[lazbisme]

Thinking about a pair of headphones and have amp question. Is a dedicated headphone amp necessary or can one use their regular stereo amp? If not, why not?

[FullRangeMan]

Thinking about a pair of headphones and have amp question. Is a dedicated headphone amp necessary or can one use their regular stereo amp? If not, why not?

A dedicated HP amp as Burson Solist 3XP or similar is necessary for audiophile sound. For picky HPs as Sennheiser HD800 a good SolidState not suffice it demand a good tube amp.

one use their regular stereo amp?
Do you mean say the speakers outputs ?

[lazbisme]

yes, the speaker outputs

[FullRangeMan]

This was possible with the vintage AKG K1000 planar, not sure with with others HPs. I had used the CD Player RCA outputs to drive an HE400 and the sound was good but definitely lacked some power.

yes, the speaker outputs
You will have to be careful in the volume control in this case.

[lazbisme]

FullRangeMan,  thank you. Volume control was considered. I figure to start turned all the way down and manually increase incrementally until I can get a handle on it. Then, perhaps I can sit down and enjoy using the remote volume control. Thanks again and I will build a jack to plug headphone into while I wait on them to get here. 

Joe

[Pez]

Dedicated headphone amps are pretty cheap at the starter level. Plus with headphones it’s much better to drive them using a dual differential balanced output. You’re not gonna get that out of a standard audio amp. I’d check out options around $300-1k level usually that’ll get you enough to drive anything. 

[FullRangeMan]

Some HPs works on the miliWatt range.
An HP that was notoriously difficult to drive (83dB) is the HE-6SE.
Maybe it could benefit from an speaker amp.
https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he6se-580.html

[Pez]

What cans do you have btw? That’ll help narrow things down.

[lazbisme]

Thanks for the replies! I am going to try my speaker amp. Very carefully with the volume control.

[newzooreview]

The Geshelli amps are designed and made in the US by a family business and come in a fully balanced and single-ended version with a variety of wood finishes. $219 and pretty well reviewed.

I ordered the balanced version and can always run unbalanced connectors if needed as well.

I have not received the amp. It's on backorder, and I just ordered it a few days ago.

I also ordered their AKM-based DAC and a balanced cable from Viking Weave cables and, for a cheaper backup, Tripowin cables from Linsoul.

https://geshelli.com/product/erish2/
https://vikingweavecables.com/
https://www.linsoul.com/products/tripowin-granvia?variant=41188494311579

I have no idea how any of it will sound since nothing is in hand yet.

[djpk]

I have the Geshelli Labs AKM based DAC and it is very good. I'm also happy with my JDS Labs and garage1217 amps. All high value products in my opinion and good customer service.

http://www.garage1217.com
https://www.jdslabs.com

[Letitroll98]

Do Not Hook Up Your Headphones To The Speaker Output Of Your Power Amp.

This can be done with a network to drop the output, but don't just wire up your headphones to the five way binding posts.

Sheesh.

[newzooreview]

Some good headphones to speaker amp info here:

https://www.zynsonix.com/Speaker-Output-to-Headphone-Balanced-Adapter_p_16.html

I haven't tried their products, but they walk through various options depending on headphone sensitivity, amp type, and so on. There are definitely a lot of "you will short out your amp or fry your headphones or both" scenarios, but I know that a lot of folks do use speaker amps with harder to drive headphones.

[newzooreview]

I have the Geshelli Labs AKM based DAC and it is very good. I'm also happy with my JDS Labs and garage1217 amps. All high value products in my opinion and good customer service.

http://www.garage1217.com
https://www.jdslabs.com

I think a fundamental choice is whether or not to buy something that will allow for a balanced connection to the headphones. Even mid-priced headphones nowadays have removable cables for use with balanced connections.

[FullRangeMan]

Balanced connectors are much better sound than banana plugs. It enlarge the soundstage.

[Freo-1]

Thinking about a pair of headphones and have amp question. Is a dedicated headphone amp necessary or can one use their regular stereo amp? If not, why not?

In order to get optimum performance from headphones,  a dedicated headphone amp or DAC/Headphone amp is necessary. 

[rennwerkes]

There are many inexpensive choices to start with.  Many are dual dac/amp combos on Amazon.  Hard to go wrong with brands like Topping or Aune or others.  I'd suggest checking out the reviews and what calls out to you.  Aesthetics mean something too! LOL!   

[Saturn94]

I have the Geshelli Labs AKM based DAC and it is very good. I'm also happy with my JDS Labs and garage1217 amps. All high value products in my opinion and good customer service.

http://www.garage1217.com
https://www.jdslabs.com

I can second the JDS Labs recommendation.  I just received their Atom+ headphone amp to drive a pair of Drop+DCA Aeon X Closed planar headphones I also just received and it sounds great!