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lailoken
249
Sep 30, 2017
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Hi, I'm wondering if I should go for this... I don't own a dedicated headphone amp or dac yet, but I do have a spare Yamaha RX-V573 AV receiver just lying around. Keeping in mind that I already have this, would this extra $150 be justified? Will it be that much better than the receiver's output?
My receiver has this to say: Headphone Jack Output Impedance: 1kHz, 50mV, 8 Ohm  ......... 100mV / 470 Ohm
And I've bought the Sennheiser HD6XX headphones to use with them...
Thoughts?
Sep 30, 2017
tessierpg
Oct 1, 2017
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lailokenBuy an O2 Amp like this one. Output impedance is less than 1 ohm, versus 470 ohms for your receiver. You need at least a 8x ratio between the headphones impedance and your amp’s output impedance on the headphone jack to maintain a balanced sound and a firm bass. The HD6xx has an impedance of 300 ohms. Therefore you need an amp with an output impedance that will not exceed 37.5 ohms. The O2 amp has an impedance output of less than 1 ohm, and your receiver has an impedance of 470 ohms. It is therefore not optimized for headphone usage. It will sound bassy and muddy, and will veil the mids. It is not a good way to appreciate the HD6xx sound qualities...
Oct 1, 2017
lailoken
249
Oct 1, 2017
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tessierpg@tessierpg , so you reckon I should just skip the DAC part? Just get an amp similar to this one? Or did you mean this one in particular? PS: The amp stated "100mV / 470 Ohm" so I was a bit confused since most other amps list it in terms Watt and not Volt. I'm not sure if that was significant or how to interpret it. I have indeed read up about the 8x ratio, but just was not sure how it applied to the receiver.
Oct 1, 2017
tessierpg
Oct 1, 2017
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lailokenWhatever. Both the O2 standalone and the O2/SDAC combo are worth considering. Other amps are also worth considering and provide low output impedance. Unfortunately, most consumer stereo receivers (Yamaha, Onkyo, Marantz, Sony...) are not optimized with headphone usage. most of them have high impedance headphone output (over 100 ohms) because they do not use dedicated amp components for their headphone output jack. Some of them do provide dedicated low impedance electronics for headphone output, but most of them rely of the main amp and apply severe impedance in order to lower the amps output power to headphone listening levels, with the downside explained above. This is why headphone amps exist and are so popular with audiophiles and Consumers found on Massdrop. + many of these amps provide portability required with the new ways of listening to music these days (computers, phones and tablets)
Oct 1, 2017
lailoken
249
Oct 1, 2017
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tessierpgI've joined this drop. Thanks for the info.
Oct 1, 2017
tessierpg
Oct 1, 2017
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lailokenGreat move!
Oct 1, 2017
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