Budget Amps with Decent Headphone Output

[DNADave]

I read somewhere recently that the headphone output on most amps is just an afterthought and you need to invest in a headphone amplifier to get the best sound from your cans. What do people think of this? I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770s recently and was surprised to hear that they sounded much better off my iPodClassic /Fiio E7 portable headphone amp combo than when connected to the headphone jack of my home Hi-Fi amp. My current amp is an old Sony TA-FE570 that I am considering replacing anyway. Maybe it has a poor headphone output or is this quite a common issue?

Do any current amps under £500 have particularly good headphone outputs? What about second-hand kit around the £200 mark? Any recommendations/comments would be very welcome. I only have a basic amp/CD player/speakers set-up; my CD player is an Arcam CD72T. Ideally, I would like decent headphone sound at home straight from the amp, but any home headphone amps that people could recommend would be of interest too.

Thanks very much!

 

[expat_mike]

I have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770s arriving this week, mainly intended listening to tv/films without keeping my cat awake. lol

I am not surprised that you are getting better performance from your portable gear. I now use a Dragonfly 1.2 dac for listening to sound from my computer, and an Oppo HA-2 dac for listening to music/podcasts stored on my phone. It has amazed me the sound quality, that has been hidden for years.

So I would suggest that if you can get an optical signal from your cd player, maybe you could feed that into a portable dac such as the oppo, or alternatively the chord mojo which is awakening the ears of headphone users worldwide, at the moment.

Alternatively graham slee headphone amps are popular http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/headphone-amp.htm , plus i think that the firm operates a try before you buy scheme.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Maybe not budget 2nd hand but the Audiolab 8200a.

Superb headphone output, honestly - if not the best audio output imo. To add some have disagreed with me ref the amps performance but the headphone stage is seriously good.

 

[Leeps]

Not heard it myself, but I understand the NAD D3020's headphone output is allegedly pretty good.

 

[eggontoast]

I read somewhere recently that the headphone output on most amps is just an afterthought and you need to invest in a headphone amplifier to get the best sound from your cans. What do people think of this? I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770s recently and was surprised to hear that they sounded much better off my iPodClassic /Fiio E7 portable headphone amp combo than when connected to the headphone jack of my home Hi-Fi amp. My current amp is an old Sony TA-FE570 that I am considering replacing anyway. Maybe it has a poor headphone output or is this quite a common issue?

Do any current amps under £500 have particularly good headphone outputs? What about second-hand kit around the £200 mark? Any recommendations/comments would be very welcome. I only have a basic amp/CD player/speakers set-up; my CD player is an Arcam CD72T. Ideally, I would like decent headphone sound at home straight from the amp, but any home headphone amps that people could recommend would be of interest too.

Thanks very much!

Headphone outputs on most Hi-Fi amplifiers are usually taken straight off of the main powerstage and resistors are used to drop some of the voltage. Headphone outputs are usually OK, especially with higher impedance headphones (you don't say what impedance DT770 you have). These types of headphone outputs can change the response across the frequency range, whether the change is better or worse is a matter of opinion.

Unfortunately Sony chose not to use this approach on TA-FE570 and the headphone output on your amplifier is the biggest pile of poo imaginable, it s not surprising your cans sound poor from it.

The Arcam A19 is supposed to have a nice headphone output and one can be picked up secondhand for under £500. The headphone output on these amplifiers is a simple opamp driven affair. It uses two opamp stages in parallel to increase the current capability and also has a low output impedance too. It should sound pretty decent although, I've never heard one so can't say for sure.

 

[DNADave]

Thanks very much for your replies, particularly from eggontoast. This explains the poor headphone sound quality from my Sony amp! (The DT770s are the 80ohm version).

Interested as well in your comment about the Arcam amp. Do you consider that older Arcam amps e.g. A65/75, would also have a decent headphone output? These are cheaper second hand and would fit in with my CD player.

Thanks again.

 

[eggontoast]

Thanks very much for your replies, particularly from eggontoast. This explains the poor headphone sound quality from my Sony amp! (The DT770s are the 80ohm version).

Interested as well in your comment about the Arcam amp. Do you consider that older Arcam amps e.g. A65/75, would also have a decent headphone output? These are cheaper second hand and would fit in with my CD player.

Thanks again.

The reason I mentioned the A19 is that Arcam have tried to improve the headphone output, this is specifically deigned for today’s market and the increase in headphone use. I seem to remember reading that they compared the headphone output to a £150 standalone headphone amplifier. Although looking at the schematic I highly doubt that claim. The older A65/A75 amplifiers use the configuration I mentioned in my first post and drop the voltage off the main powerstage using resistors. Either would certainly sound better than your Sony for sure. I wouldn't worry about the high output impedance for your 80 ohm DT770's either, I have a pair and they sound great off my headphone output on my integrated amplifier. Even Beyerdynamic’s own A1 headphone amplifier has a 100 ohm output impedance and the DT770's sounded the best they ever did when I had an A1.

 

[DNADave]

Thanks very much for your posts which have been very helpful and informative!

Regards -David