[sirion]

This past week, I've been purchasing components for the DIY pocket amp project here so that I'll have a decent amp for some Senn HD600s arriving in a week or two.

Then I just realized today that my microphone preamp/compressor seems to...well...amplify incoming sounds, and it seems to have a 1/4" jack in and a 1/4" jack out...

Full description is provided here:
http://www.joemeek.net/joemeek/products/vc3qinfo.htm

To quote(It talks about the unit's preamp, and then it's compressor, and then...), "The [Equalizer] uses a vintage design class A amplifier at the heart of the EQ sections. Use of this amplifier reduces harmonic and inter modulation distortions normally caused by class B and digital equaliser models.* The class A amplifier also produces valve like signal qualities that warm sound. "


So might this be a good option for my headphones? Seems somewhat wasteful to go get a full-sized amp if I already have a good quality one(and I don't record with it often enough to need another unit).

 

[Quincy]

Hi sirion,

I know some other folks on this forum know more than me, but here I go anyway...

The hd600's are high impedence phones, and benefit from better amps.

The mic-pre might not have as much gain as a headphone amp. So you're hd600's might sound ok though the mic-pre, but I'm not sure if they will be driven to their deserved potential.
I'd try to find the gain your mic-pre and compare it to the gain of some headphone amps.

The mic-pre is designed to bring very small mic signals up to line levels, but might not be suited to operate at higher levels needed by the headphones.

I don't think you would damage anything by trying out the headphones on your mic-pre. You can always try out a headphone amp on a 30 day trial through Headroom and compare the two.

 

[Quincy]

they are talking about pretty much the same subject here:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...threadid=12391

 

[AndreYew]

Sirion, it won't work, and may damage any source you hook up to the mic preamp because of it may 48 V phantom voltage on its inputs (used to power mics).

--Andre

 

[sirion]

There's a button to turn phantom power on or off.

 

[AndreYew]

Sirion,

Besides phantom voltage, there are other problems. Mics are monophonic. You will have to rig something up to input stereo, and output stereo on the preamp. The gain of the preamp will also be wrong (way too high) for the headphones. Line-level sources voltage may overload the input stage as well.

--Andre