Koss 76 manual Headphone Amplifiers

Headphone Amplifiers

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Got an amplifier? Got head- phones? Now how do you plug the second into the first?

Headphones have long been an alter- native listening method for those whose partners don’t share their musical tastes. Or those with thin walls. In recent years the idea of listening to music through headphones rather than loudspeakers has gone mainstream. The reason for that can be summed up in a word: iPod. (Then again, there’s the word Walkman. Remember that? Neither do we.) But no portable player can do justice to great headphones.

Neither can your high end ampli- fier, chances are. Because headphones are sensitive and go right against your ears, they’ll let you hear hiss and hum normally inaudible. And you can’t rig up a switching system without doing major damage to audio performance you’ve spent good money for.

An amplifier made specially for headphones may be the solu- tion. Run it from your regular amp or preamp’s Tape Out jacks, and you’re set. We reviewed three possibilities.

38 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

But first, let’s talk about a new head- phone, the one below.

The Goldring DR150 headphone It’s from a surprising company, but

then Goldring seems to offer all kinds of things these days, even turntables. The DR150 phones are the most expensive of three models at C$260. This is of course much more than the phones on the racks of iPod stores.

They’re dynamic phones, with a titanium film diaphragm, comfortable circumaural muffs and open backs. They don’t block much sound, and consequently you won’t want to listen to

them next to someone trying to get some sleep, because they leak like the Titanic. The good side is that if the phone rings while you’re listening, you’ll hear it.

If you don’t see a cord in our picture it’s because it’s detachable. The 3 metre cord in fact has a gold-plated miniplug at each end, with a full-sized phone plug adapter. All three of us rated them comfortable, thanks to their lightness and the design of the muffs.

Do we have a reference headphone for comparison? Yes we do, though we seldom list it. It’s a Koss PRO/4AAA, purchased many years ago for studio monitoring (anyone recall that our Alpha room was originally a broadcast produc- tion studio?). It was excellent then, and it still is. We ran a single recording, Margie Gibson’s The Best Thing For You from her Say It With Music album (Sheffield CD-36), first through the Koss phones, then through the Goldring. Each panelist (listening separately for once) would evaluate the Goldring, and then continue the amplifier evaluation with the phone of his or her choice. The choice, however, would have to be made on the basis of the sound, not comfort.

Did the Goldring sound neutral? Not really. Albert found it colored, with an alteration not only of Gibson’s voice but also of the piano, bass and percus- sion. We did note some strong points. The transients are quick and lifelike, the dynamics impressive, and Gerard thought the somewhat leaner bass might actually be a plus. But we didn’t enjoy the increased graininess of the highs, nor the somewhat claustrophobic space. All three of us opted to do the rest of the test with our Koss reference phone.

The Goldring, we should add, seemed sensitive to the quality of the amplifier. It sounded best with the CEC amp (but of course so did the Koss). Plugged into

an iPod, it was harsh and edgy. Then on to the comparisons of the

amplifiers. We usually listen to our reference system first, and then drop in whatever component we are reviewing and listen again. However we have no reference headphone amplifier, and that