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RE: Disagree, for the most part...

Posted by Caucasian Blackplate (P) on December 22, 2013 at 22:33:42

In Reply to: Disagree, for the most part... posted by genungo on December 22, 2013 at 14:13:12:

There are a whole ton of preamps with output impedances in the 600-1000 Ohm range. I do not know of any headphone amps with output impedances this high. There are also plenty of headphone amps with low output impedances that will run well with the low impedance loads some modern headphones provide. (The IHF standard doesn't seem to matter anymore)

Beyond output impedance, there is also the amount of current that the output stage can deliver, and this is typically a bit higher with a headphone amp compared to a preamp (hence your solid state example with 0 Ohms output, it's a pure current source!).


"The TRS output jacks used on most headphone amps might also create some sonic degradation when the amp is used as a "preamp". Dedicated RCA or XLR output jacks, asd used on real preamps, are superior connection devices."

I'm not sure that a Nuetrik locking 1/4" jack is going to sound all that different compared to a pair of Neutrik XLR's.

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