooked to my preamp, that i could listen to, this way, and second, my CD player has only one pair of outputs hooked to the preamp. Or else, I'll have to use "y" splitters to split CD source to headphone amp and preamp. Thanks.

 

[FallenAngel]

"Tape Out" is very likely a hard-wired loop out - effectively an internal splitter. Same thing as you say 'y splitter'.

 

[zeiter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Tape Out" is very likely a hard-wired loop out - effectively an internal splitter. Same thing as you say 'y splitter'.

Thanks. So you think it will give same result as plugging a CD directly in headphone amp, since there's no additional processing involved ? My salesman insits that tape out is straight signal as opposed to using the preamp out, then it's not as direct . Now it's getting confusing.

 

[whaleyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeiter /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks. So you think it will give same result as plugging a CD directly in headphone amp, since there's no additional processing involved ? My salesman insits that tape out is straight signal as opposed to using the preamp out, then it's not as direct . Now it's getting confusing.

Yes, it is the same (effectively) as plugging a CD player directly into the headphone amp. The preamp will allow you to select between different sources instead of having just one (in the CD example).

In my office I have a DAC plugged directly into a headphone amp. When I want to play with my turntable (which is on my other stereo that includes an amp and preamp) I use the tape loop out on my preamp to "feed" my headphone amp. This allows me to turn the speakers off so that I don't hear my speakers and my cans at the same time. It also allows me to use the CD player on my other/main stereo.

I think that the salesman is confusing you because the tape loop out is not effected by the volume control while the pre-amp outputs are effected by the volume control.

 

[zeiter]

Thanks a lot both of you for the info.