Headphone Amp?

Chris19 · 11 Oct 2010 at 15:42

I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice for me please. I have a pair of HD555's along with a X-Fi Xtereme Music. I was wondering if getting a headphone amp would actully show a big improvement in terms of sound and if so what amps would you suggest?

It seems the The Pro-ject Headbox Mk2 is quite highly rated but i cant see how this would connect with the X-fi as it seems to need a stero connection with both L and R wires??

Marsman · 11 Oct 2010 at 18:29

A headphone amp will connect to any sound card. You would use a 3.5mm jack to 2 RCA's cable. TBH, looking at opinions of others who have used the HD555's with an amp, there is very little benefit, especially when you consider what a headphone amp costs. A lot seem to have the opinion, what a decent budget headphone amp costs, one would be better to spend that on upgrading to better headphones, rather than spending money trying to squeeze more performance from HD555's.

danza · 11 Oct 2010 at 20:37

Marsman said:
A headphone amp will connect to any sound card. You would use a 3.5mm jack to 2 RCA's cable. TBH, looking at opinions of others who have used the HD555's with an amp, there is very little benefit, especially when you consider what a headphone amp costs. A lot seem to have the opinion, what a decent budget headphone amp costs, one would be better to spend that on upgrading to better headphones, rather than spending money trying to squeeze more performance from HD555's.

I was trying to type something to this effect on my phone earlier, and became annoyed so gave up.

In truth, an upgrade worth doing will set you back ~£200 for a decent used pair of cans and a half decent amp such as a Little Dot 2 (one of the many iterations that exist).

The Headbox 2 is okay, but for not much (if any) more you can do an awful lot better. I have a Headbox 2 for use with my DVD player/main hifi, and my Shanling PH100 (£150) does the proverbial all over it TBH.

Chris19 · 11 Oct 2010 at 22:27

Cheers for the info guys! Considering the current set i have are only a few months old think im just gonna hold off any more upgrade at the moment after those comments.

C64 · 14 Oct 2010 at 07:52

E5 amp would give them a kick for £15 it's a glorified volume booster but does work and fine for the cost.

You would notice an improvement, I know I do with goldring dr150/ns1000 and portable use with sennheiser ie6.

Marsman · 14 Oct 2010 at 19:43

C64 said:
E5 amp would give them a kick for £15 it's a glorified volume booster but does work and fine for the cost.

You would notice an improvement, I know I do with goldring dr150/ns1000 and portable use with sennheiser ie6.

True of the Goldring's, but that wont apply to all headphones. Having said that, £15 or so is worth a punt I'd say. It's entirely possible an E5 would make a difference to the HD555's, but £15 wouldn't be a huge loss if it doesn't. Spending £100 on an amp is much more of a gamble.