Separate headphone amp .. some general info, please

[Rupert]

In many reviews of mid to high end headphones (I guess around £400+) there is mention of how a dedicated headphone amp can often 'really bring the best out of' the phones under review.

Having recently purchased a pair of Shure SRH1540 and so far finding them pretty good to my foggy old ears, I was wondering if there is any point in considering the additional expense of a dedicated headphone amp? I do most of my listening (DAB TV, rock music, films) on headphones, in the lounge, my power source being a trusty 15 year-old Marantz PM7200. There's loads of headroom and the amp has both bass and treble cut/boost controls, so I imagine I'm already well catered for in the tone department.

I've never seen a dedicated headphone amp, so I have absolutely no idea how they work, where in the hi-fi chain they connect, or anything. Do they take the headphone signal from the headphone 6.0mm jack plug socket on the front of the amp, or is the amplifier stage by-passed altogether in favour of the external device? But then how would that work because you'd effectively have two amplifier in series. It's all very confusing and I obviously need help .. hence this post.

What advantage, if any, would I notice with a headphone amp (is that the same thing as a DAC?) and what models should I be looking for if there is likely to be any noticeable difference, when teamed up with my Marantz (which I'm definitely not about to upgrade in the foreseeable future)?

Any helpful advice and/or pointers would be much appreciated ... thank you!

 

[dalethorn]

In many reviews of mid to high end headphones (I guess around £400+) there is mention of how a dedicated headphone amp can often 'really bring the best out of' the phones under review.

Having recently purchased a pair of Shure SRH1540 and so far finding them pretty good to my foggy old ears, I was wondering if there is any point in considering the additional expense of a dedicated headphone amp? I do most of my listening (DAB TV, rock music, films) on headphones, in the lounge, my power source being a trusty 15 year-old Marantz PM7200. There's loads of headroom and the amp has both bass and treble cut/boost controls, so I imagine I'm already well catered for in the tone department.

I've never seen a dedicated headphone amp, so I have absolutely no idea how they work, where in the hi-fi chain they connect, or anything. Do they take the headphone signal from the headphone 6.0mm jack plug socket on the front of the amp, or is the amplifier stage by-passed altogether in favour of the external device? But then how would that work because you'd effectively have two amplifier in series. It's all very confusing and I obviously need help .. hence this post.

What advantage, if any, would I notice with a headphone amp (is that the same thing as a DAC?) and what models should I be looking for if there is likely to be any noticeable difference, when teamed up with my Marantz (which I'm definitely not about to upgrade in the foreseeable future)?

Any helpful advice and/or pointers would be much appreciated ... thank you!

If you're going to listen to high resolution music - via downloaded tracks, CD rips, or streaming music at full CD quality, then using a DAC plus amp combination, fed by a digital signal from the music tracks, could improve things.

 

[insider9]

I've listened to Srh1540 briefly via Chord Mojo. I know Mojo sound signature and it suited these headphones incredibly well. My advice would be to get one of these. They're really good value for money.