Headphone amps as preamp: what's on the market?

[RosalieTheDog]

While the consensus seemed to be that active preamps are something of the past, given the abundance of digital sources with volume control, many on this forum have remarked that digital volume control can malfunction or glitch with damaging consequences to upstream gear or hearing (see this infamous thread on Topping D70s). Thus passive volume control or some attenuation comes recommended between digital sources and power amplifiers / active speakers.

I am probably not the only person researching some solution to avoid potential trouble (see here, or here, ...) connecting a DAC directly to a power amp. Since dedicated preamps are excessively expensive and come with unnecessary features (notably too many inputs), headphone amps with pre-out seem an attractive proposition. In my case, apart from the price, they sweeten the deal with at least some added functionality (headphone output).

Judging by the Audiophonics prospectus, only Topping's new offerings (A90D, A70Pro, L70) fit my (and perhaps other people's) requirements (mentioned under this paragraph). However, Topping's new offerings have some concerns about reliability and longevity (the -5 error message on L70 and A90D). The lackluster remote control is a bit of a downer too, since that is literally the main point of the device in this use scenario. What is the state of the market here? What do other people recommend or use? Any new offerings on the horizon?

- A remote!
Many headphone amps/pre-amp combo's remain 'desktop' products and regrettably don't include remote control. Interesting products of SMSL, Schiit, ... are therefore excluded.
- XLR-out and RCA-out simultaneously
For use with a power amp and a powered subwoofer.
- Possibility to use either headphone out or pre-out
- "Affordable" (max. €400)

I'm very curious!

 

[Kumabear]

I intend to get the L70 for almost the exact role you are using it for, actually 2 of them, one for the highs and one for subs.

I will be using them to enable me to use my 2.1 channel setup as a part of a home theater system I am building slowly using the receiver pre-outs for L/R and Sub, with my dedicated power amp and active sub.

The pair of L70 will allow me to be able to easily swap between home theater receiver and my MiniDSP Flex Digi (dirac) > feeding a pair of Topping E50's >into dedicated power amp and active sub for 2.1 ch music listening by using its presets able to be recalled via IR blasters.

As far as reliability goes... well i will be buying from a fairly local physical store which has very good support.

So worst comes to worst I will take it back I guess, I always keep in mind that unless an issue seems very very widespread like what happened with the original L30 and the PA5, there is always some bias towards the negative that you see in online feedback.

People who have issues are much more likely to bother to leave bad feedback on a product than they are to leave positive feedback.

I have also not been able to find a solution to do what I am trying to do other than the L70 and the new A70 Pro so i figure I will give the L70 a go.

 

[renaudrenaud]

I have a number of products from Topping because it is my way to buy products with good measurements.

I like the A90 because it is a product without any programmed logic. I have active speakers and high efficiency speakers (98dB). Just a potentiometer to be sure everything will go right.

I also have a L70 because it was so inexpensive! This one has a remote but frankly speaking I prefer the A90 with just the pot and the switches: there will never be a bad surprise.

Relative to the remote, I consider people are in majority in enough good shape to be able to go to the preamp and select the volume level. And use a bike instead of their SUV etc...

 

[Kumabear]

I have a number of products from Topping because it is my way to buy products with good measurements.

I like the A90 because it is a product without any programmed logic. I have active speakers and high efficiency speakers (98dB). Just a potentiometer to be sure everything will go right.

I also have a L70 because it was so inexpensive! This one has a remote but frankly speaking I prefer the A90 with just the pot and the switches: there will never be a bad surprise.

Relative to the remote, I consider people are in majority in enough good shape to be able to go to the preamp and select the volume level. And use a bike instead of their SUV etc...

I appreciate that you might like to do things manually... but there are very good reasons other than laziness to want things to be more user friendly especially when not everyone who will be using the system is technically minded or interested in HIFI.

The setup I am building will be quite complicated to manually swap between being setup to watch movies/TV/Streaming, and setup to listen to 2.1ch music. And I dont have the luxury of having dedicated room for each activity and I am not the only person who will need to understand how to use it.

Process to move back to movie setup using a pair of A90 for example:

1. Swap input on L/R A90 to RCA, swap input on Subs A90 to RCA

2. Set the volume pots and gain manually to be exactly where they need to be in order to volume match where they were set during calibration, I guess i would probably physically mark the settings on the units.

3. Set AV receiver to be powered up and on correct input

4. Turn on TV and select correct input

4. Power up Xbox and start movie.

Then you have to do the reverse to go back to music which will be using balanced dacs and failure to reduce the gain/volume on the preamps could damage the speakers. Most av reciever pump out 2v (if you are lucky) on its preouts, vs 5V+ on my balanced DAC's forgetting to reduce gain/volume would be very bad.

What I plan to be the endgame:

"press watch button on phone/physical wall button"

I will then program Control4 (I am a dealer) to do it all for me via a mix of network control and IR blasters.

It will: load correct presets on each L70 which will set gains, volumes, inputs and outputs, turn on the receiver and swap to correct input channel, start the Xbox, turn on TV, set TV to correct input, It will even dim the lights for me after a per-determined delay if I want it to.

I am perfectly capable of doing all that manually and I might even find it sort of fun tinkering with all the switches and volume pots and getting things just how they need to be to watch a good movie or listen to an album but you know what isn't fun?

Having to stop what I am doing and go downstairs for the 30th time and get everything working after deciphering what state everything has ended up in for someone who isnt that interested in AV/HIFI and just wants to watch a some TV or put some music on and is now frustrated that they cant even use the system easily.

Plus if people other than me love it and love using it, it means when I want to upgrade something, I wont be the only one excited for the new piece of kit that is going in.

 

[Kumabear]

I also 100% agree with you that there is less to go wrong with the A90 for sure without all the cleverness and if it was a situation where it just had to be set and forget I would maybe go that way, although a 12V trigger would be good to have still.