Headphone Amplifier - All Our Models | audiohum

Headphone amplifier

A headphone amplifier is a small device that amplifies the signal coming from a sound source (PC, MAC, TV, smartphone, game console, tablet), increasing and improving the volume, detail and sound quality of your headphones.

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  • Brand: Burson Audio

Why do you need a headphone amplifier?

As standard, all headphones on the market include an amplifier in their cups. However, they are usually very small and of low quality. If as a user you need a leap in quality and want to listen to your favorite audio tracks in detail, the ideal is to support your headphones with an external amplifier. All the more reason if you have high-end headphones.

This will achieve a higher quality sound at high volumes and little sound distortion.

A headphone amplifier can also help us to overcome the low qualities of the audio source (poor recordings and highly compressed audio files).

What headphone amp to buy? Types:

There are three types of headphone amplifiers:

Tube or tube amplifiers

Built with vacuum tubes, sound is produced by heating these tubes, where electrons are burned in a vacuum chamber. They are a more delicate type of amplifier, requiring some maintenance. Especially the valves, which can break. They transmit a warm sound with a high level of detail and nuances.

Solid state amplifiers

Unlike tube amps, these do not require tubes, but instead work with transistors. They require virtually no maintenance and are safer than tube amps. They deliver crisp, detailed high-fidelity sound without reaching the level of tube amps.

Hybrid System Amplifiers

Hybrid amplifiers work from the combination of tubes and transistors. It's a good choice if you want a bit more power and a slightly warmer (tube-like) sound than a solid-state amp offers, but on a more moderate budget.

Headphone Amplifier Connections

The connection between your headphones and a headphone amplifier is made via a cable. The most common are 3.5 and 6.3 mm.

3.5mm and 6.3mm connections

The 3.5 mm connection is the most common and used by the vast majority of headphones on the market. This connection will allow you to connect your headphones with most sound source devices.

The 1/4" ports are used in the industry for connections to the highest quality headphones and headphone amps. They allow a higher quality connection and the cable is more resistant. There are adapters for this type of port and they are very cheap. At the performance level, the differences between the 3.5 and 6.3 mm ports are so minimal that they do not require further attention.

Other connections

There are other options for connecting your headphones to an audio source:

Among them the TRS connection, which is used for balanced audio lines, or depending on the equipment, for stereo sound. 

The XLR connector is used for many professional audio applications. The most common configuration is a 3-pin connector for "balanced" audio signals.

When male and female XLR connectors are mated, the connector design makes contact on pin 1 (ground) before any other pins. This avoids possible failures to the system.

A balanced audio signal offers great shielding from EMI noise and can travel a long distance. For this reason, balanced lines using XLR connections are often used for microphones, mixers, amplifiers, and other professional audio devices.

Another connection that we find very often is USB (digital), very common in gaming. The RCA connector is used in some audio devices, such as DVD or Blue ray players where this connection has replaced the Jack connectors.

The TOSLINK connection is a small round optical conductor housed in a square connector body. Originally designed for use solely with Toshiba CD players, it has been adopted by many other manufacturers and is standard equipment in many A/V sources, receivers, and surround sound equipment.

The Bluetooth connection is for those who do not want to use cables. It is a very popular connection in recent years, however, if what you are looking for is the best possible sound experience, in terms of quality, it is not the best option.

Frequent questions

What is a headphone amplifier?

A headphone amplifier is a small device that amplifies the signal coming from a sound source (PC, MAC, TV, smartphone, game console, tablet), increasing and improving the volume, detail and sound quality of your headphones.

If you want to get the most out of your headphones, the best option is to use an amplifier. This will allow you to enjoy music to the fullest, with power and clarity. Acquiring one of these devices is undoubtedly one of the best alternatives to start delving into the exciting hobby of high-resolution audio.

How to improve the sound quality of headphones?

To get the best sound quality from your headphones there are several aspects of the signal chain to consider;

Music file formats are the basis for making your headphones sound good. For a good experience, audio files have to have good compression. The music that we find on vinyl records or CDs is of excellent quality, superior to most of the files that we will find in our digital library, although there are premium versions of services such as Spotify and Tidal that offer good options.

A good DAC can give your listeners a leap in quality. What is a DAC used for? Before sound enters our ears, it exists only in digital form: the 0s and 1s that contain the information of an audio file. The DAC is responsible for converting this digital data to analog. It is like a translator that converts digital information into real sound. Every computer, phone or tablet comes with a built-in DAC, albeit of very low quality.

Finally, adding a headphone amplifier to your signal chain will give you superior listening quality. These devices increase the power of our audio, allowing us to obtain greater clarity at low volumes, comparable to that of the best headphones on the market. And on the other hand, it adds textures and deepens the sound.

How are amplifiers used?

Connecting and using a headphone amplifier to your headphones is a simple process. Before connecting a pair of headphones to an amplifier we must look at the impedance capacity of the headphones. This will appear both on the website of the production company and in the user manual of the helmets. We must first check if the amplifier is capable of supporting the indicated capacity. Most headphone amps, however, can drive any headphone capacity, so this is not a problem.

You also have to take into account the input of the amplifier and the headphone cable to establish the connection. If they do not match an adapter can be used.

How to improve the sound of an amplifier?

To ensure optimal performance from the amplifier, we recommend placing the amplifier on top of a dedicated stand or cabinet for audio components. If the amplifier is located inside a piece of furniture or in a space where there is little ventilation, it will not offer its best performance, therefore we must make room for it in our room so that it can “breathe”. Consequently, it is necessary to ensure good air circulation around our amplifier, thus leaving a free space of at least 5 centimeters (if it can be more, the better). We must also try to keep our amplifier away from devices that generate or manipulate signals likely to "sneak" through any of the inputs or directly interfere with its internal components (in the case of the power transformer).

For a personal consultation and even to test the most suitable headphone amplifier with your hi-fi equipment, please contact us without obligation.