Amplifier for AKG K240 mkII, maybe Amp with DAC

skkayman

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Feb 25, 2013
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Hello :wave:

I have Pioneer A-30 amplifier and AKG K240 mkII headphones. As you can expect, headphone amp on Pioneer is not that good as I would like it to be. I tried FiiO E10 and it is a big difference. Even soundcard in PC sounds better (better then FiiO too :p (It's terratec aureon space 7.1 with headphone amp and Wolfson WM8770 as DAC)).

At first I thought about amp with DAC like Audinst HUD-MX2 or Beresford's amp/DAC and others. But that will limit listeting only to PC and digital sources with headphones.

As I plan to buy Pioneer N-30, I can save a few euros and buy Pioneer N-50 with DAC. So digital sources will go to amp from N-50. And I will buy simple headphone amp connected to RECORDER OUT on Pioneer amplifier. I have looked on service manual and it is direct connection (buffered) from inputs - only problem would be the input selector LC78212, but I don't know how good/bad it is..

What amplifier would you suggest my for K240? Or is my thinking bad and using recorder out is not a good idea?

For amp with DAC was thinking in price range up to 200€, max 300€. If I buy N-50 I can go up to max 200€ with amplifier
 

pauln

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Feb 26, 2008
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I have the Mk1 version of these - they are good sounding headphones.

I don't think either version really needs an amp, they are low impedance and high sensitivity - easy to drive. I bought an Audio-gd NFB 12 DAC/amp to connect to my desktop PC, mainly to give me an easy way to switch between headphones and speakers and they do sound better than when plugged directly into the computer but then it is only the motherboard sound card rather than a discreet card. I often plug them directly into the TV as well and that sounds pretty good, certainly more than loud enough.

You should look for an amp with a low output impedance of 1 or 2 ohms. If they don't quote this, it's probably high and best left alone. It doesn't need to be too powerful. The O2 is supposed to be very good - http://epiphany-acoustics.co.uk/products-page/headphone-amplifiers/ehp-o2-portable-headphone-amplifier/ and only £100.

Have a look here for more information: http://nwavguy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/headphone-amp-impedance.html he also does a review of the FiiO E10 somewhere and of course designed the O2 I mentioned.
 

skkayman

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Feb 25, 2013
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I have just finished testing O2 amp which I built myself as DIY :) It's simply perfect!

I have connecter input of O2 to RECORDER OUT on Pioneer amp so I just turn off speaker A output and turnong O2 to listen any source of Pioneer in headphones :)
 

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