Headphone Amps?

The problem with using pre-outs is that you would probably not have a convenient means of disabling the sound from the speakers while listening to headphones.

It looks like your AX-7e has tape outs, which presumably are "ahead" of the volume control in the signal path and therefore should be suitable, as was suggested above (assuming, as is likely, that the headphone amp has a high enough input impedance to be suitable for use with the tape outs).

Not sure what "tube buffer in my epi" refers to, or how that might be utilized for headphone listening.

Regards,
-- Al

For the perfect answer, call Michael Weidmeyer at Ayre. He knows everything.

Thanks again everybody

Hello, I have a similar question about the ideal way to connect headphones to my integrated amp - it is the Portal Audio Panache. I bought it second hand, and therefore do not have the manual, and could not find one online.

My specific question is, should I use the 1/4" headphone jack on the front, or different outputs on the rear of the amp? The only info I could find online was in the stereophile.com review:

" I especially liked the convenience of being able to connect headphones directly. (This mutes the speaker inputs.) Headphones are driven from the power-amp stage, naturally (since there is no active line stage). A simple device takes the signal straight from the speaker output jacks and converts that signal for headphone use. With my Sennheiser HD600 and Grado RS-1 phones, the sound was exceptional. When you think what some people have paid for outboard headphone amps..."

The only other output on the rear of the Panache says "Record Out" and it looks to be an RCA jack. 

Do you think this reviewer was using the 1/4" jack on the front of the amp?

I think he was using the jack on the front. If you ever want another headphone amp, you probably can connect it to the "Record Out" outputs.