Pity the SA=11S3 is not as good headphone out as the Dac 1 - I was hoping to pick up a very good 'all in one player head amp' for my father, who is computer illiterate. Any other suggestions?
Wait a minute - someone saying that SA-11S3 has lower quality headphone out than HD-DAC1? Really? If so, kind of pity for Marantz! Any other SACD all-in-one Marantz player to compare with HD-DAC1 or the latter one seems to be the best?
I was not suggesting the headphone output on the SA-11S3 is bad. It is in fact the best
integrated one on a CD player that I have heard. However, it can't compete with the better
dedicated headphone amps.
The voltage amplification section (VAS) in the SA-11S3, SA8005 and HD-DAC1 I would expect to be very similar, albeit that they may be implemented around different versions of Marantz' HDAM discrete opamp series.
Where the difference lies is that in the HD-DAC1 a generously dimensioned zero global feedback current dumping section is employed, and that the matching of the amp to the headphone impedance & sensitivity has to be specifically set by the user by selecting the amount of feedback utilized in the voltage amp section.
In the SA-11S3 I suspect (and all other audio components not primarily designed as a headphone amp I have ever come across) the matching to the headphone impedance is done automatically by means on an approx. 120 Ohm resistor in the output to the headphones. This has an immediate audible impact on the sound character of the headphones as the impedance curve of headphones (just like regular speakers) is far from flat. In my experience
most headphones benefit from being driven from a low output impedance like the HD-DAC1. The bass performance becomes markedly tighter and more controlled. There are exceptions however. Allegedly (although I am happy to be corrected as I cannot remember for the life of me where I read this) the Beyerdynamic T1 is designed to be driven from a finite output impedance. Driving that one from a low output impedance can make it sound too thin (i.e. it loses some warmth). Beyerdynamic's A1 headphone amp released at the time to be paired with its flagship T1 headphones has an output impedance of 100 Ohms. (their recent A2 headphone amp has a selectable output impedance of 0 Ohm or 100 Ohm). Ideally all headphone amps should come with a selectable output impedance!
So I would personally say the SA-11S3 would be a great 'all in one player head amp'. It might struggle to drive higher impedance headphones though (depending on how loud your father likes or needs to play it).
Edited: previously referred to Beyerdynamic A20 instead of A1