[TomH52]

Please forgive my ignorance as I'm new to all this.

I have a pair of Sennheiser 560S that I would like to use to exclusively listen to records. Unfortunately the headphone out on the front of my Hi-Fi receiver isn't really up to the job, so I would like to get a headphone amplifier that I can run through a splitter out of my phono stage, thereby giving me the option to use headphones and my speakers.

I would like to know whether I will be able to go out of my turntable into my phono stage (Rega Fono MM MK5), then out of the phono stage and into a budget tube amp/preamp (such as the Fosi P2). I was just concerned that effectively using two pre amps might be a problem with clipping or something else.

If it is possible, I'd also really appreciate any opinions on how you think this might sound; would a budget tube amp run the headphones well enough; or is there anything else I might consider--I'm open to any suggestions.

With many thanks in advance!

 

[HiFiWar]

Please forgive my ignorance as I'm new to all this.

I have a pair of Sennheiser 560S that I would like to use to exclusively listen to records. Unfortunately the headphone out on the front of my Hi-Fi receiver isn't really up to the job, so I would like to get a headphone amplifier that I can run through a splitter out of my phono stage, thereby giving me the option to use headphones and my speakers.

I would like to know whether I will be able to go out of my turntable into my phono stage (Rega Fono MM MK5), then out of the phono stage and into a budget tube amp/preamp (such as the Fosi P2). I was just concerned that effectively using two pre amps might be a problem with clipping or something else.

If it is possible, I'd also really appreciate any opinions on how you think this might sound; would a budget tube amp run the headphones well enough; or is there anything else I might consider--I'm open to any suggestions.

With many thanks in advance!

Tube amps would be fine, depending on the quality of course. I'd probably grab something from Schiit Audio if I were you - just contact hem for recommendations.

 

[TomH52]

Thank you very much. I will do.

 

[PopZeus]

A lot of smaller head amps will offer a pass thru RCA option so you don't double amp the signal on its way to your 2-channel system.

 

[TomH52]

A lot of smaller head amps will offer a pass thru RCA option so you don't double amp the signal on its way to your 2-channel system.

Great. I'll look into headphone amps that offer this. Very much appreciated.

 

[tomb]

I'm not sure this will end up working like you want. As you noted, you can't pull the phono output out of your receiver without it going through the pre-amp section. If you then connect one of the receiver's line outputs to your headphone amplifier, you're double-amping, with all its disadvantages.

You'd be better off finding a really nice phono pre-amp, then connecting it to a headphone amplifier. Forget using your receiver for this. The Hagerman Bugle phono pre-amp is still relatively inexpensive and can get you really good economical performance with a headphone amp. Be careful about other "audiophile" phono pre-amps, however. The Voodoo is very great with turntable cartridges and phono pre-amps. You can pay literally $thousands for a truly elementary circuit packaged in quadruple hand-rubbed padauk and not have it sound as good as the Hagerman Bugle.

 

[TomH52]

I'm not sure this will end up working like you want. As you noted, you can't pull the phono output out of your receiver without it going through the pre-amp section. If you then connect one of the receiver's line outputs to your headphone amplifier, you're double-amping, with all its disadvantages.

You'd be better off finding a really nice phono pre-amp, then connecting it to a headphone amplifier. Forget using your receiver for this. The Hagerman Bugle phono pre-amp is still relatively inexpensive and can get you really good economical performance with a headphone amp. Be careful about other "audiophile" phono pre-amps, however. The Voodoo is very great with turntable cartridges and phono pre-amps. You can pay literally $thousands for a truly elementary circuit packaged in quadruple hand-rubbed padauk and not have it sound as good as the Hagerman Bugle.

Thank you for your response! I'll also bear this in mind