Quote:
Originally Posted by overcoil
what exactly does the headphone amp do ?
you place it between your source (laptop, receiver, tuner) and headphone ?
any opinion on the vacuum tubed headphone amps ?
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Yes, precisely how you envision using a power amp to drive speakers. After all, headphones are speakers that go on your ear. Many headphone amps built into different components are woefully inadequate. With the portable headphone amps I have, I can drive my headphones with authority at higher volumes. Not to mention, not all headphones are easy loads to drive just like speakers. With these headphone amps, I don't have to worry about if the source device has an adequate headphone amp.
I haven't heard a tubed headphone amp personally. So I can't comment. I would suspect it will have the same influence on sound as any other tubed component. I do have a Vincent Audio phono preamp which is tubed. While it is ok sound wise, I am looking to finding a different tube to put into it as the one from the factory is a bit shrill in the mids. Ray Samuels has tubed headphone amps but they are pretty pricey.
I got my Lightning headphone amp because I found out my Oppo PM-3s can be operated in balanced mode with a change in the headphone cabling. While the setup is decent, I really wished I spent the extra money and got the PM-2s which are open back versus the closed back of the PM-3s. It's tough to describe exactly what I'm hearing but it's similar to having the musical performance done in small room as the sound doesn't have the air I like in open back headphones.