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New to headphone amps --- I'm wondering .....

I recently got my first pair of decent headphones, AKG 545s, which I bought to use both at home on my main system and outside with my ipod for hiking etc. Since my pre-amp at home doesn't have a headphone out, I connect to my system via the tape out. I get pretty nice detailed sound at a decent volume that way, but have read that virtually everyone believes that a dedicated headphone amp improves sound quality. So I'm considering that, maybe in the $300 - 600 range. But I'm wondering how an amp at that price point could outdo or even sound as good as my main rig (Linn Exotic and 2500, with Renew DS) given the massive difference in price (amp pre-amp together list for around 7k). Is there something about headphone amps that I'm missing?

And if a headphone amp would help in my case, any recommendations for something that would work well with AKG 545s (very similar to 550s) with my home system?

Thanks .....
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Showing 2 responses by mechans

mechans
3,048 posts
 
I use a dedicated headphone amp now out of necessity but also did with a $12K main rig. This particular headphone amp is a tube amp made by the disgraced manufacturer SinglePower (but it still sound great to me).
I would refer you to the HedFi.Org web site for all the information you seek on headphones and the amps to power them.
My own experience is that good headphones sound much better with a dedicated amp. You may find yourself witth more than one pair of headphones if you follow this path, I did.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Almarg,Are you sure the power is so low. Most of the headphone amps I know about put out around 0.5 wpc. (there is a wide range but I am suggesting this number just for scale)
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