One reason to have a headphone amp would be for a stereo system in a location where you would would not be able to or would not want to play music over speakers.
The ideal quiet-room mini-system:
1) A music source (cdp, tape deck, tuner, etc.)
2) Headphone amp
2) Headphones
Alternate version:
1) Turntable
2) Mini phono preamp
3) Headphone amp
4) Headphones
Thanks for the info, and great link! I learned a lot.. I dug out the owners manual for my old Kenwood 700C and discovered it has an 8 Ohm phone output, a little higher than what would be max for 50 ohm cans using the 8ths rule, so will be looking for a headphone amp for in home use.
I have a Q1 as well. I use it with my AKG K240’s. I don’t notice a big improvement over my MacBook Pro’s excellent sound card. On the other hand it was a huge improvement over my work HP laptop. I also note significant improvement with my iPods using a line out adapter.So I have a partial solution to help determine if I will require a headphone amp other than what is in my Kenwood. I ordered a FiiO DAC/amp which while wasn't purchased for my home use, may give me a point of comparison. This model can bypass the DAC and just use the amplifier (RCA in and out) so if there is any improvement from my Kenny pre, it will probably take me to further upgrade to a home use table top headphone amp later on. Couldn't find actual output data for the FiiO amp section, but it claims to work well for headphones down to 30 ohm on up to 300. This was bought for the purpose of playing FLAC/APE files from my cellphone while away from home so a much different purpose from listening at home through my DAC and source.
FiiO Q1
I am fairly new to the world of headphones. I have just ordered the Sennheiser HD 579 which are a 50 ohm, open back model and I probably won't play these too loud. I have a rebuilt Kenwood vintage separate amp/preamp now, each with headphone jacks. I know this will probably be a difficult question to answer, but is there an advantage to buying a separate headphone amp for these cans? I am looking at the Schiit Magni 3 as in my budget range, but I obviously don't want to buy it if the Kenwood 700 headphone amp will be just as good.
Having such little experience with headphones I probably wont ever be certain if I am hearing the HD 579's at their best without understanding just what a separate headphone amp can do for me.
To me, the depth of sound stage is particularly important in headphone listening. It needs a good phone and a good amp to bring it out. Otherwise, the music becomes 2 dimensional.
Congratulation, the Sennheiser HD579 is supposed to be one of the best value in headphone and you get a well matched headamp. It offers the natural sounding bass with a flat response. I have the HD598 and the HD600 from the same family. Stick with what you have until you are itching for improvement.As I play the HD 579's with my 700C I have been getting sort of a revelation it seems! I have never really heard this sort of detail, and 3D imaging from HP's as with this combo.
As for the headphone amp, I am just going to hold the money, at least for now. I suspect that there could be gains with a more expensive HP amp but that is a rabbit hole I am going to avoid for now, especially with only very minute differences with the FiiO Q1 and the internal 700C HP amp.
The FiiO Q1 is for portable application. Yes, there could be gains with an AC powered HP amp but the limitation will then be in the headphone itself.
I got a Topping T30 for exactly the same reason. It is a great bargain; but now I'm looking for something a bit better. (Quite a bit) I'm looking at a few options; but the V90 is no longer available new and had no conventional headphone jack. Does anyone else have any other good suggestions? It would need to have RCA inputs and speaker outputs, of course, for the Stax adapter/driver.Or (1+4)/2=2.5 I do have Stax e'stats and drove them off my main system's tube amp on the 8 ohm tap. Meanwhile my Bi-wired B&O speakers were on the 4 ohm terminals necessitating pulling 4 sets of banana plugs at the speakers to listen to the Stax. So eventually I bought a Musical Fidelity V90 speaker amp to feed the Stax 230 Volt output adapter for the Stax "ear speakers". Totally worth it by the way.