I would suggest you seriously consider a good Headphone amp for your Sennheisers . I also have HD800s and know they are a difficult load so a plug into the headphone jack of your amp won't do. I have The Luxman P- 750 u and my friend has a Pass Labs Head Amp and these are superb amps if maybe a little steep for some folk but there are so many out there and you can find one for both your pocket and your sound appreciation.
Headphone amp?
I would like to add high quality headphones to my system, which consists of a Pass Labs XA30.8 and XP-20 preamp, and SoundScience Music Vault plus speakers. Do I need a headset amp or is there some other way to use say, a pair of HD800s phones? I could in a pinch plug in to my CD player but I doubt it would be as good my amp/preamp. What would the cognoscenti suggest?
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Would you use an A/V receiver to power your speakers for two channel listening instead of your Pass gear? Yes, you need a headphone amp to fully enjoy a good set of headphones, which the Senns are. There are a lot of great headphone amps and even the entry level ones are likely to be better than listening from your CD player. What's your budget? There are a number of headphone aficionados here, but I'd suggest heading over to the head-fi forums for suggestions on what to get and reviews. |
If you do not have a headphone already then, not clear from your post, these headphones and amp interface box will get you state of the art headphone sound (really almost 2-channel like) (8) RAAL-requisite SR1a | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org
The above quote in the ad is referring to me. I received the JR last night and it worked perfectly. The JR is not as good as an excellent 2-channel. I am not sure if your PASS labs have enough power. You need a min of 100 watts to drive these properly with a stereo amp. Edit: I just looked up your Pass Labs and it is not enough power for the RAAL SR1a. An entry level amp to listen to these headphones is the $800 JR. Amplifiers • RAAL-requisite (raalrequisite.com) I use a KRELL 175XD (Class A) and a CODA #8 to drive the RAAL SR1a. Along with the used JR I got yesterday. |
if you really want high end headphone and headphone amp answers, here is the best forum to look at and ask your questions. a few here on Audiogon know stuff, but this is where there is thread after thread of information to read. which might help you to know the right questions to ask. and it’s up to date and cutting edge. also Classified on this site is very active. and....drum roll.....free. |
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