Tyre-kicker's guide
Hi-res players & Headphone amps
headphone amps are an essential accessory for those that like their music sounding superb
HEADPHONE AMP
A headphone amp is an amplifier specifically designed to power or drive your headphones. Your smartphone, for example so long as it has a headphone socket, has a headphone amplifier built-in. But here we're talking about a standalone headphone amp that'll derive max performance from your headphones, especially higher impedance designs. Higher impedance headphones – think 25 ohms and above – require more power, which is where the headphone amp comes in. If your headphones sound quiet, you likely need a headphone amp. A capable headphone amp can boost the audio performance of pretty much any headphones, but the more capable the cans, the more pronounced the results.
