Let’s talk headphone amps
Headphone amps are only slightly less contentious of a topic than digital source gear in this community. I am absolutely an objectivist and I’m obsessed with measurements, and I’m aware that most people don’t need a headphone amp. For probably 80% of headphone and iem enthusiasts, an apple dongle or fiio dongle is more than enough. BUT there are MANY exceptions, and there are many great reasons to spend money on an amp. I made a short list of said reasons.
- Need more power. Susvara OG, HE-6SE, Tungsten, and the Lily Genesis One with 90,000 ohm impedance aren’t going to run well off of a dongle.
- Volume knob supremacy. Clicking buttons to change volume sucks. Big knob good.
- Aesthetics. Most desktop amps look cooler than most dongles.
- Tone control/ analogue EQ. I personally love being able to tweak the tonality of my headphones with a physical knob. Digital PEQ is great, but can be clunky and less natural to use.
- Tube amp. For those of us who like to make the music worse in a better way. Tube supremacy.
- Want preamp. Self explanatory.
- Want to use a separate pure dac for literally any reason.
- Want to listen to CDs or records.
- Want to placebo oneself into hearing differences between two modern solid state amps that are volume matched on normal sensitivity/ impedance headphones. I for one am a HUGE advocate for this, just because the difference isn’t really audible doesn’t mean your brain isn’t actively interpreting the sound differently. I’m dead serious.
Those of you who own a headphone amp, for which reasons is it? Any that I missed? Those who don’t own one, will you ever get one? Why or why not?
I own the xDuoo TA-66 OTL headphone amp and let me tell ya it looks awesome, has a nice knob, sounds nice and distorted (positive connotation) and adds a small midbass boost to my dynamic drivers! I just bought a Schiit Midgard because my Hifiman Edition XV really make the TA-66 sweat and when I want to listen loud with a bass boost it clips and distorts to high heaven.