Headphone Amplifier

[Freetoojazz]

I saw in the Canada HIFI Web Site, an article about the Vincent Audio's KHV-111MK Headphone Amplifier. I'm very surprised, cause I did'nt know that this kind of stuff exist.

Like I said in another thread, I listen often my music with headphones. I have a ordinary A/V amplifier. Is it a product for someone who got a good amplifier only? Can I get an avantage to buy something like this? What kind of connection do I need in my A/V amplifier to connect this headphone amplifiers? Do I need a Pre-Out connection, just a simple RCA connections or something else?

[AlienTech]

headphone amps are for folks who want a higher level of fidelity than their existing stereo headphone "out" provides. I see no advantage over a good pre/pro or good receiver but they are kinda sexy

and, as is often the case, there are a lot of tube versions due to the low power requirements of headphones so it's a reasonable cost way to test the tube waters

I like the look of the firestone audio headphone amps and their other gear
http://www.audiophileproducts.com/littlecountry3

I found them when I was researching USB DAC's

[Gio]

I like the look of the firestone audio headphone amps and their other gear

I like the layout of The Little Country III. The AC side of the supply is external and the DC part of the supply is shielded from the audio circuitry. Should be nice and quiet.

[SoundGame]

Also look into the Bellari, which is cheap but high value and doubles as a phone stage and a headphone amp with a tube. It's had some good reviews. I believe you have a TT as well, right?

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...26tbs%3Disch:1

[AlienTech]

one of the kuel things about the firestone gear is that it's modder friendly, your can try different opamps and dac chips in their DAC's, they also have different levels of power supplies for quieter operation

[Suave]

Based on my (somewhat limited) experience with headphone amps, a good quality headphone amp can make a significant improvement over the headphone section of many (if not most) AV receivers or integrated amps. I also like the design of the Little Country III mentioned above - plus you would get the benefit of tubes to your headphones

A couple of other headphone amp brands you might want to consider:

Grado RA1
http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/ra1_amp.htm

and HeadRoom (which offers a few models in various price ranges):
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/amplifiers.php

[schanpurchasing]

Specifically for Beyerdynamic headphone fan, I would like to recommend the Meier Audio headphone amps. I own the Meier Audio Corda Aria headamp and pairs very well with my Beyers DT880 headphone. DT880 is a rather cool headphone but with very real and tight/low bass. Actually sounds very clean. The Meier Corda Aria amp is a little on the warm side and this particular pairing is outstanding.

http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/

Another common thing with headphone amps is that many of them include a very decent USB DAC as well, so, you could run your computer music out of the headamp/dac entirely and bypass the internal noisy computing environment and a mediocre soundcard.

The Meier amps doesn't pair as well with the AKG 701 and Sennheiser HD650 (both I have as well) as the sound is generally too warm and lush.