headphone amp as a pre amp

[admin_exported]

i was using a yamaha dsp 800 to feed my musical fidelity x-a50 mono power amps, as i
wanted stereo and surround music without any loss in the sound of my system,
the yamaha dsp 800 then had a fault and went for repair i had to wait 3 weeks for the repair to
be done,, and the shop advised me to use my headphone amp as pre amp and to connect
my mono power ams to my musical fidelity x-can v3 headphone jack with jack to phono
out i did this and this really sounded brilliant and now use this as my main stereo set up
i would never have thought of this and have saved money i was going to spend on
a pre amp, do you think it is worthwhile buying a pre amp and why does the headphone amp sound so good as a pre amp..

 

[Anonymous]

why?...simplicity!

Its probably the complete opposite of your AV map in that respect.

 

[Anonymous]

Simplicity is exactly right. To most purists less processing = better sound. You are simply passing the signal along.

 

[Ajani]

dvdaudio:
i was using a yamaha dsp 800 to feed my musical fidelity x-a50 mono power amps, as i
wanted stereo and surround music without any loss in the sound of my system,
the yamaha dsp 800 then had a fault and went for repair i had to wait 3 weeks for the repair to
be done,, and the shop advised me to use my headphone amp as pre amp and to connect
my mono power ams to my musical fidelity x-can v3 headphone jack with jack to phono
out i did this and this really sounded brilliant and now use this as my main stereo set up
i would never have thought of this and have saved money i was going to spend on
a pre amp, do you think it is worthwhile buying a pre amp and why does the headphone amp sound so good as a pre amp..

Actually Musical Fidelity recommends using their X-Can V8 as a cheap way to drive their superchargers (there used to be an article in the news section of their website about this).... so yes a headphone amp will make a very useful stripped down preamp.... (the obvious problems being lack of inputs and remote, as most h/amps only have 1 or 2 inputs and no remote)....

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds suspicious...

 

[Anonymous]

Octopo:Sounds suspicious...

Quite a few high-end passive Pre amps are just a wire and either a resistor network (for the volume) or a (let me get this right) transformer which you can tap off at differnt places to get varying voltage (PVA style) - roughly speaking, someone can correct me i'm sure!

check out NVA's passives (start at £160), QED made one for £60.

http://www.electra-print.com/pva.php

 

[Anonymous]

ashworth_rich:Octopo:Sounds suspicious...Quite a few high-end passive Pre amps are just a wire and either a resistor network (for the volume) or a (let me get this right) transformer which you can tap off at differnt places to get varying voltage (PVA style) - roughly speaking, someone can correct me i'm sure! check out NVA's passives (start at £160), QED made one for £60.http://www.electra-print.com/pva.php

Sure I don't doubt the greatest pre-amp in the world can be reduced to the size of a fist. What I do doubt is headphone amps which claim to double as leading pre-amps.ÿ

 

[Ajani]

Octopo:
ashworth_rich:Octopo:Sounds suspicious...Quite a few high-end passive Pre amps are just a wire and either a resistor network (for the volume) or a (let me get this right) transformer which you can tap off at differnt places to get varying voltage (PVA style) - roughly speaking, someone can correct me i'm sure! check out NVA's passives (start at £160), QED made one for £60.http://www.electra-print.com/pva.php

Sure I don't doubt the greatest pre-amp in the world can be reduced to the size of a fist. What I do doubt is headphone amps which claim to double as leading pre-amps.

Well, the best I can suggest is that you try one and see for yourself...

I've seen articles from manufacturers and reviews from HiFi mags that support using a headphone amp as a preamp.... Note: they don't claim that a £200 H/amp is going to best a £2000 preamp, but that you if you are strapped for cash and willing to sacrifice convenience, then a h/amp can certainly do a good job...

As I said up top: try one and see for yourself.... (you might even be pleasantly surprised)...

 

[Anonymous]

Ajani, you know my set up. Headphones amps don't couple as good pre-amps. I'm now on the LD v4 which sounds outstanding through headphones but not anywhere near as good through room output.

 

[up the music]

Is one of the main drawbacks going to be impedance mis matches with the power amp?

 

[Ajani]

Octopo:Ajani, you know my set up. Headphones amps don't couple as good pre-amps. I'm now on the LD v4 which sounds outstanding through headphones but not anywhere near as good through room output.

Actually, I can't remember what your setup is (I'm rather forgetful)... But if you've tested out your headphone amps as preamps and found them lacking, then that's really all that matters in your case.... Though that doesn't necesarily mean that other headphone amps such as the Musical Fidelity X-CAN V8 won't do a good job as a pre (I'd love to try one out as I've read good things about them as Pre's in both HiFi News & Stereophile)... But I would never suggest buying one for that purpose, unless you have tried it for that purpose and had good results....