Headphone Amplifiers

A headphone amplifier is designed to drive headphones instead of speakers.  Headphone amps can be a simple circuit inside of your audio player or a stand alone unit that sits in line between your audio source and headphones.  Most headphones on the market do fine with the minimal amplification coming out of the audio source, like mp3 players. 

But audiophile headphones, like the Sennheiser HD800, cannot be truly appreciated without a standalone unit.  The amplifier improves the sound quality by increasing the power that moves the transducer in your headphones. 

For the mechanically inclined, headphone amplifiers are a popular DIY project.  Many resources can be found on the web to guide you through the process.  The most popular example of these DIY amps are the Cmoy design, which you can even buy from garage electricians on eBay. 

Another type of amplifier is the tube amp.  Unlike transistor designs, the tube amp relies heavily on the construction of the tube itself.  Tube amps tend to be more designer friendly, are more rate, and thus more expensive.  Some audiophiles swear by them and will debate hotly on the merits of tube amps versus transistor driven amps.

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