[fwd]

Long time reader. This is my first post.

I have AKG 701 headphones almost fresh from the box (about 100 hours), plugged into Bryston BP25 headphone out jack.
The volume knob is cranked out to the max but the volume of the phones is rather low.
Is that a character of this preamp or can I do something to increase the volume? Source is connected via balanced cables.

Kris

[ingwe]

Your post *finally* prompted me to register! I too am a long time lurker. 

I recently caught the headphone bug (thanks to those SOB's at head-fi.org ) and now drive Sennheiser HD-650 through my BP-25  headphone jack.

I too must turn the volume knob way up. But IMO the Senns can be driven quite loud regardless. One thing to get used to (if you're not already) is the preamplifier's neutrality.

If you do a search, you will find a thread (http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=28762.msg256891#msg256891) in which JT (hi JT! I love my preamp and my 4bsst!) quotes his extraordinary uber-designer-engineer thusly:

Hi James;
 
   The headphone output is in fact the same feed as the output to the amplifier, and is nominally around 1-2V. This is to prevent ear damage from excessive loudness levels.  It is designed to require the volume control to be advanced quite a bit to give loud levels.  This also eliminates an amplifier stage, which reduces noise and distortion on the headphone feed.
 
   I hope this is helpful information. Thanks for thinking of Bryston.
 
Chris Russell
Bryston Ltd.

Perhaps your AKG's need more oomph.

[rob80b]

You may want to check out another tread I started.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=28320.0
I eventually picked up another head-amp so as not to have any nasty accidents with someone disconnecting the phones while the preamp is turned up almost all the way with the AKG's.
If you are not familiar with the Head-fi site you may want to check it out.
http://www.head-fi.org/