Highend tube preamp w/no headphone jack - help I wanna get a pair of phones


I have a deHavilland UltaVerve tube preamp. Sounds amazing but thinking about getting a pair of Sennheiser HD 560S phones. The preamp has no phone jack. But does have two sets of RCA outputs. One goes to my amp - the other is unused. 

Can I use these somehow to drive the headphones? Would I need some sort of headphone amp to go between? Figure anything I add can potentially mess up the sound (this preamp is incredibly holographic, with a wide and focus sound stage - besides the warm musicality that tubes usually have.

Any suggestions? 

1trackmind

Hey great choice on the Dehavilland, I almost purchased one myself a few years back, went with a Manley Labs instead. If you plug your output into a headphone amplifier, you will have to play with 2 volume controls and its not an optimal situation for headphones, My Manley pre amp offers no monitor loop (rec/out) type output only a main output which runs through the volume knob as well. I tried it once with my Antique audio labs headphone amp and it worked, once i had the dual volumes dialed in right. Good Luck

 

Matt

I'm dealing with the same issue. No headphone jack on my Rega Elex-R. I'm planning to buy a budget headphone amp (and some Sennheisers too), feeding it with the "Record Out" jacks, which should not affect sound quality to speakers. 

You should at least look into a real headphone amp; what kind of budget would you be looking at? 

Nice preamp!  I’d suggest a good tube headphone amp you can hook up to your spare output.  Quicksilver makes a highly regarded amp that’s not insanely priced.  Just one option.  Also, do some research on headphones as you would with speakers as that choice will be critical to your ultimate enjoyment.  Best of luck. 

@soix - Totally agree - I used a Quicksilver Headphone amp for about 6 months before I replaced it with an Eddie Current Studio B; that Quicksilver, for under $1000, is a GREAT DEAL!!!! 

@slaw I’d be VERY interested in your thoughts on the LSA as you and I have similar ears as to how we hear the LavriCables.  I know you have Sundaras and I’ve got both HE400S and Arya Stealths so pretty sure your experience will translate well to my sitch.  Please follow up with your thoughts — after burn-in of course — as I think I want to write a formal review of this unit on my site at some point. 

The Quicksilver amp is great , I have owned one for about two years.   I dont think you'll find a better amp for the money.   Built like their mono amps, it's like a 3/4 size Mid Mono.  It's over built , high quality.   Sounds great too, can drive my 25 Ohm Klipsch HP3  or my 600 Ohm AKG no problem.