Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 568 and Headphones

Hi,

I have neighbours so sometimes I'm not able to play my music at the volume I like. So I invested in a pair of Sennheiser HD 650 headphones which was really good with my old system. However, since upgrading to my new Meridian system the 568.2 doesn�t have a headphone socket.

So my question is, if I buy a dedicated headphone amp (i.e. Lehmann BlackCube or Beyerdynamic etc.) which have analogue inputs. Am I able to connect the headphone amp to my 568 & use it as my processor/DAC?

I've looked at the rear of the 568 & although there are analogue outputs it's written that they are for sides/rears speakers etc. I hope I will be able to connect a headphone amp as it's mostly what I use when my neighbours are home.

Any info at all on this matter will be greatly appreciated :-)

Thanks guys
Marc

Marc

There's been a few threads on this over time, this one is a good summary. I run a creek headphone amp off one of the analogue outs of my 562v3. one advantage is I can listen to something different to the main outputs using copy.

Richard

Hi, Richard,

Just been reading that whole conversation of the headphone amp page you advised. Have to say, it was a lot of infomation to take in. But think I now have a slightly better understanding of the situation now.

Shame as I really didn't want to buy another box (562.v2/3) just to connect another box (headphone amp) to my 568.2. Seems like a long way round for the digital signal to travel before it eventually gets to the headphones.

Originaly I'd considered buying a Benchmark DAC1 ( http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/products/headphoneamps ) and connecting it staight from my second digital option on my SqueezeBox-Touch for headphone music. However after some research I decided against this as that would mean I would need the DAC1 at full volume & use the SqueezeBox to control the volume, which I really didn't want to do as it's better to have the amp control the volume.

Why oh why don't headphone amps have a remote control. It makes no sence. Headphones come with like 3-5m of cord & yet headphone amps have a volume control knob ON the box. Maybe I'm just lazy but it seems like a design fault with most headphone amps. Or maybe I'm just being stupid & I've missed something altogether.

However again, now I'm thinking that maybe I could get a DAC1 & connect it via a digital OUTPUT off the 568. That's assuming the 568 will alow you to reconfigure one of the digital outputs from a REAR-SIDE-SUB-CENTRE-MAIN to take a seperate digital output source? I thought about using the bypass connection then realised it was an INPUT not an OUTPUT.

Also if this worked would the sound be coming out of the headphones as stereo or surround or might even still come out as only REARS or CENTRE audio.

Sorry for my rambling on. Hope that all makes sence, sorry if it didnt, its been a long day.

Regards,
Marc

Marc,

You do have DSP connected to your 568, so the analog outs (both RCA and balanced XLR) are free, right?

You can connect any HP-amp to those analog outs and use the 568 volume control. You'll need to unpower the DPS speakers and that's it.

Btw if you decide to buy something more exotic with DAC iniside, look for the Lavry DA11 instead of Benchmark DAC1 (better sound, good gimmicks and remote control capacity).

Regards

Hi Josep,

On the 568 I've got a separate power amp connected to the REAR Left & Right RCA for my analogy rear speakers. But I've still got the SIDES L/R, CENTRE & MAIN L/R outputs free to use as well as all 3 XLRs.

If I plug a headphone amp into one of these analogy outputs (e.g. SIDES LEFT & RIGHT or the CENTRE RCAs) wouldn't the headphones only be receiving the audio that would be sent to that specific speaker/s?

I nearly bought a Lavry DA10 about 8 months ago on eBay (sold for �550). I read lots of reviews between the DA10 & DAC1 and yes the consensus was that the DA10 was better. But it only had BALANCED OUTPUTS which my old system didn�t have any BALANCED on it. So sadly i had to give it a miss & not bid

I've not seen much at all about the Lavry DA11, but the remote control capacity is very appealing. I'll keep an eye out on eBay thanks.

Regards,
Marc

Marc,

Silly question, but why don't you use the headphone socket on your Squeezebox Touch, or is it a DAC thing?

You have to plug the (eventual) HP amp to the "main" (L and R) outputs, RCA or XLR, that you have free now. In "Direct" or "Stereo" modes the full stereo signal will be there


Pity, the Lavry can be configured for single-end output with jumpers insisde (and XLR-RCA adaptors outside...

I use a Little Dot iv valve based headphone amp with my own HD600s. From a connectivity perspective, my 568.2 runs balanced to my front amp, leaving the single-ended outputs free. So when I listen to headphones:
- Turn off my front power amp
- Set the 568.2 to Direct (which by default results in just a stereo output, so no output to rear/centre speakers)
- Have my LD iv set to a specific volume (about half way round)
- Control the listening volume via the volume control on my 568.2

In practice, sounds ace. As you know the 568.2 is a pretty damn good DAC. I�ve been through a couple of solid state headphone amps (Rega and a Meier unit), both of which I preferred to a Stax solution when mated to HD600s. The LD walks all over the solid state headphone amps and can be had for under �200 s/h.