[txccider]

Headphones DT 1770 Pro
Amp 1 Little Dot Mk IV Se 
Amp 2 Soundcraftsmen DX4200 EQ Preamp
Sources IBasso DX90 Flac or Logitech Squeezebox usually playing Tidal 
 
To begin with I started out 3 or 4 years ago with the Bravo single tube "amp"  with ATH50 headphones, and progressed to the gear above. I love the Beyerdynamic DT 1770's as an upgrade
to the ATH50 and ATH1000 which I have had as well. I've rolled the tubes and burned them in over months of heavy listening. Some changes in our main living area required me to 
take the hifi gear out of the living room and replace it with a whole house system by Sonos which is fine for the use we have for it. During the transition I moved the DX4200 to my night table and noticed how it really rocked the headphones and to me had much better sound quality than the tube amp, and how the equalization brought things to life. I'm in my 60's and have had some frequency loss from rock and roll and shooting firearms in my younger days without hearing protection.
 
So my questions are. 
 
Am I dreaming and is this vintage preamp going to blow away this Little Dot?
 
If so should I invest in a recap and upgrade of the Soundcraftsmen? Do people use this type of gear for headphone amplification?
 
Where do I go from here?
 
Thanks,
Bob

 

[cel4145]

Seems reasonable.

There are some people that say that EQ is an evil thing with headphones.

There are others of us that say that EQ is often a necessary thing to get the best sound out of our headphones.

And if one has some hearing loss at certain frequencies, EQ makes even more sense. That's what a hearing aid does, right?

Solid state headphone output aims towards transparency/accuracy. Tube amp output aims to add some "pleasing" distortion which some people like and others don't prefer over better accuracy/transparency. Could be your DX4200 is more accurate and that's what you like.

Ultimately, it's what sounds best to you and not anyone else in this kind of situation. So who cares what others think

 

[Monsterzero]

My vintage receivers smoke any dedicated headphone amps Ive owned....so prolly not your imagination.

And yes are lots of us who use vintage gear.Look here