Your Drop amp is about as far away from tubes as you can get. Get the Quicksilver amp and you’ll be in a whole new world. Woo Audio would be another excellent option if it’s in your budget.
Tube Amp with a Preamp and Headphone Jacks
Hi. I have a CARY tube amplifier and I would love to be able to get CAD-808 sound protruding through a preamp headphone jack (on the face of the PreAmp). Will I get CARY to sound out of my preamp or will I get the PreAmp’s sound, being solid state or preamp tube?
I have Drop Focal Elex (80 ohms) headphones and Drop AAA 789 currently. Will I be getting better sound from a tube amp or is it impossible? Thank youDave
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+1 @ghdprentice You want a separate headphone amp to do your headphones justice. I’d highly recommend the Quicksilver tubed headphone amp, which, at about $1200 or so is quite a bargain and will certainly give you that tube magic. Best of luck. |
I think I get the gist of your question. Some component preamps have headphone output jacks. They typically have mediocre sound at best. I know a dealer friend of mine had a Cary integrated with a headphone jack. He recommended it as a possibility for me for my headphone system. after a lot of research, I bought a Woo WA5… it completely and totally blew away the “included” headphone jacks on several high end integrated amps… and straight preamps. They are generally “add on” features and seldom compete with dedicated headphone amp outputs. You just have to listen to a Woo WA5 headphone amp… then to alternatives… the difference in the systems I have heard have been absolutely incredible. You can see my systems under my UserID. |