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In Reply to: RE: Which balanced amp/? posted by genungo on March 07, 2016 at 06:14:34
Before considering any headphone amp (balanced or otherwise), the OP is asking if any such amp would be better than using the headphone output on his vintage Pioneer amp given that he finds the Pioneer "fantastic".
Is the Pioneer receiver good for the HD 800s or not?
Follow Ups:
... that very few people here have had the opportunity to listen to the very same Pioneer amp driving HD-800 headphones.
So, IMO, the OP needs to listen to a few modern, dedicated headphone amps so that he might learn for himself. Those of us who have listened to a variety of dedicated headphone amps (balanced or otherwise) have been pleasantly surprised, but it can be hard to convince another person who has not heard the difference on a firsthand basis.
OTOH, there is no accounting for taste. To the OP's ears, the Pioneer may indeed sound as good or better as anything being made today.
Listening is learning.
likely with decent headphone amps built in. My Marantz 2325 had a decent headphone amp as well and I am sure it would have sounded great with a GREAT set of cans like the HD-800.
But compared to anything Woo audio sells that is designed to drive headphones like the HD-800?
My bet is no contest, but I will admit that I have never experienced HD-800 driven by a forty year old Pioneer receiver.
Don't make me go down to the basement and dig out that Marantz 2325 and risk burning down the house by plugging it in for the first time in 30 years just to try it out as a headphone amp. ;-)
i think vintage receivers drive the headphones off the main circuit through some resisters (new receivers may have a separate chip-based amp for headphones).
This probably can make a big diference comparing the old receivers using the powerfull main circuit against the new headphone amps with simpler dedicated chip-based amp (?)
Maybe Ivan could try on his 125watt receiver and tells us about...
"i think vintage receivers drive the headphones off the main circuit through some resisters"And that is where the mating of HD 800s to the Pioneer may come adrift from the ideal.
HD 800s are 300 ohm cans. So they deally need to be plugged into an output with an impedence that is <30ohms ( using the 10:1 rule of thumb). However the resistor network that is used to reduce the amplifier output to suit headphones may mean that the 'phones "see" a comparatively high impedence that is unsuitable from a perfectionist viewpoint.
Headpones were generally not considered as truly high end audio devices at the time of your receiver's manufacture ( certainly nothing of the standard of the HD 800s existed) and using an attenuation network would probably have been considered as adequate for the task ( but no more) by the manufacturer. Hence one reason for the creation of a market for outboard headphone amplifiers in later years when the potential quality of headphone listening improved.
Still, suck it and see.
Edits: 03/11/16
Hi !
very interesting point here
" HD 800s are 300 ohm cans. So they deally need to be plugged into an output with an impedence that is <30ohms ( using the 10:1 rule of thumb). However the resistor network that is used to reduce the amplifier output to suit headphones may mean that the 'phones "see" a comparatively high impedence that is unsuitable from a perfectionist viewpoint "
I have seen from a schematic that the Pioneer sx1050 headphone outs are obtained from the speakers out adding in series a 150 ohm resistor (one per channel).
So maybe the big bass perceived is just an underdamped bass ? bloated ?
Just asking.
Kind regards,
bg
Problem solved !
Sennheiser HDVD 800
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