[H_man]

I was wondering if people could list any comments and ratings of the quality of the headphone jacks on their preamps, integrateds, or receivers, hopefully on a scale of 1-10.

While many headphone jacks that come 'complementary' on components do suck (take for example, the pathetic sound from the headphone jack of my Sony 222es cd player), this cannot uniformly be true. If good ones exist, it would be very useful for us to know about them.

For example, I find the headphone jack on my B&K PT-3 preamp to be excellent. So much so, I sold off my Corda HA-1. The Corda had better high frequency extension, but the B&K had a fuller more pleasing sound that still sounded open and extended. All the nice tone controls and source switching abilities sealed the deal.

My headphone jack rating for the B&K PT-3: 8 out of 10.

Anybody else know of any components with worthwhile headphone jacks?

 

[slindeman]

I'd rate my vintage Marantz 2238 receiver about equal to a cmoy/47 type amplifier, with a little better soundstage and bass presence, but less detailed and sometimes harsh. It doesn't do too bad with HD580. It doesn't approach something like a META42 however.

 

[Kieran Comito]

I have a B & K 305 reciever. The headphone jack out this reciever is pretty darn good. It is so good that it rivals the Sugden Headmaster headphone amp. Another reciever I tried at the audio store recently are both the Denon 5800 and the newer model Denon 5803. Both of these jacks are outstanding. The Headphone I used for this stuff is the Sony MDR 10, which is a challenging headphone to drive it seems. Fellow headfier Markl actually uses his Denon 5800 to drive his R 10s, thats where I got the idea to try these reciever headphone jacks. So yes, there is some components out there that good for driving headphones.

 

[Costas]

I used to have a Rotel RC-995 preamp which was their top of the range three years ago. The headphone jack on that was excellent and rivalled the HA-1. The only thing it lacked was crossfeed.

In this instance, the inclusion of the headphone jack was definitely not an afterthought.

 

[markl]

Great idea for a thread!

After all my dallying with headamps, I finally came to see that a headamp is nothing but a limited function pre-amp. Like a pre-amp, a headamp takes the signal from your source and allows you to add gain/volume to it and output the signal. It's my feeling that in general, a good quality pre-amp will therefore make a good headamp.

I now believe that it is a myth (oft-repeated here) that all headphone jacks/amps on commercially available mass market gear are crap and that you need the special voodoo only found in a dedicated headamp to make your cans sing. OTOH, when I refer to "mass-market gear" I'm still talking about components that cost over $1K or so, whether it's a HT receiver or a dedicated pre-amp. No, I don't think that the jack on a $300 DVD player will compete with a $300 "basic" headamp.

I do think that if you've invested a lot in your pre-amp or receiver and it has a headphone jack, you are probably wasting your money adding a low-cost (say sub $500) headamp to your system. I don't think you are going to realize significant gains by buying a dedicated headamp unless you are willing to invest as much or more in that headamp than you already spent on your pre-amp. So unless there is some weird impedence mis-matching problem between amp and headphone, I say try the jack on your pre-amp, you just might be surprised! I certainly have been.

Until about a year ago, I used to own a Marantz AV9000 HT pre-amp (I now own the Denon 5800 receiver). The Marantz was an $1800 model and the jack on it was much better than the Headroom MOH for example. Then I fell in love with tubes and went through a lot of tube headamps before trying the jack on my new-ish Denon 5800 just for giggles. Well, it turns out to be the best ss headamp I've heard. Yes my Melos Maestro had that tubey goodness, but the Denon beat it out in terms of pure resolution, frequency extension and immediacy. I couldn't justify having both the melos and the Denon, so I sold my Melos and pocketed the cash.

So, long story short, yes, I suspect there are numerous outstanding "headamps" out there that we don't discuss here because they don't have "geek appeal" and aren't designed strictly as headamps. Yes the Denon and Marantz I've mentioned are very expensive components, but I think if you have a good HT rig or 2-channel rig, you may not need that headamp after all.

Mark

 

[carlo]

Anthem Pre1L - hybrid dedicated headphone stage - 6.0 with Senns, 7.0 with most Grados (the SR-225 loves it though).
Sonic Frontiers Line Series - 7.0 with Senns, 7.5 with most current Grados.
AH Njoe Tjoeb 4000 (Marantz based) - 3.0 regardless of headphone.
Cary SLI-80 running ultra-linear with whatever tubes Kevin from Upscale was using at the time - 9.0 with Senns (didn't try any Carys with anything else)
Cary 300SEI w/ WE tubes - 8.0 with Senns
Cary SLP-2002 - 6.0 with Senns

need to spend more time with: Rogue Magnum 99
very intrigued by: Manley 300B preamplifier

 

[Carlos3]

The NAD 160 Preamp has a separate (internal) headphone amp section. Reputed to be good, but I haven't heard it myself.

 

[RYCeT]

Hi, I'm a newbie on headphones. I'm just wondering, I have a denon 5803 receiver, Do I need another headphone amp to maximise my headphone potential? Btw I'm just ordering a audio technica A-1000 and sony eggo66. And after researching this forum, I'm planning to buy supermini amp v5 for portable use and probably a gilmore amp. Thank's

 

[HappymaN]

Hey markl,

How's it going? I was wondering, are you selling your 333ES because you also use your Denon as a DAC now? Or are you looking into getting a new source?

I agree with what you are saying Mark. I once plugged my Etymotic ER-4S earphones into a Bryston preamplifier, and it was in an entirely different league to my Corda HA-1. Though it was Bryston, what would you expect.

 

[markl]

Quote:

I'm just wondering, I have a denon 5803 receiver, Do I need another headphone amp to maximise my headphone potential?

Not unless you are willing to invest well over $1K for a separate headamp. The jack on the Denon is just outstanding. Unless you are very wealthy, or you want the tube sound, I see no reason to buy another headamp if you have the 5803.
Quote:

I was wondering, are you selling your 333ES because you also use your Denon as a DAC now?

Yes. The DACs in the 5800 are outstanding and upsample. I will temporarily live without SACD capability which sucks but ultimately (a couple product cycles from now), I will be buying a universal DVD-A/SACD player, model and brand as yet unknown as it doesn't exist yet!

Mark

 

[Kieran Comito]

Quote:

Originally posted by rycet Hi, I'm a newbie on headphones. I'm just wondering, I have a denon 5803 receiver, Do I need another headphone amp to maximise my headphone potential? Btw I'm just ordering a audio technica A-1000 and sony eggo66. And after researching this forum, I'm planning to buy supermini amp v5 for portable use and probably a gilmore amp. Thank's

If you have a Denon 5803 receiver, you will not need a headphone amp. I own a Sugden Headmaster headamp, it cost me 850.00 new and the Sony MDR 10 connected to the headphone jack on the Denon was better than the Sugden in every way. I also own the A 1000 headphone. This headphone is very easy to drive. Should be no problem at all for the Denon, or for your portable cd player for that matter to drive the A 1000. With this said, since you just joined headfi, there is a minimal cost of 2000.00 per year to post here

Ask any headfier, they will tell you the same thing. Just be careful or get out while you can.

 

[RYCeT]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kieran Comito With this said, since you just joined headfi, there is a minimal cost of 2000.00 per year to post here Ask any headfier, they will tell you the same thing. Just be careful or get out while you can.

Thank's for your information and warnings guys, I'll keep that in mind

 

[HappymaN]

So markl, the headphone amplifier of your Denon is completely silent?

 

[HappymaN]

You guys have gotten me really excited. I'm going into town tomorrow to give the Denon a listen. The best solid state amplifier I have heard is my Corda HA-1.

Also, markl, would you say that the Denon does a better job on redbook than your modified Sony?

 

[HanssoN]

I actually listened to the NAD C160 preamp through a pair of HD600s, and it sure sounded good to me, but then I'm completely new to the world of head-fi, and as I've not even heard a dedicated head-amp yet, I feel that you should listen to it yourself if you are curious.