CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: Speaker amps and headphones  (Read 6723 times)

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Maxvla

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Speaker amps and headphones
« on: February 06, 2013, 02:56:11 AM »
Thread on Maintenance-fi and just general goings on since the HE-6 nuclear reactor power requirements, as well as minimal mentions from the past always made me wonder about speaker amps and headphones. Now that Marv is using one in his Hifiman setup I have to ask about it. Is there a certain something that has always limited the use of headphones directly off speaker taps of speaker amps? I realize the power output rating is dramatically reduced for high impedance headphones, but that is a matter of conversion. Some of these headphone amplifiers we use would be rated for quite decent power if spec'd for speaker values. Some headphone amps like the BA/Beta22/WA5/etc actually do drive speakers which adds confusion. Is it the voltage swing or impedance matching or something else?
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Sphinxvc

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2013, 03:47:43 AM »
I'll venture a guess, probably just inconvenience, and most phones don't require any amp, let alone a speaker amp, so it's a niche within a niche. 
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Marvey

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2013, 03:56:48 AM »
Gain and noise.
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Maxvla

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2013, 04:00:47 AM »
So if you had an amp that had usable gain and very low noise it would be usable with headphones? So what about the integrated amps all this time that have a headphone jack. I assume these are to reduce the gain primarily, but do they reduce noise as well?
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Marvey

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2013, 05:01:03 AM »
Modern integrated amps take the internal pre-amp output and throw it to an op-amp for the headout.
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Anaxilus.

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2013, 05:13:52 AM »
Most speaker amps are not built w/ a focus on low level detail and uber resolution that some ToTL headphones can mange fyi.  So choose wisely.  You may very well get trapped into choosing a best compromise.
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Maxvla

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2013, 06:11:55 AM »
Was not really looking to buy a speaker amp for headphones, just had always wondered what the difference was. I thought there was some technical difference, but there doesn't seem to be one aside from a focus on clarity vs raw power if I'm reading you guys right.
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Sphinxvc

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2013, 06:42:16 AM »
^ Yeah, but not even that as a rule really, the keyword in that post is definitely 'most'.  (Many speaker amps are designed for focus on clarity too, it's actually the load that's relative here.)

Some speaker amps can have lower noise floor and can be more delicate and nuanced than some headphone amps. 

GENERALLY though, it's a question of the right tool for the job, and in a lot of speaker amps you'll be able to hear the noise floor *easily* through say, the HD800s.  I've also had the HD800s be deadly silent on certain speaker amps, even more so than certain headphone amps.  So in sum, it depends.
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Maxvla

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #8 on: February 06, 2013, 06:48:53 AM »
Have you listened to speaker amps with the HD800 on speaker taps?
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Sphinxvc

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Re: Speaker amps and headphones
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2013, 06:58:34 AM »
Yeah, was always careful to go with lower rated ones though.  I used a 15w/8ohm for a long time with HD800s. 
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