preamp headphones

most headphone amps in component's aren't very good or powerful.. yeah you will get sound, but not very loud or good quality sound.

A couple of my int amps have headphone connections.. but once pushed it sounds warbled, exception is my Outlaw Audio 990 pre amp.. that sucker has a nice sounding phones amp.

NeilGabriel wrote: »

Is there a separate headphone amp maybe.....?

Yes there are a few on the market like these from Headroom.http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/

NeilGabriel wrote: »

I meant was there a separate headphone amp in the processor (into which I plugged the headphones), and I assume the answer to that has to be yes?

Oops sorry I misunderstood.To answer the question most pre/pro's would likely have a separate op amp to drive the headphone outputs.However I have seen stereo pre's that just use the same line stage for headphones and the line outs.

Many better units have ok headphone out. But like alll things in audio,
there's room for improvement.

WARNING: Continued speculation may result in damage to your wallet.
Do not, under any circumstances, visit Head-Fi, Headroom,
or any other non Polk audio website. Your built in jack
sounds just fine...................:D


I have listened to some of the best out there. For me, it's too late.
I have to use an external amp.

That B&K probably (speculation warning) has a simple op-amp circuit for the headphone amp section. That's not going to push much quality or quantity out. Unfortunately most preamps often have a separate headphone amp circuit slapped on as an afterthought. Notable exceptions: Melos SHA1/SHA Gold (which I've owned), Sugden Headmaster (own - Stereophile class A headamp & class B preamp) and supposedly most any Cary tube integrated w/ headphone jack (which I've yet to hear). Actually I think the Sugden & Cary use the same circuit for preamp & headphone outputs; the Melos uses separate circuits IIRC.

On the flip side, most good dedicated headphone amps also make excellent preamps for the money, since they're designed to drive the much more difficult low-impedance loads that headphones present - 32 to 300 ohms compared to the 10K to 100K ohms of a typical power amp input. A good preamp just has to push (mostly) voltage, the headphone amp must be good at pushing voltage & current (and usually higher voltages at that).

Often headphone amps will supply line-out jacks that may simply tap out from the headphone circuit. If not, you can use a Y-adapter from the headphone jack to your power amp. Usually the only potential problem is that headphone amps typically have much higher gain than stereo preamps - this can especially be a problem for stepped attenuators, which may not allow you one or two clicks before you're at "blazingly loud". Be careful not to push your amp into clipping. If this is the case you can use attenuators to move into a better range.

Being a big headphone geek, I'd rather have my money invested in great headphone amps and use one as a preamp...they can compete with the big names of the stereo world, IMO. I've had great success particularly with the Melos SHA-Gold, Eddie-Current Zana Deux, and Singlepower Supra/SDS. The Sugden is also pretty decent.

Anthem and Sonic Frontiers also offer independent, tube driven headphone outputs. I believe some of the newer Marantz gear offer individual headphone outputs. I wish more manufacturers would remember that a headphone output is useful to some of us in this world.

The B&K is simply an op amp and it's not very good. The Cary SLP-2002 pre-amp has a horrible headphone output so hopefully the later units with that option are designed better.

You can pick up a headphone amp cheap and they run the gamut all the way to ridiculously expensive. Start small and experiment on the ;ow end of the spectrum.