Headphone amplifier

MyRealNameToo

Vitor said:

 But seriously, 3.5mm to XLR are a thing - albeit not truly balanced.

but would be totally pointless unless you already own kit that has to use XLR and you dont want to have to replace it

RomfordNavy

sausage_time said:

Not sure it's what you need, but I have a Fiio E10K which I used with my B&W P5 headphones in the past.   It was very good and much better than my PC or laptop DAC.  Perhaps other Fiio amps will be close to your requirements.

I have moved to Bose and bluetooth now.  Yes, I know.

Don't think Fiio make a pure wired headphone amplifier.

RomfordNavy

Vitor said:

Maybe this, USB powered and XLR-4/4.4 mm Pentaconn outputs, no DAC of course -  Douk Audio Balanced Headphone Amp Amplifier with XLR Input and 4.4mm Headset Jack for PC, TV, CD Player, Mini Desktop, 18-600 ohm (U5): Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Yep, that is an interesting suggestion which I had seen but there seems to be some question about whether it can be used with unbalanced single-ended input?

RomfordNavy

dojuls said:

You might want to consider the iFi Micro iDSD or a product from the Chord Mojo line. Both can run off USB power and deliver plenty of clean output. If you’re set on XLR-4, a portable balanced amplifier like the Topping NX7 could also be worth considering.

Unfortunately the Topping NX7 isn't balanced and both the  iFi Micro iDSD and Chord Mojo are not pure amplifiers both include DAC.

RomfordNavy

Vitor said:

- not sure what the OP would have that would have two XLR output ports - 

Audiophiles only use XLR  But seriously, 3.5mm to XLR are a thing - albeit not truly balanced.

On paper that would connect to the Douk but is it safe to connect unbalanced inputs, see the Douk website:https://doukaudio.com/products/douk-audio-u5pro-hifi-fully-balanced-headphone-amplifier-mini-stereo-amp-for-xlr-4-4mm-headsets
Although I can't understand why having common earths on the input side should make any difference to an amplifier.

RomfordNavy

Heedtheadvice said:

Confused here, Romford !

Can I ask why you want an amp for your headphones. Is it that your current output cannot drive the phones sufficiently, is too low level ( can hardly drive them at all ) or you are trying to get better quality?

Further why balanced output? It is very rare to get headphones that have a balanced input and if they did you would need a 5 pin xlr ( left +and -, right + and -, and screen). There is absolututely no advantage in driving a single ended input from an impedance balanced source. The exception is using a transformer on each channel to electrically isolate source and destination.

For better quality sound, many headphones require a good amp otherwise they sound thin with no punch and body to the sound.

The Verum 2 which I have ordered comes with a balanced XLR-4 cable so it seems only sensible to use this if I can.  Some of the reviews I have read suggest that these really do need a good quality powerful amp to get the best from them.

MyRealNameToo

RomfordNavy said:

Heedtheadvice said:

Confused here, Romford !

Can I ask why you want an amp for your headphones. Is it that your current output cannot drive the phones sufficiently, is too low level ( can hardly drive them at all ) or you are trying to get better quality?

Further why balanced output? It is very rare to get headphones that have a balanced input and if they did you would need a 5 pin xlr ( left +and -, right + and -, and screen). There is absolututely no advantage in driving a single ended input from an impedance balanced source. The exception is using a transformer on each channel to electrically isolate source and destination.

For better quality sound, many headphones require a good amp otherwise they sound thin with no punch and body to the sound.

The Verum 2 which I have ordered comes with a balanced XLR-4 cable so it seems only sensible to use this if I can.  Some of the reviews I have read suggest that these really do need a good quality powerful amp to get the best from them.

You know that these are open backed headphones so not really something you'd normally use outside of the home? You will hear everything around you and everyone will hear what you are playing at full volume 

What source are you using? 

As has already been explained there is no point taking an unbalanced analogue signal and just converting it to a XLR port as it will still be unbalanced. You need the full signal from the DAC to the headphones to be balanced otherwise you are simply causing complexity for no benefit. 

RomfordNavy

MyRealNameToo said:

You know that these are open backed headphones so not really something you'd normally use outside of the home? You will hear everything around you and everyone will hear what you are playing at full volume 

What source are you using? 

As has already been explained there is no point taking an unbalanced analogue signal and just converting it to a XLR port as it will still be unbalanced. You need the full signal from the DAC to the headphones to be balanced otherwise you are simply causing complexity for no benefit. 

Not worried about others hearing my music, on long walk through the forrest the only ones who will hear my music are the wild deer.

For the moment source is a cheap DAC (Shmci C60), DAC: sound quality from this is amazing but amplifier is not.  So idea is to use this unbalanced input signal for the moment but somewhere in the fututre probably change to a balanced DAC as well.

MyRealNameToo

RomfordNavy said:

MyRealNameToo said:

You know that these are open backed headphones so not really something you'd normally use outside of the home? You will hear everything around you and everyone will hear what you are playing at full volume 

What source are you using? 

As has already been explained there is no point taking an unbalanced analogue signal and just converting it to a XLR port as it will still be unbalanced. You need the full signal from the DAC to the headphones to be balanced otherwise you are simply causing complexity for no benefit. 

Not worried about others hearing my music, on long walk through the forrest the only ones who will hear my music are the wild deer.

You will also be hearing the forest, which may be fine, but not generally the audiophile type experience or a scenario that would point to spending big bucks on which will be lost when there is anything more than a light breeze. 

Verum 2 are not a high impedance set of headphones so dont need the higher voltage of a balanced signal. Similarly out in a forest you arent going to be near sources of electromagnetic interference which balanced signals are better dealing with. 

If you had a two grand (or more) Astell&Kern DAP which already has a 2.5mm XLR connector or it was for home listening then would say you may as well try it but be prepared to be disappointed as some balanced kit is snake oil and you'll get a worse result than if it was single ended. In your circumstances would strongly predict your chances of a better result by not limiting yourself to balanced is much higher. But then a mate still thinks is £260 2m Audioquest Carbon HDMI cable is making the colours on his TV so much brighter than the £90 Audioquest Forest he replaced despite the fact for 3 months he didn't spot I'd switched it for a £15 one whilst he wasnt looking and couldn't tell the difference. If it makes him happy and he can afford it its his money to waste.

Heedtheadvice

RomfordNavy said:

Heedtheadvice said:

Confused here, Romford !

Can I ask why you want an amp for your headphones. Is it that your current output cannot drive the phones sufficiently, is too low level ( can hardly drive them at all ) or you are trying to get better quality?

Further why balanced output? It is very rare to get headphones that have a balanced input and if they did you would need a 5 pin xlr ( left +and -, right + and -, and screen). There is absolututely no advantage in driving a single ended input from an impedance balanced source. The exception is using a transformer on each channel to electrically isolate source and destination.

For better quality sound, many headphones require a good amp otherwise they sound thin with no punch and body to the sound.

The Verum 2 which I have ordered comes with a balanced XLR-4 cable so it seems only sensible to use this if I can.  Some of the reviews I have read suggest that these really do need a good quality powerful amp to get the best from them.

Understand now.

With caveat that I certainly would not pick those phones for outside use ( external noise possible and environment/ weather issues ) and they are not particularly flat frequency response for best quality....

Those phones require a low impedance driver. They are about 12ohms impedance themselves so the amp to drive them needs to be 10 times lower output impedance to provide proper damping. Not that many around that cost much less than the phones themselves and work off DC. It is not impossible by any means to design and make a suitable amp bit do not know any that meet your 'spec'.

Something like the mains powered https://www.schiit.co.uk/headphone-amps Magni Unity would do the job except for the power source issue.

As per the Real poster forget the balanced aim. There is absolutely no advantage over single ended for your use. Balanced, especially with a short cable and no other equipment to give a him loop and a benign electromagnetic environment would give no improvement whatsoever. That is also true if you are feeding your headphone amp from portable equipment in the forest such as a phone or other single ended domestic player as source.