[bcwang]

Does anyone know if a good headphone amp can work well as a preamp? My friend has a good power amp and full size speakers, but not so great front end components. I want to bring a good source but need a way to drive the amp without using his mixer/pre-amp.

I'm wondering how much I'd lose driving a good source into a headphone amp to control the volume of the amp. I know the impedance of the amp is much higher than a headphone, but I've also read some of the amp/preamp combos use the same circuit on both sides so there is no difference.

I've got an XP-7 with AD797 and a Tomahawk I could use, if this sounds like it would work well.

 

[FallenAngel]

As long as the headphone amp has passive ground, you should be fine.

 

[CQ DX]

Check with the manufacturer first. For example, 'Little Dot' amps should not be used with 'direct coupled' amplifiers.

That said, I use my MKIII as a preamp mostly, driving a McIntosh MC162 amplifier, in turn driving Magnepan speakers. The sound is AMAZING... so liquid, natural, detailed, non-fatiguing, etc.! Even with the stock tubes, however I changed the EF95 driver tubes to 'Hytron JHY-6AK5' NOS for even
better sonics.

These head amps (with preamp outs) are, without question, the best 'bang per buck' audiophile bargains out there currently! They can bring a 2-channel system to life literally!

 

[darlim]

Xcanv8P is created with Pre amp output. Even XcanV8 ( older version) can be used as a pre amp unit

 

[minimus]

A lot of people on Head-fi seem to use some headphone amps with great success as preamps (including the Zana Deux and the Ray Samuels Stealth and Apache).

My current speaker rig does not use a preamp -- I connect my DAC, which has a volume control, directly to my McIntosh MC275. However, I have played around with my speaker rig, inserting the Blue Circle Hat Peed Thingee headphone amp into the system as a preamp. This is a $750 headpone amp with preamp outs added (I think) as an afterthought. It does sound quite good as a preamp, with much better dynamics than with no preamp.

In any case, I think you can get good results with a headphone amp as a preamp and save yourself some money. The other option of buying a dedicated preamp and connecting a headphone amp to it via the tape loop outs will also work, but may be more expensive in the end.

 

[pcf]

Benchmark DAC1(pre)maybe?
It works very well as a preamp.

 

[Pangaea]

Headroom Desktop Amp works great in this capacity.

 

[CQ DX]

Can someone list some of the better head amps that are being used as 2-channel preamps? I am aware of the 'Little Dot', 'DarkVoice', and 'Woo Audio' head amps having line preamp outputs. Which other ones have I missed?

 

[Jodet]

The Blue Circle headamps, Hat Peed Thingie, Hat Peed Thingie 2, and SBH all have very good pre-amp outputs. I've used my SBH to run a Quad 909, was a very nice combo.

 

[Valens7]

I don't use mine as a preamp, but I understand that the GS-1 is an exceptionally good one.

 

[Il Mostro]

Depends on the quality and scale of the system. The vast majority HP amp/pre's won't cut it with high end big-rigs quality-wise, since the pre-amp function is secondary or a downright afterthought (read: throwaway). Exceptions to this are products along the lines of the good old Melos SHA Gold and integrated amps that can be used as a pre-amp like the VTL ST 85i. Even though these have good HP capabilities, they primarily function as high quality components in two-channel speaker systems..

 

[gbacic]

And some headphone amps with preamp outs are just awful, even if they are good amps. My Darkvoice 332 is a stellar amp for my HD650's, but it is a terrible pre amp. My Compass does a much better job as a preamp.

A headphone amp as a preamp will be ok, or even great, it all just depends on which one you use.

 

[ahoegh]

I'm ONLY using my headphone amplifier as a pre-amp. It works very well. My setup is:

- A mediacenter PC playing FLAC files via ASIO (optical out)
- Cambridge Audio DacMagic DAC
- Little Dot MK III (newest version) with Mullard M8161 EF92 driver tubes
- Jungson Duro (OEM) class A power amplifier
- XTZ 99.36 speakers with Zindak FS-1 cables

The music has never sounded better. You can hear a clear difference between EF95 and EF92 tubes.

One comment, though.. if I turn the volume up at more than 25% on the pre-amp, I will go deaf in two minutes. It's very, very, very loud.

 

[XXII]

Could someone explain why a headphone amp might not make a great preamp? Isn't the preamp outs of a headphone amp typically just the same as connecting the power amp to the headphone out (balanced ground excluded)?

 

[ironmine]

My April Music Stello HP100 is great both as a headphone amp and a pre-amp! The sound is dynamic and holographic.