leesweet
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
- Posts
- 4
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- 0
I was directed here by some folks at AVS, but I'm thinking this site is overkill for what I need...
Here's the situation. I'm a bit hard of hearing and usually use headphones for run-of-the-mill TV/Music listening. However, others in the house are also listening to the speakers, so I can't use the normal 'headphones' jack on my Yamaha receiver, since it's tied to the master volume control.
My past solution to this was the Pioneer IR wireless headphones that tied into the optical-out monitor port of the receiver. I'm sure these are of atrocious audio quality to you here, but got the job done for me. (Heck, I wouldn't mind a little better quality, myself!) The real problem with all this was the poor *hardware* quality: I've been through two sets of the headphones in two years (at over $300 each). The actual connection of one of the cans to the band broke off on each set and isn't fixable (plastic clips attach the cans to the band, and it breaks off flush...). (I wasn't very happy at this, and I treat electronic equipment very carefully, especially the second time around!)
So, I'd like to try wired cans again, but need some sort of headphone amp that will connect to the optical (toslink) output of the A/V receiver. From what I've read here, that's not just an 'amp', but really a DAC/amp. And also I've learned that sounds like a lot more than I want to spend to just get a pair of low/middle cost headphones (Senn 555/595 ballpark, etc.) to work with a separate volume control and the receiver's optical line-out.
Of course, on top of all that, one thing the Pioneer wireless cans had that was cool was a volume control on the local unit (on the right can), so you could adjust for volume issues with TV or radio, etc. I don't know if any headphone amps even offer remote controls at all for the volume gain.
Obviously, I'm new to this market, and looking for something that may not exist at a reasonable price, and I don't need high levels of fidelity, which you folks are concentrating on. In any case, any suggestions? Places to look if this isn't it?
Thanks much for reading!
Here's the situation. I'm a bit hard of hearing and usually use headphones for run-of-the-mill TV/Music listening. However, others in the house are also listening to the speakers, so I can't use the normal 'headphones' jack on my Yamaha receiver, since it's tied to the master volume control.
My past solution to this was the Pioneer IR wireless headphones that tied into the optical-out monitor port of the receiver. I'm sure these are of atrocious audio quality to you here, but got the job done for me. (Heck, I wouldn't mind a little better quality, myself!) The real problem with all this was the poor *hardware* quality: I've been through two sets of the headphones in two years (at over $300 each). The actual connection of one of the cans to the band broke off on each set and isn't fixable (plastic clips attach the cans to the band, and it breaks off flush...). (I wasn't very happy at this, and I treat electronic equipment very carefully, especially the second time around!)
So, I'd like to try wired cans again, but need some sort of headphone amp that will connect to the optical (toslink) output of the A/V receiver. From what I've read here, that's not just an 'amp', but really a DAC/amp. And also I've learned that sounds like a lot more than I want to spend to just get a pair of low/middle cost headphones (Senn 555/595 ballpark, etc.) to work with a separate volume control and the receiver's optical line-out.
Of course, on top of all that, one thing the Pioneer wireless cans had that was cool was a volume control on the local unit (on the right can), so you could adjust for volume issues with TV or radio, etc. I don't know if any headphone amps even offer remote controls at all for the volume gain.
Obviously, I'm new to this market, and looking for something that may not exist at a reasonable price, and I don't need high levels of fidelity, which you folks are concentrating on. In any case, any suggestions? Places to look if this isn't it?
Thanks much for reading!
