[TimS]

Would that make sense ? It looks like that there are just a few dedicated headphone amps and they are pretty hard to get / expensive where I live. Why can't one just use a preamp etc. ?

Greets,
Tim

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by TimS Would that make sense ? It looks like that there are just a few dedicated headphone amps and they are pretty hard to get / expensive where I live. Why can't one just use a preamp etc. ? Greets, Tim

Tim
This is a frequently asked question. If we were more organized, we'd have a frequently asked question answer to point you to, but we don't so I'll try to explain.

Yes, of course, you can use the headphone jack on any receiver or preamp and it will generally work. The issue isn't just making it work, though, but getting a good quality. You'd like to believe that the preamp's circuitry is designed to support both headphones and amps but that's not exactly true. The average preamp's headphone jack is more of an afterthough -- an opamp, a couple of resistors and wires, less complicated and of lower quality than most of the basic Do-It-Yourself headphone amps in the forum here and at HeadWize.

That's the rule. Here are some exceptions. A number of preamps are known for their excellent headphone sections and they typically get a lot of attention on Head-Fi. Among them: Melos SHA-1/SHA-Gold/Maestro, Portal Panache, Sugden Headmaster. There are others but remember they're exceptions. In general, the headphone sections simply aren't all that. Some are better than others and many people have settled on not using a dedicated headphone amp but try to keep in mind that you're not getting the most out of your headphones if you're not properly dealing with amplifcation.

 

[TimS]

Sorry, just some silly idea of me

I was thinking of if it's possible to just connect the headphones to the normal output, not the secondary headphone amp. Is that possible or is even the output of a preamp to high power and might damage headphones ?

Greets,
Tim