[Nospam]

I asked this in another site while waiting for my account here to be authorized. So far, the other site hasn't been very helpful, but I'm hoping someone here can answer my questions.

Bascially, I'm surprising my father with an HD600 (or maybe a HD650). I was originally thinking that he could simply plug them into his existing pre-amp (using RCA to mini-jack adapter), but a co-worker cautioned that it could damage the headphones.

Since I'm not very familiar with the details of impedance matching and so-on, I was hoping someone here could give me a hand.

The pre-amp is a Mark Levinson ML-10A.

Specs:

Power Consumption: 20W

Line
Gain: 17dB (High), 7dB (Low)
Max Output: 6V
Input Impedance: 15k Ohms
Recommended Load: 10k Ohms or greater

This last line caught my attention. Does this mean that whatever I plug into the Line output should have an impedance of 10k Ohms +? What happens if it's lower, such as with the HD600 (300 Ohms)?

I did some searching and found these interesting items:
http://www.divertech.com/uhcsignature.html
http://www.divertech.com/aqreferencetools.html

Would using one of these be a good idea?

Finally, would a dedicated headphone amp instead make that much of a difference? If I got one for my father, it would be in the $500 range.

TIA

 

[JaZZ]

«Recommended Load: 10k Ohms or greater» sais it all: with a load of 300 ohm the ML won't work properly. Not that it would damage the headphone, but if the coupling capacitors are matched to loads such as 10 kOhm and above, you won't get enough bass, apart from a possibly too high output impedance which would distort the frequency response further. You definitely need a headphone amp.

 

[JaZZ]

I have the ASL Reference Tools. As good as the idea and the sound are, the achievable volume when connected to a normal CD player's line out isn't high enough. I don't know if the other ASL product (amp to HP transformer) would be a good idea. I guess for slightly more money you'll get a cheap (used?) headphone amp which would possibly offer the same or higher sonic performance (of course depending on the power amp's sound quality) with better handling comfort.

 

[cpw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nospam Finally, would a dedicated headphone amp instead make that much of a difference? If I got one for my father, it would be in the $500 range. TIA

Please get an amp. You have lots of options in the $500 range. My advice would be to get the HD600 and w/ the $150 you'd save compared to the HD650, you'd have a pretty good jump on the price of an amp.
There's lots of info here. Get busy and sorry about your wallet (traditional Head-Fi greeting).
CPW

 

[ampgalore]

I second the advice on getting the HD600 over the HD650. The money saved can be used towards the purchase of a really nice amp.

 

[Nospam]

Many thanks to everyone. It sounds like I need to just bite the bullet and get a headphone amp for my father. Too bad, since I really wanted to make use of his existing (and fairly nice) amps.

Sigh...

There goes a good chunk of the money I was putting aside for a new PowerBook

 

[cpw]

If I were looking for an amp in the $500 range I'd seriously consider the XP-7 from Ray Samuels or the Singlepower PPX3 from Mikhail. Do a search on this site & you'll find more than you can read. Love my HD650s and my HD600s; can't go wrong either way. Dad's a lucky guy. Tell him sorry about his wallet too!
CPW