[chrisco]

I have just bought the Senheiser 595s and am waiting for them to turn up.....in the meantime I was thinking about amps. What is the difference between a dedicated headphone amp and just plugging them into a bog standard phones socket on a Kenwood amp?

Obviously the sound is tailored to driving the former, but what is the likely difference we are talking here, how much better would the sound be if I forked out on a headphone amp and how much would I be looking at typically to do a good job in a reasonable budget?

Lastly in my current situation, that of plugging them into either my amp or my cd player....which would be best for sound quality...or will there be no difference between the two?

Any info is appreciated, especially as I am still a gimp at all this.

 

[JJ3810]

Headphone amps are fine but not always the best solution. I have two PPAs (OPA 627) / Gain of 11 and these will not drive my K340s. Sure, they'll put out plenty of sound but it's not driving the headphones like it should. However, my vintage Yamaha CA-1010 integrated amp makes them sing wonderfully. Really. I'm not saying other headphone amps wouldn't do as well, I don't know. I'm very happy with what this Yamaha can do however. My Marantz 1200 amp can run the K340s but not as well. No where near as well, actually. Point being, don't make any unnecessary assumptions. Plug them in and see for yourself.
Just thought I'd add that my Sony X77ES CD Player that drives my Senn 650s just fine fails miserably when I plug the K340s in. So I'm thinking these old Yammies are the thing to look for. Sound is great out of them, too.

 

[blue4n3]

Buy an amp that comes with a trial period. I know there must be a manufacture somewhere that offers 30 days......

Anyways, buy an amp from a reputable company like Headroom and see for yourself. You can read all you want here, but your experiences may differ substantially. Only you can justify buying equipment; might as well hear it for yourself. The headphone amp is more like icing on the cake. Let the 'phones come it and see how you like them and what you may want to improve upon. Then you can pick an amp with the sound signature you want.

 

[PaulDB]

I used to think that a dedicated head amp would unconditionally make any cans sound better than plugging your headphones into a receiver or preamp headphone jack. But after reading through many threads and posts here (including the above), I am not sure anymore. True, there're superb head amps that will let MOST cans shine. However, there are so many head amps and headphones out there (your 595s being one) that in order to find an excellent combination with an amp (that hopefull will satisfy the customer's taste and expectations), you probably want to go through lots of research, even trials & errors. Depending on the budget, there are head amps that sound good with high impedance cans; others shine on lowish Z headphones.

Like you I am expecting the incoming Audio-technica W1000s to match with my also new SinglePower MPX3 head-amp. Can I assume that the combo will be my cup of tea? No. But I certainly hope so, based on several positive reviews from 6moons.com and overall responses on this board. Am I concerned a little? Yes, because while the MPX3 works well with high Z headphones such as my existing AKG 240DFs and Beyerdynamic DT831s, I can't be so sure how well the amp will handle the lowish Z of the Japanese cans. Will my favorite violin, vocal tracks sound good on them? I can only wait to find out.

I hope some 595s fans will chime in and share with you their experience.

 

[chrisco]

I appreicate the responses guys.

I have duly noted that headphone amps do not always equate to better sound....the problem is this doesn't get me any nearer to an answer, although it thankfully might avoid an expensive pitfall.

It seems very tough as a newbie to this. I mean I can listen to the cans via my regular Kenwood amp and if I think the sound is not so good then the obvious thing to do is reseach amps and pair something up. The problem stems from the fact that I might think the sound is good...but not know what I am missing out on with superior equipement. It is bound to be difficult to impossible to know just good good or bad depending on how you look at it things are in a comparative sense when I have nothing to compare the sound to.

I guess I could get an amp with a warrenty, but that seems like a lot of hard work just to get a comparison going and I am not so sure that I know any audio shops carrying dedicated headphone amps to which I could take my cans.....

I am hoping that some 595s fans will chime in and share with you their experience....like Paul said.

 

[PhilS]

Part of the problem may be that you are asking a tough question to give a straightforward answer to, especially when you ask about "how much a difference" will a headphone amp make, and you impose a limiting factor like a "reasonable" budget, which most of us here at Head-Fi have no concept of.

Anyway, here are a few thoughts that may or may not be helpful.

1. You might try a search or looking back through some previous pages on the forum. The issue of how good is the typical receiver's or amps' headphone jack has been discussed many times, and those threads may give you some insight. Many of the threads contain comments by folks who were using a jack from the receiver and then "traded up" to a dedicated headphone amp. It appears that most folks who end up with a dedicated headphone amp eventually realize what all the fuss is about (and why this forum thrives like it does).

2. Some of the differences that one should hear with better quality equipment come from experience and having a trained ear (just like it takes time and experience to be able to appreciate and discern the differences between bottles of wine). Thus, a difference that you characterize as minor might be very substantial to others. And you might not hear substantial differences between your amp and a dedicated headphone amp at first, but the differences might be quite noticeable after a few weeks or months of listening.

3. I think it is safe to say that most headphones will be significantly improved with a decent quality headphone amp vs. the headphone jack of a receiver or amp. I would guess that in the $500 to $600 range, you could find an amp that would improve your enjoyment of your headphones quite a bit. Whether this is worth the money, however, is up to you. Of course, the more you spend on an amp, the better the sound quality that is achieved. As others have suggested, a good idea is to buy from a place that has a 30-day return policy, and try a headphone amp for 30 days to see if it makes a difference to you that is worth what the amp costs. Everybody evaluates these things differently, which is why there are folks on this forum who are satisified with $100 headphone amps, and why there are folks who spend more than $6,000 on a headphone amp.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisco I have just bought the Senheiser 595s and am waiting for them to turn up.....in the meantime I was thinking about amps. What is the difference between a dedicated headphone amp and just plugging them into a bog standard phones socket on a Kenwood amp? Obviously the sound is tailored to driving the former, but what is the likely difference we are talking here, how much better would the sound be if I forked out on a headphone amp and how much would I be looking at typically to do a good job in a reasonable budget? Lastly in my current situation, that of plugging them into either my amp or my cd player....which would be best for sound quality...or will there be no difference between the two? Any info is appreciated, especially as I am still a gimp at all this.

There are no definite answers to this... no right and no wrong.

Some receiver designs pour more $$$ into their headphone amp circuits while others merely skimp. I have heard on more than one occastion that older Yamaha preamps and receivers have very good headphone circuits. Same goes for Marantz... comparable to say a well made pimeta.

in regards to dedicated amps -VS- receivers, you have to take it on a case by case basis, with your specific cans. Sweeping generalizations and assumptions can lead you into a downgrade or no improvement at all (rather than an upgrade).

Same goes for the phone out on your CD player.

I for one dont like the phone out on my Denon receiver... kind of dull, bland an distant. While it certainly is loud enough. The phone out on my technics CD deck is the opposite... forward, shouty and aggressive. Sterile and cold sounding too, bass is there but lacks depth and the richness of my dedicated amps. So... for me outboard amplification has been a blessing.

Headphone amps can also do more than merely amplify the signal. Tubes, tube-hybrid, crossfeed and tone controls on the amps can be used to color the sound. You factor this in and it unfolds another layer to the onion. The line out on my technics deck is very loud, so my earmax is merely an attenuator that adds tube warmth. So, in essence I'm merely using the amp to color the sound.

IMHO you should try and experiment... Purchase from TTVJ, headroom they have great 30 day return policy. If you find the amp makes no difference, exchange it for a different model. Might want to contact Tyll and Todd about this though.... Im not sure how many times you can swap amps in those 30 days. Youre effectively rolling through their product catalog, looking for what sounds best.

Good Luck though.
Garrett

 

[chrisco]

Well that is more good info guys, especially given the fact that the question is inherently difficult.

Thanks

I'll get the cans check out what they sound like on my amp and direct from cd and I'll then look at my bank balance and consider a purchase.

Anyone have an off the cuff recommendation from owning 595s that I could look to as a starting point?

 

[JJ3810]

Your Senn 595s should not require too much amplification. They're one of the easier to drive headphones. I once had the 120 ohm version and my PPA ran it just fine. Bottom line, I wouldn't expect that you would need to drop a lot of money to amp these. Of course, design and build quality increases with price so you should consider future requirements when you look for an amp.

 

[Uncle Erik]

chrisco- I don't have the HD-595, but my opinion is that the Sennheiser "house sound" does a lot better with a clean, fast solid state amp. Take a look at the Gimore Lite, or try your hand at building the Dynalo. They make Sennheisers sing.

As for the more complicated question of whether or not to use a dedicated headphone amp, I fall on the pro-amp side. One thing about CD players, receivers, etc., is that they're not really designed to drive headphones. CD players are mostly about driving a line out, and a lot of receivers just use a voltage-dropping resistor for the headphone jack.

Even if the volume is adequate, you miss out on really, really good things like impedance matching and class A operation. If you're not familiar with amplifier classes, tubes v. solid state, impedance, sensitivity, et al., dig around and learn. There's a ton of information here and even more on the Internet. Heck, you *should* learn about those things before buying an amp, anyway.

 

[chrisco]

Thanks all round.

Eric where could I look at/buy the amp you mentioned?

At the moment I am relying on the good people here for getting my equipement, I only think the level of understanding required to build amps or in fact take in all the info will come with time, more buying and getting more into headphones.