No standalone DAC + Headphone amp?

[watchnerd]

I'm rather liking driving my headphone amp straight from the pre-outs on my integrated amp (which has a built-in DAC), with no separate DAC and wondering how many others are doing that same.

 

[jhaider]

I don't get the question. Why would one add a superfluous DAC if you have clean preouts and an analog headphone amp?

 

[watchnerd]

I don't get the question. Why would one add a superfluous DAC if you have clean preouts and an analog headphone amp?

I'm the wrong one to ask for justification.

But I see people do it commonly on head-fi.

They set up a totally separate headphone stack, even when they have things like functional AVRs with internal DACs and pre-outs.

 

[charleski]

I don't get the question. Why would one add a superfluous DAC if you have clean preouts and an analog headphone amp?

Because they want to spend money.

 

[MRC01]

The headphone jack of an integrated amp or preamp is often a poorly engineered afterthought having high output impedance, limited power or non-flat frequency response. So I can understand using a dedicated headphone amp.

But I don't understand a separate DAC? How does that even work -- 2 separate digital outputs from the audio source, one for speaker system, one for the headphone system?

 

[watchnerd]

The headphone jack of an integrated amp or preamp is often a poorly engineered afterthought having high output impedance, limited power or non-flat frequency response. So I can understand using a dedicated headphone amp.

But I don't understand a separate DAC? How does that even work -- 2 separate digital outputs from the audio source, one for speaker system, one for the headphone system?

I've seen that.

Example:

Streamer optical out into AVR, streamer USB out into standalone DAC

 

[watchnerd]

Because they want to spend money.

Or they want a special DAC with secret sauce, like multibit, R2R, or other things.

Or MQA.

 

[watchnerd]

The headphone jack of an integrated amp or preamp is often a poorly engineered afterthought having high output impedance, limited power or non-flat frequency response. So I can understand using a dedicated headphone amp.

FWIW, my amp doesn't even have a headphone jack. The advice from the maker is to connect the headphones directly (sans amp) to the RCA outs.

I have a custom RCA->TRS cable and it actually works pretty well for low impedance / high sensitivity cans.

But things like HE6SE, no way.

 

[3125b]

My ADI-2 Pro FS does everything. Two headphone amps, analog and digital in- and outputs, DSP.
And I use active speakers.

 

[watchnerd]

My ADI-2 Pro FS does everything. Two headphone amps, analog and digital in- and outputs, DSP.
And I use active speakers.

That's what I use in my office.

But not in my living room.

 

[NewbieOne]

I've just bought a no-DAC amp with the intention of using my current, past or next soundcard as the DAC. This is for gaming reasons mostly.

 

[Joaquin Dinero]

I get having a separate headphones rig; but I prefer a DAC/amp combo device. Headphone amps are smaller and I can move them to different parts of the house depending on what I'm doing.

 

[MCH]

None, i stream somewhere else to a pi+dongle

 

[Doodski]

FWIW, my amp doesn't even have a headphone jack. The advice from the maker is to connect the headphones directly (sans amp) to the RCA outs.

I have a custom RCA->TRS cable and it actually works pretty well for low impedance / high sensitivity cans.

But things like HE6SE, no way.

What's the output impedance?

 

[Snoopy]

I've seen that.

Example:

Streamer optical out into AVR, streamer USB out into standalone DAC

XLR out from the streamer/DAC .. in my case Cambridge CXN V2 into Singxer SA-1


And RCA / Digital out from Cambridge CXN V2 into Cambridge CXA81 for my loudspeakers.

In that case I could use the DAC in the Cxn V2 or the DAC in the CXA81 . Or I could bypass the DAC in the CXN V2, use it as a streamer and go into a external DAC that could feed both my headphone and integrated amp.

 

[Jimbob54]

I'm rather liking driving my headphone amp straight from the pre-outs on my integrated amp (which has a built-in DAC), with no separate DAC and wondering how many others are doing that same.

Which do you use for the volume control? Integrated with head amp at a fixed level?

 

[NewbieOne]

I get having a separate headphones rig; but I prefer a DAC/amp combo device. Headphone amps are smaller and I can move them to different parts of the house depending on what I'm doing.

It's convenient. Less weight, less clutter, less hassle. Can be connected to a number of sources alternatively, so you don't have to buy separate stacks for separate sources. For example one dongle is more financially and logistically efficient than two internal soundcards in two computers that you don't use simultaneously for listening to anything (e.g. desktop computer in your office and laptop for working in the garden or park). And given the progress made in miniaturization by this stage, the chips can be made small and you can fit plenty of them in a single box, though you'd better also be able to plug the whole thing into the wall for juice.

Of course, you can get better results from disaggregation — where the aggregated options are limited in range and more expensive. But otherwise those are all variables to be taken into the equation when comparing your options and deciding whatever's best for you given your circumstances. Everybody is ready to sacrifice at least a little bit SQ for added comfort or a large enough saving of money. Otherwise everybody would be spending thousands of dollars on equipment. Most people, however, decide to get like 90% of the quality for 50% of the money and not go too far beyond the point of diminished returns. You can decide that having a separate amp and a separate DAC is past your point of diminished returns due to space/weight or financially, and you can go for the better bang for the buck (or for space or comfort or whatever else is more important to you than maximizing the quality gain).

 

[watchnerd]

What's the output impedance?

It don't recall exactly. It was something stupid low, like .1 ohm.

 

[watchnerd]

Which do you use for the volume control? Integrated with head amp at a fixed level?

I've had to play around with this.

My original thought was to crank the pot on the headphone amp to 100% max, to avoid channel imbalances at low pot levels, and just use the digital volume control of the preamp.

This ended up dramatically increasing noise and microphony in the tubes.

I've now backed the pot off to the 3 o'clock position (I think unity gain is at about 1 o'clock), which dramatically cut back on noise and microphony, and use the digital volume control of the preamp.