2. amps-preamps
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great headphone amplification in vintage gear?

I am currently powering some Denon AH-D7000 headphones with an old Luxman L480 integrated and to my ears, it sounds noticeably better than a dedicated Headphone amp Musical Hall 25! The Luxman has a little more hiss than the MH but only noticeable when music is quiet, still it is so much more musical to my ears!
So I was wondering if there is other vintage preamps, amplifiers, integrated amps or receivers known for having great headphone amplification out there?
Thanks!
csacred
zavato's avatar
zavato
1,391 posts
 
I seem to recall a Mac unit, either from the 70's or 80's that boasted that's its headphone section was powerful enough to drive some speakers.
intermediatic's avatar
intermediatic
72 posts
 
Ah, Mapman mentions Nakamichi … Well, I had a Peachtree Nova, which I thought had quite a good headphone amp in it (its best feature actually… and certainly no worse than the W4S uDac) and I move up to a vintage Nakamichi System One with a Nak 610 as my preamp. I was fully expecting it would be a disappointment and … it blew the Nova away. So there is a vote for the Nak.
inpepinnovations
134 posts
 
I second (third?) the Nakamichi. In my case I am using the 630 Tuner-Preamp with Beyerdynamics 880's.
extravaganza
373 posts
 
using technics se-a3000 power amp headphone output to drive grado ps1000 ,it sounds much more muscular than beyerdynamic a1.The chain looks like that cd player-sonicwave optical cable-bryston bda1-technics se-a3000,suc3000(preamp headphone out is on leaner side like a1)
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
I'm using a 1977 vintage Yamaha CA-2010 with BeyerDynamic DT880s. Very nice sonics....
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