Brent Hutto
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2005
- Posts
- 346
- Likes
- 15
The only CD player I've ever owned is an Adcom GCD-575 that I bought used in about 1989-ish. It is set up in my "music room" with its variable line output driving a GFA-535 and a pair of ancient A-D-S speakers (two-way "bookshelf" speakers, each the size of a dorm refrigerator). It sounds a little bright, which is how I like it, in the room it's in with hardwood floor and nearly bare wall with relatively little furniture.
Here's my question. The headphone output, which I've never used until I got my new PX200 a week ago, was supposedly a big selling feature of this CD player back in the day. It was billed as able to drive 'most anything short of electrostatics and having a very direct signal path with low noise and no coloration of the sound. Maybe that's just marketing-speak but I've found that there's an awful lot of detail available listening with the PX200.
Here's the question. According to the specs in the manual, the variable output (which is hooked to the 1/4" headphone jack as well as to RCA line-out connectors on the back) is rated at 4.5V peak-to-peak and 100 ohms. So by my reckoning that should mean putting out 100mA (3.18Vrms) into a 100-ohm headphone load, right? If that's an honest specification (i.e. not at 20% distortion or something) how does that compare to the solid-state headphone amps that people like to use with high-end headphones?
More specifically, is it likely that the Adcom will decently drive something like an AKG 271 or Beyer DT770? How about really tough customers like the high-end Sennheisers and Beyers (HD590/595, DT880)? I must say that at least by my mid-fi standards this is a good sounding CD player. It uses, if I'm not mistaken, the TDA1541A DAC which has somewhat of a cult following even today and Adcom was reputed to pay pretty good attention to the details considering that it was kind of entry-head audiophile stuff at best.
Here's my question. The headphone output, which I've never used until I got my new PX200 a week ago, was supposedly a big selling feature of this CD player back in the day. It was billed as able to drive 'most anything short of electrostatics and having a very direct signal path with low noise and no coloration of the sound. Maybe that's just marketing-speak but I've found that there's an awful lot of detail available listening with the PX200.
Here's the question. According to the specs in the manual, the variable output (which is hooked to the 1/4" headphone jack as well as to RCA line-out connectors on the back) is rated at 4.5V peak-to-peak and 100 ohms. So by my reckoning that should mean putting out 100mA (3.18Vrms) into a 100-ohm headphone load, right? If that's an honest specification (i.e. not at 20% distortion or something) how does that compare to the solid-state headphone amps that people like to use with high-end headphones?
More specifically, is it likely that the Adcom will decently drive something like an AKG 271 or Beyer DT770? How about really tough customers like the high-end Sennheisers and Beyers (HD590/595, DT880)? I must say that at least by my mid-fi standards this is a good sounding CD player. It uses, if I'm not mistaken, the TDA1541A DAC which has somewhat of a cult following even today and Adcom was reputed to pay pretty good attention to the details considering that it was kind of entry-head audiophile stuff at best.
