jacobdp Wrote: > > I'm just trying to figure out when (if) it would be worth using an > external headphone amp. Obviously the DAC and analog line outputs of > the SB2/3 are supposed to be audiophile-grade, and there's been a lot > of discussion on them here, but I haven't seen much talk of using the > built-in headphone amp for a "good" listening setup. Is it designed to > the same level?
Get an amp. The headphone jack on the SB2 isn't bad, but it's not great. It can drive the demanding HD-650 headphones to moderately loud volumes without much in the way of distortion; but the difference between the SB2's headphone jack and the output of a HeadRoom Micro Amp is huge, a genuine "Wow" moment if you've got the headphones to benefit from it. (For calibration of what I mean by "huge": I think cables make zero impact, I think DACs in modern equipment make very little impact (I couldn't tell a difference between the SB2 and the SB2 through a Benchmark DAC-1), I think regular power amplifiers for speakers don't make much of a difference once you've gotten above a certain base quality level -- but I think speakers and headphones make a huge and obvious difference, and that lossless compression sounds noticeably better than 192kbps.) -- mkozlows ------------------------------------------------------------------------ mkozlows's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=62 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=23096 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
