Amps to power headphones??

madmax

I collect many different types of amplifiers (mostly tube) and am wondering what kind of circuit I would need to go directly from the amplifier speaker outputs (4 or 8 ohm) and match to my 600 ohm Senheisers? Obviously with tubes I need to keep either a 4 or 8 ohm load on the amplifier. Do I need a transformer? If so, which one? Any ideas?
madmax

zingo

Here is the right way to do it: http://aloaudio.com/miniwatt-headphone-adapter.html I have not tried it myself, my Head-Fi has good reviews.

Face

For those with balanced cans: http://www.musicdirect.com/p-61624-hifiman-he-adapter.aspx

EndersShadow

Thanks for those links fella's.... This opens me up to the possiblity of getting a nice tube amp for home/work that I can also use for headphones..

madmax

Zingo,
The link is different than the pic you posted. Still, looks like what I need!

zingo

Must be two different versions, because it's the same product from the same company.

tonyb

Check out Burson too, I've been lusting over their stuff for awhile now.

Face

Burson makes a great sounding headphone amp.

jaritta

I personally love my eddie current headphone amp

nspindel

I have an Eddie Current as well. Which one do you have?

jaritta

i have the zdt it is fantastic

nspindel

I have the Balancing Act. Really fantastic

madmax

I purchased one of these http://www.musicdirect.com/p-61624-hifiman-he-adapter.aspx
that Face suggested, works great! I'm trying several amps to see what sounds best. I also got one of the Schiit LYR high power headphone amps, it rocks. http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=3

I picked up some Russian tubes for the Schiit and they sound much better than the GE tubes that came with it. If I find an amp that sounds better than the Schiit I'll sell it. So far some pretty nice amps don't sound as good. Rigiht now I'm trying a pair of Manley 300B amps, haven't decided how they sound yet, need more listening time.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I'm glad you're liking the Schiit, all their amps are great performers at their respective prices. They're not the best amps on the market, but they perform very well for the money. I'm still loving the combination of the Valhalla with the HD600.

madmax

Thanks for recommending the LYR, I'm very impressed. I would be just as impressed if it had cost twice as much, very nice amp!

madmax

The Lyr is a super high output amp meant for extremely low efficiency phones, for all others the Valhalla would be more fitting and sound better.