Using an HE-Adapter with an AVR

[kamspy]

Hey guys. I've been out of hobbyist hifi for about 15 years. I pretty much ran through everything Best Buy and Circuit City had to offer on AVRs and speakers. I traded gear around A LOT and got to sample just about everything that tier had to offer. Onkyko, Marantz, Denon, Pioneer etc. I've got a top tier Denon from the last year HDMI wasn't offered. It's the best sounding AVR I've ever had. I traded down from a mid range Onkyo for it. Total Craigslist score. Checkout the specs. You can bi-amp the fronts for 240w, I don't know how the HE-Adapter is going to effect that or the processing. If I end up using the front outputs for bookshelf speakers, I'll put the HE-Adapter on Zone 2.

https://hifiman.com/products/detail/84 I see they warn against using it with high efficiency headphones. I'm not against having a little source selector situation going on

https://www.denon.com/on/demandware...nloads/archived/avr-3805-owners-manual-en.pdf Where does the analog output processing rank among the desktop stuff of today?

https://www.audioholics.com/av-receiver-reviews/denon-avr-3805 glowing review that I fully agree with.

I'll be using my PC as a source with a USB to toslink SMSL box.

I don't have anything very power hungry yet. Just some DT 990 Pro X and really old stuff from the early 2000s with the big brands. Grado, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, and some old DT 880s that inspired this purchase. (Yes I like Klipsch speakers). I've got some hearing loss and I can probably make a few guys sick with my EQ settings. Siblant hell is what someone at AVS called it. But I'll change it as the mood or band or source strikes me. Which brings me to my next question....I saw a really cool little piece of kit. The Fiso SK01. I want to stow my AVR out of the way. My listening location will be the desk in my home office. The SK01 will be like a preamp and I'll feed it with a USB-C dongle out of my motherboard. Or, I can give up tone knobs (which is half the point tbh) but I still get the desktop volume knob. Or is there another similarly cheap device that will do a good enough job at what I'm trying to achieve here? I've also got a little Neohipo H1 DAC with fantastic I/O, if a little pedestrian but clean processing. I only output at 24/48 anyways because some games don't like going higher.

Right now I'm just running the H1 with a hot rodded Duok U3. I like to keep the chain as clean as I can so I'm the only thing molesting it.

Next I'll need to ask about the new $90 Chinese planar bookshelf speakers on Amazon that all the Magnolia shit I pulled together back in the day sound bad.

 

[Aryzon]

AVRs (especially older ones) have very high noise floor. I also tried to be smart and buy a used AVR for cheap to drive my HE6se and found out the hard way. It could barely take them to good volume and when used with more sane headphones it would hiss.

HE adapter is made for tube amps and is not required when plugging headphones into a solid state speaker amp. You just need a speaker -> 4pin XLR adapter cable.

 

[kamspy]

Figured it was worth a shot. It's such a great piece of kit and it just collects dust these days. Once I get the 2.1 going proper in the office I'll dust her off. Just figured it was worth a flier.

 

[kamspy]

AVRs (especially older ones) have very high noise floor. I also tried to be smart and buy a used AVR for cheap to drive my HE6se and found out the hard way. It could barely take them to good volume and when used with more sane headphones it would hiss.

HE adapter is made for tube amps and is not required when plugging headphones into a solid state speaker amp. You just need a speaker -> 4pin XLR adapter cable.

Denon AVR-3805 Receiver HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures: Denon AVR-3805 Five channels driven into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 114.9 watts; 1% distortion at 125.0 watts Analog frequency response in pure direct mode: –0.11 dB at 10 Hz; –0.03 dB at 20 Hz; –0.16 dB at 20 kHz; –0.89 dB at 50 kHz. Analog frequency response with signal...

www.soundandvision.com

How do these numbers hold up for headphones?

 

[Aryzon]

It's been a while since I have looked at speaker amps and especially how they pair with headphones so I don't remember the ways to calculate them. All I can is that the high wattage output of a speaker amp only applies to low impedance devices such as speakers that they are meant to be paired with 4-8ohm usually. Headphones have much higher impedance and even something modest like the 60ohm of an HE6 will heavily reduce to power output of the speaker amp. Headphone amps are better at handling higher impedance loads, hence why we have these 2 categories with only very few (usually brutally expensive) models being made to drive both speakers and headphones directly.
You better ask someone else on how to measure noise floor and power output at higher impedance loads. All I can say is that I tried some old receivers I used to have and none of them were powerful enough to drive HE6se or quiet enough to drive more sensitive headphones.

 

[kamspy]

It's been a while since I have looked at speaker amps and especially how they pair with headphones so I don't remember the ways to calculate them. All I can is that the high wattage output of a speaker amp only applies to low impedance devices such as speakers that they are meant to be paired with 4-8ohm usually. Headphones have much higher impedance and even something modest like the 60ohm of an HE6 will heavily reduce to power output of the speaker amp. Headphone amps are better at handling higher impedance loads, hence why we have these 2 categories with only very few (usually brutally expensive) models being made to drive both speakers and headphones directly.
You better ask someone else on how to measure noise floor and power output at higher impedance loads. All I can say is that I tried some old receivers I used to have and none of them were powerful enough to drive HE6se or quiet enough to drive more sensitive headphones.

That adapter, as I understand it, is designed to massage that impedance gap a bit. Not just an XLR jack. I've heard old Yammy's are set up well for it natively.

 

[solderdude]

It's been a while since I have looked at speaker amps and especially how they pair with headphones so I don't remember the ways to calculate them.

Power amp adapter

home back to articles back to headphone related published: Apr-5-2013, updated: Feb-09-2022 Can I use the speaker output terminals of a power amp to drive headphones ? Yes and No…. Yes, because hig…

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

 

[kamspy]

Power amp adapter

home back to articles back to headphone related published: Apr-5-2013, updated: Feb-09-2022 Can I use the speaker output terminals of a power amp to drive headphones ? Yes and No…. Yes, because hig…

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

Well, I did some napkin math last night with a fun idea. I'm going to try to use the Denon 3805 as a Pre Amp to the Duok U3. Yes, I know it's a cursed idea but hear me out: dump the Neohipo H1 for a SMSL PO100 so I can feed it optical. New chain would be PC->USB-C->SMSL optical box->Denon 3805 Pre Amp RCA -> Duok U3

Crazy enough to work? I just always loved what that AL24 did to the high end. It takes all the harsh noise out of the upper register without blunting it, but it rather chamfers and polishes the edges. Like the audio version of a Christopher Ward Light Catcher case.

 

[solderdude]

What has the AL24 laptop got to do with it (unless that is what you are calling the PC ?)

If so... simply connect the headphone out to the Douk U3 problem solved in that case anything 'what that AL24 did to the high end' won't be preserved and it won't 'feel' like that expensive watch you were talking about.

 

[kamspy]

What has the AL24 laptop got to do with it (unless that is what you are calling the PC ?)

If so... simply connect the headphone out to the Douk U3 problem solved in that case anything 'what that AL24 did to the high end' won't be preserved and it won't 'feel' like that expensive watch you were talking about.

Apologies for the winter break thread! I get a feral when I don't have to go to work.

I wanted to use my the processing in my Denon. Basically like a DSP. It's the processing I'm after more than the power. That was my golden AVR. Just head and shoulders above everything else I tried. Since I don't have optical out on my PC, I wondered about this abomination:

PC USB Port -> Neohipo H1 -> optical -> Denon 3805 -> Pre Amp out -> Duok U3 -> 1/4 jack headphones.

But I'm just fine without it. Get a little bored couped up. Maybe try it next time I rearrange the office.

 

[solderdude]

Should work.
You may be 'limited' to 96/24 though.