jmanlp
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2006
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Does anyone use a full size speaker amp to drive headphones? I recently pulled my Pioneer SA 9500 II out of storage and it sounds pretty good with my W1000s.
Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Check out my signature. I plug my K501 on my Rotel pre amp. But I just DIYed an adapter to plug the headphone to the speaker out of my Carver power amp. Still figuring out what are the sound differences, but apparently not as much as I expected. May be the Rotel is really good? |
Originally Posted by tfarney /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use an early 70s Harman Kardonn A-401 integrated as a headphone amp, and it sounds wonderful -- powerful, big effortless bass, a bit on the warm, "tubey" side for SS. I picked up a 70s Kenwood receiver for my dad at a garage sale a few weeks ago and it had a powerful, sweet headphone section as well. You have to be careful about the vintage when doing this though, because the thing that makes them good headamps is that they use the main amps, stepped down through a resistor, instead of a completely separate circuit with a cheap op amp. I don't know when the mainstream manufacturers started going to op amps. To be safe, I'd stick with the old silver-faced stuff from the 70s, myself. Sometimes it needs service -- cleaning, replacement of leaking caps...have your tech check that resistor if you're using it as a headphone amp, but even with service they can be great headamps for little money. Tim |