Headphones Tube Amp

[Undefined666]

I have a pair of Oppo PM 3s and would like to use them with my existing stereo setup. Both my receiver (Realistic STA-95) and tape deck (Nakamichi BX-100) have a headphones out, however, I've yet to try them because I figured that considering the age of my equipment, the built in headphone out may not sound great, or work at all with the Oppo PM 3s because of their low 26 ohm impedance. So I've started considering a headphones amplifier, particularly one with tubes. However I just have one particular question, albeit a very newbie one. I was wondering if I would need an amplifier with a built in DAC or not. I don't believe my receiver nor tape deck have one, however, I'm not sure if I have any need for one in my situation.

 

[JoeESP9]

Give your current headphone connections a shot. You've got nothing to loose. The headphone out from your receiver is probably the better option.

 

[boza]

I think joeESP9 hit the nail on the head.

 

[atarione]

Hi... soo I may be able to offer some insight on this.. for xmas I got a Tube Headphone amplifier a Darkvoice 336SE .. I got it mainly for my beyerdynamic DT880 Premium 250Ohms headphones..

Tube amps are nice.. at least I am enjoying my DV very much.. I ended up spending another $45 on tubes ..currently running NOS GE 6AS7GA and RCA 6SN7GT instead of the stock Chinese tubes ... It sounds amazing with the DT880's and my 80Ohms DT770's .. however if I use some lower impedance headphones there was a bit of noise at first w/ the NOS tubes .. however mostly that has gone away...

I think a lot of the tube amps tend to be noisy with lower impedance headphones..just because of the way the tubes are /work... looking at your reciever I think it would do nicely as a amp for the OPPO's .. before I got my DV I was using my Vintage kenwood KR-V106 as a amp for my DT880's I still like the sound with the receiver the tube amp is "different" and quite enjoyable but wasn't really necessary.




assuming the receiver is working well I'd certainly give it a go first ...If you do get a tube amp for the OPPO's you are going to want to research for something that does well with low impedance headphones.

 

[Undefined666]

I did try the headphone out on my receiver and it sounded decent so I may use that, however I was having issues where when I had my headphones plugged in, the audio still played through my speakers, as well as the headphones. The same thing with the headphones out on my tape deck. Except when I tried plugging my headphones into the headphone out on my tape deck, the audio was extremely loud and had no way of turning it down because the volume dial on my receiver wouldn't control the volume when my headphones were plugged into the tape deck.

However, I may still consider getting a headphone amp/DAC combo in order to listen to music off of my phone.

 

[atarione]

Hi... so when you want to listen with the headphones just set the speaker selector knob to "Cut" (I think it says cut I can't quite read it..) but basically turn the speaker outs off and then you should just have headphones. (knob next to headphone jack)

this confused me at first also... apparently a lot of vintage receivers didn't auto cut the speaker outputs when the headphones are plugged in as more modern receivers seem to tend to do.

 

[Lavane]

Can't you push a button or flip a switch to turn the speakers off? Every integrated or receiver ive owned you had to turn the speakers off when using the headphones. The headphone jack is probably, like most, connected to the outputs with resistors. Not being connected to the speaker switches at all.

 

[elcoholic]

Planar Magnetic / Orthodynamics are a much different load than dynamics. It's much more than the impedance. There's zero feedback to the amp and they like lots of power. They may work with a receiver, but will not reach anywhere near their potential. Get a good amp when you can afford it. Stay clear of the cheap amps that use the tubes for eye candy.

 

[saratoga]

Hi... soo I may be able to offer some insight on this.. for xmas I got a Tube Headphone amplifier a Darkvoice 336SE .. I got it mainly for my beyerdynamic DT880 Premium 250Ohms headphones..

Tube amps are nice.. at least I am enjoying my DV very much.. I ended up spending another $45 on tubes ..currently running NOS GE 6AS7GA and RCA 6SN7GT instead of the stock Chinese tubes ... It sounds amazing with the DT880's and my 80Ohms DT770's .. however if I use some lower impedance headphones there was a bit of noise at first w/ the NOS tubes .. however mostly that has gone away...

I think a lot of the tube amps tend to be noisy with lower impedance headphones..just because of the way the tubes are /work... looking at your reciever I think it would do nicely as a amp for the OPPO's .. before I got my DV I was using my Vintage kenwood KR-V106 as a amp for my DT880's I still like the sound with the receiver the tube amp is "different" and quite enjoyable but wasn't really necessary.

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assuming the receiver is working well I'd certainly give it a go first ...If you do get a tube amp for the OPPO's you are going to want to research for something that does well with low impedance headphones.

HEY MATE, OPEN UP YOUR DARKVOICE AMP, CHECK UP CAPS!!!THEY (CHINA WORKERS) USE WRONG SIZE CLAMPS TO HOLD CAPACITORS, BECAUSE OF THAT THEY DAMAGE CAPACITORS 4X FRONT ONE 2 X ON EACH SIDE AND 3 X AT THE BACK FOR POWER SUPPLY
THX