Any good tube headphones and headphone amps for vinyl playback?


I have a pretty good analog setup: SME deck, Koetsu cart, Pass Labs phono preamp.  I'm not sure if this is a thing that many people do, but I'm interested in listening to vinyl exclusively through headphones.  If I connect a tube headphone amp to my phono stage to listen with headphones, will it be too noisy and not worth it?  Most headphone listeners use digital playback which makes sense.  Does anyone have any good experience with listening to good vinyl playback via headphones that is quiet?
tyan42

Showing 4 responses by big_greg

There's really no difference listening between digital and analog with headphones.  A source is a source and the amp and headphones (if they're decent) will deliver whatever comes from the source.

What's your budget? 

Do you currently have speakers?  What do you like most about them?  That would help in terms of pointing you towards a specific sound signature, do you like things really neutral, a little warm, or do you prefer more "analytical"?  Are you a basshead, a midrange freak?

Other things to consider are comfort and build, open or closed back (will you be listening around other people?) and sensitivity matching the headphones to the amp.  

Why the preference for tubes?  If you want quiet, in general solid state will be more quiet, but there are some quiet tube headphone amps out there.
Echo Audio in Portland has a pair of Sennheiser HD 800 headphones for sale for 700 bucks. They won't last long. There are more analytical than Harbeth speakers but are very nice headphones and very comfortable.
The only tubed headphone amp I've owned is the one in my preamp, so I won't make any recommendations there, other than to say I would give the Schiit Mjolnir 2 some consideration.  I owned the first one and it did a lot of things right.

If you like the Harbeth sound, you might like Hifiman, Audeze, or Sony MDR-Z1R headphones.  They are all close to neutral with nice detail, good mids, and maybe a little on the "warm" side.
Your phono stage has nothing to do with amplifying your headphones. Don't underestimate the importance of the headphone amp. An affordable set of headphones like Focal Elex or even $200 Sennheiser HD6XX with a good amp can sound a lot better than more expensive headphones with a cheap grainy amp.