[lipidicman]

My S4XP has a GREAT sounding headphone socket. It wont drive my HD580s loud but it is very good with my HD565. I get no noise from the computer and whilst not as good as my XCANv2 it is listenable.

Now, I have no dedicated line out to go to my HiFi (cyrus7). Can I use a 3.5mm to 2 RCA lead and carefully set (or bypass somehow) the volume control in windows? How do 'lineouts' differ from 'headphone outs'?

edit: done a little reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_(e...l_engineering)
doesn't really clear it up. I am concerned that the headphone output may have too much power. But as headphone outputs and lineouts are roughly 100ohm it may be OK. ???

I also found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-level
again not much help without knowing the voltages and impedance of my headphone output

HELP!!!

 

[lipidicman]

No technical wizards here?

My research with google has yielded little.

 

[jjcha]

I also love the headphone out of the Sony Vaio T and TX series computers... I dunno, it's punchier and more spacious than say an iPod out. Not a whole lot of power though - you can't get the volume that loud with say a HD650, but it's surprisingly one of my favorite little sources.

As for your technical question, I'm sure someone around here will come around and answer it. You can use a mini to RCA plug to go out to an amp. You can't really disable the volume - generally I set mine on max on the source where there's little audible line noise (the Sony ain't too bad in this regard) and then use the amp for volume control, but just do what sounds good to you. I don't believe there is a "right" answer to this.

Best,

-Jason

 

[lipidicman]

Thanks.

I have found the sony S4 out to be good, but you do have to stick to lower impedence cans (the 150ohm 565s are where I find it works best. Mind you it is the best source for my 16ohm CX300 which hisses like mad from an ipod of xcan. The quality improves when you run off of battery too)

I guess I need an edirol ua-1ex or a m-audio transit

 

[h-man]

I have an s1xp and I am very pleased with the headphone output from it - very little line noise at all. One thing I have bought, though is the echo indigo dj PCMCIA card, which sounds unbelievably good. The other benefit of this card is that it has a volume-controllable headphone out as well as a fixed line-level output. I think the idea behind this is so that you can monitor the mix on cans if you are dj-ing whilst outputing a separate "house mix" via the lineout. I am no dj (the mere thought of it makes me grin ), but it is perfect for hooking up to my Cyrus 8 amp. I tend to have ALAC files playing through foobar 2K, using ASIO output to the ECHO indigo, and it sounds great through the cyrus!

 

[lipidicman]

The echo seems good and nice to know that it works with the cyrus well. However it has no digital out! Major feature for me that!