this or a schiit stack | Power is relative...

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this or a schiit stack

Feb 21, 2018

No. Home A/V is quite different than a dedicated headphone amp/dac. Your receiver is made to be as general as possible and to work best with loudspeakers. A Schiit stack or equivalent is made to pair to your headphones characteristics and bring the best out of them. I have a Yamaha receiver and while my headphone do work just OK with them, they're on an entirely different level when paired with my iFi amp/dac. Really, there isn't a comparison. Unless you're looking at some of the old school stereo receivers that have tubes, you're better off with a dedicated amp/dac made for headphones.

Feb 22, 2018

jaydunndidditwhy is that so they do have a 6.3 mm jack right and they have an insane amount of power

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Feb 22, 2018

samhithwhat difference did you notice specifically

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Feb 22, 2018

samhithPower is relative here. For example, I have very sensitive, low-impedance IEMs that just don't play nicely with receivers since their headphone out is usually of a much higher impedance for proper damping. My dedicated headphone amp is <1ohm and gives me a clean, hiss-free noise floor which my receiver cannot deliver. They'll both power my IEMs just fine, but one just does it better. You're essentially asking your receiver to drive your headphones with the same amp it uses for speakers. And these two things are not mutually exclusive.
The other aspect is the DAC. For most receivers, they're built for decoding audio tracks for movies and TV, not for music. While the one contained are decent for headphones, a dedicated DAC is leaps and bounds better at decoding music since that's its only job.
So while a receiver does have an output jack and will power headphones just fine, it doesn't mean it will be of quality. They'll do a decent to poor job but why would you spend tons of money on headphones just to have them sound 'decent'? Input/Output sources matter as well as impedance and power. Headphone amps have the right combo specifically for headphones. Receivers have the right combo for loudspeakers. And whilst one may dabble a bit in the other, it doesn't mean it's going to be any good at it.

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Heefty

1387

Feb 22, 2018

samhithI noticed that the specs for that receiver give no information about the headphone output specs so you're left guessing. That leads to past experience guiding the decision that, for headphones, a dedicated headphone rig will be better since headphones require different output characteristics than receivers are designed to provide. They typically have a headphone output that is more of an afterthought than a feature they designed into the unit.
Granted your post doesn't explicitly indicate that you're looking for something to drive headphones so I'm basing my commentary on the original reply above. If you're driving loudspeakers I'm going to need more information on your intended source(s) etc. before I can make any suggestions.

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Feb 23, 2018

Heeftyno i am not going to drive loudspeakers at the moment . but if a reciever that does a shit ton of stuff more than a schiit stack like play blu ray or stream spotify have chromecast i dont see why not. for 200$ that looks like a steal along with future support for loudspeakers . the deal looks awesome . that too i will mostly be investing in over ear headphones like the he 4xx ,6xx , th-x00 , BDs 600 ohm version . which from what i understand need amping and have low sensitivity. and if pairing with headphones and bringing out charecteristics is the problem shouldn't equing fix it

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Feb 23, 2018

samhithIf you're not driving loudspeakers it's a waste. They make dedicated headphone amps that hook up to your TV, game console, PC, etc via all sorts of methods AND will still give you better quality sound than your receiver. And no, EQ can not fix an issue that deals with imaging, soundstage, etc. EQ would be for altering the frequency response at certain points. And even then what a receiver can do is limited if at all. Also, I wouldn't consider any of the cans you listed low sensitivity. I mean come on, 600 ohms is not easy to drive.
If you're hell-bent on getting the receiver just know audio quality for headphones only will always be subpar. You're buying pretty good headphones and limiting what they can do. But that's your choice.

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Feb 23, 2018

jaydunndidditdude lower sensitivity == harder to drive

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Feb 23, 2018

samhithI meant impedance, my bad, typed the wrong word. My point still doesn't change from what you originally asked. Still doesn't make sense with what you're trying to accomplish but hey, it's your money.

Heefty

1387

Feb 23, 2018

samhith No, EQing won't fix impedance mismatch issues. Nothing can except a new rig. What you are saying about it having more features is absolutely correct. It does have more features. The problem is that in the design world every feature you add comes at a cost to something else. Furthermore, as I already stated, the headphone out on most receivers (especially true on cheap ones) is an afterthought rather than a real design goal. Key word there most. You may well be lucky and have found the 1 receiver that has decent output on its headphone jack and you will have all sorts of fun features to go along with it. Good luck with that. Bottom line, those of us who are concerned with sound quality first, features/gimmicks second, are all telling you to go with equipment designed to do the 1 thing you want it to: drive headphones well. Take it or leave it, but quit arguing when we make that point. Just build the system you want.

Sloblo

409

Feb 25, 2018

samhithI want to jump in here and recommend the PS audio sprout. It seems to be a happy medium for desktop to small room speakers and it drives my thx-00 just as well as my 02 dac/amp. (Which is sort of my baseline for headphones) Also has a built in phone stage and blue tooth if either of those float your boat.
Only issue I have with mine is the analog input has a hum if you've got multiple inputs on it :(

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