Vote

Do you use dedicated headphone amplification?

Stereophile  |  Apr 29, 2007

Judging from the response to last week's poll, <I>Stereophile</I> readers love headphones. Do you use dedicated headphone amplification?

Do you use dedicated headphone amplification?
Yes, I use . . .
55% (87 votes)
No, I plug them straight into the headphone jack on my audio system or portable
45% (70 votes)
Total votes: 157

COMMENTS
thomas's picture
Submitted by thomas (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

Musical Fidelity X- Cans

Carter's picture
Submitted by Carter (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

I have many headphone amps, but the best ones are a Headroom Max and a Bottlehead Single Ended Experimentor's amp (kit). They both bring out the best in my Sennheiser HD600s. The Max (solid state) has better bass and the Bottlehead (tube) better tone.

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

I use the altoid box with Grado cans. Yummy.

JPY's picture
Submitted by JPY (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

Well let's see, I have an AKG k701, a Sennheiser HD590, a Grado SR 125, Bang & Olufsen A8 ear buds....

Jeremy Moses's picture
Submitted by Jeremy Moses (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

... an Altoids-tinned Chu Moy that I built myself. I think I could find something a bit better to drive the AKG-K701s.

Joecool's picture
Submitted by Joecool (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

Even though the headphone jack of my CAD SLI-80 F1 Sig sounds amazing, I find myself listening more through X-CAN V3 w X-PSU, which really is hard to beat.

Joe Hartmann's picture
Submitted by Joe Hartmann (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

A old Hafler D 200 which was purchased to drive my Audio Technic TK 33. The amp also is a back up when the main amp are being serviced. I am not a Headphone person.

Grant in Toronto's picture
Submitted by Grant in Toronto (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

With Stax phones you don't have any choice. I use the Stax SRM-006t amplifier. But it's worth it! The Stax electrostats are great!

Roberto's picture
Submitted by Roberto (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

SAC K1000 from Germany, a model specially built for the AKG K1000 headphone

Alan's picture
Submitted by Alan (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

I only use my headphone amp some of the time - less than 20% of the time - and only with my ipod. I don't use headphones with my home system.

Philippe Charron's picture
Submitted by Philippe Charron (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

home, not portable

D.Wally's picture
Submitted by D.Wally (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

A Maxed-Out HeadRoom headphone amp. It's great! 90% of the performance of The Max, at 2/3 of the price. But, I'm looking to also get a tube amp, making sure that it also has a headphone jack. Any suggestions your respondants have would be great.

Andrew's picture
Submitted by Andrew (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

I prefer to listen to my music vis speakers, not headphones

R Tanaka's picture
Submitted by R Tanaka (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

The sound of headphones is at variance with sound from a normal hifi system. It seems there is little or no height, depth or width of the sound stage to my ears. Sound and music appear to come from the middle of my head. It takes time as an audiophile to adjust to this abnormal effect. Most of audiophiles I know of including me still play music through our main system and use the headphone into the plug in jack or portable system occasionally.

B. MEIGHAN's picture
Submitted by B. MEIGHAN (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

STAX

Dan Ratliff's picture
Submitted by Dan Ratliff (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

I use Mapletree Audio HD+ headphone amp. Beautiful sound, and it deserves a review.

Ed Waldrup's picture
Submitted by Ed Waldrup (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

Since I ride light rail to work for 80 minutes a day I use the Headroom Desktop Portable Amplifier with the Home Module and the Shure E 500 earcans and an iPod with Aiff uncompressed cd audio.... Magnificent.

Unknown's picture
Submitted by Unknown (not verified) on November 21, 2010 - 10:15am

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