What Is an Amplifier and Does Your Audio Setup Need It?
Headphones are far more than just a convenient way of listening to music — they are an audio format of their own. Good headphones, especially Hi-Fi and Hi-End models, can reveal a soundscape with incredible detail and depth, making your favorite music shine in a brand new way. But the best headphones need something else to fully unlock their potential and work their magic for you: they need the right amplifier.
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What Does an Amplifier Do?
Simply put, an amplifier performs two key tasks:
- It provides more power to fully drive the headphone's transducers.
- It ensures the headphones receive a proper high-quality signal.
This may make you think that an amplifier is there to “make it louder,” but that would only be half-true. Sure, an amplifier cranks it up to eleven, but it also makes the sound better, crisper, and far more detailed.
How does it do that, you may ask?
Quality Components
Unlike smartphones, laptops, and other basic audio sources, amplifiers are made with the sole goal of enhancing the sound signal, and that is achieved through high-quality components and complex circuitry. Amplifiers use precise op-amps, audiophile-grade tubes or transistors, top-tier resistors and capacitors, and meticulously designed power supplies. All of this contributes to a clear, deep, and dynamic sound.
Power Compatibility
Most High-End headphones, especially planar magnetic model, don’t just need high voltage — they also need a stable current, among other things, which basic audio sources can’t provide. An amplifier ensures that headphones receive the exact amount of power they need in precisely the right way. This leads to a better control over the diaphragm's movement, which, in turn, results in a far superior sound.
Distortion and Noise Reduction
Basic audio sources “boast” outstanding levels of harmonic and intermodulation distortion that decrease the sound quality dramatically. Amplifiers don’t have that issue as they’re designed to bypass any and all noise and distortion to achieve clear, textured sound with every detail audible.
Synergy with Headphones
High-impedance and low-sensitivity headphones are too much (or, rather, too specific) for basic audio sources to handle. But amplifiers are designed to deal with those particular parameters and ensure proper frequency reproduction, lack of dips and clipping, and stable performance at various volume levels.
When Do You Actually Need an Amplifier?
Here’s a small list of statements about you. If any of them ring true at all, then your audio experience would be substantially better with an amplifier.
- You use high-impedance headphones (Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, ZMF, etc.).
- You have low-sensitivity planar magnetic headphones.
- You connect your headphones to an external DAC and want to preserve its full potential.
- You value maximum accuracy, dynamics, and soundstage, whether in the studio or at home.
There’s no scoring system in this test. Even one “Yeah, that’s me” means you should get an amplifier and rediscover the world of music anew.
What If You Listen to Music on Your Phone?
There are countless portable DAC/amps that connect to a smartphone or laptop and improve the sound tenfold. They’re just tiny enough to be carried around in your pocket, but the result they provide can be on par with an actual home system, so don’t sleep on them.
Portable amplifiers:
Brand: MoonDrop
Headphone output: 3.5mm jack, 4.4mm jack
Output connectors: 3.5mm jack, 4.4mm jack
Brand: Chord
Headphone output: 3.5mm jack
Power output: 0.6
Brand: Cayin
Headphone output: 3.5mm jack, 4.4mm jack
DAC chip: AK4493SEQ
Braid material: PVC
Cable type: twisted Y-shaped
Conductor material: copper
Brand: Cayin
Headphone output: 4.4mm jack, 3.5mm jack
DAC chip: R2R
Braid material: PVC
Cable type: twisted Y-shaped
Conductor material: copper
Brand: Hidizs
Headphone output: 2.5mm jack, 3.5mm jack
Output connectors: 2.5mm jack, 3.5mm jack
Cable length, m: 0.1
Connector (left): 3.5mm jack female, USB-C
Connector (right): 3.5mm jack female, USB-C
Brand: Earmen
Headphone output: 3.5mm jack, 4.4mm jack
Power output: 0.280
Unleash Your Headphones’ Potential
It’s time to come clean.
At Dr.Head, we’ve been working with audio tech since 2007. We’ve tested thousands of combinations between different hundreds of headphones and amplifiers, from the most affordable ones to flagship tube monoblocks. And it’s crucial we share our expert conclusion with you before you set out to find a new amplifier for your setup.
An amplifier doesn’t enhance the sound — it unlocks the true potential of the headphones.
That’s why it’s so important to pay mind to every component of your audio setup: it all works together. If, after connecting your headphones to an amplifier, you notice the sound has become more detailed, deep, and airy, it means that your setup has unlocked that extra bit of its full potential.
Stationary amplifiers:
Brand: Violectric
Power output: 5.5
The lowest frequency, Hz: 1
Brand: Cayin
The lowest frequency, Hz: 10
The highest frequency, kHz: 80
Brand: Sennheiser
Power output: 0.48
The lowest frequency, Hz: 10
Brand: Earmen
Power output: 1.85
The lowest frequency, Hz: 20
Brand: Naim
Power output: 1.5
The lowest frequency, Hz: 20
But experiencing the effect of an amplifier in person is far more convincing than reading about it, right? We’d love to show you the difference — come visit us at Dr.Head’s Dubai showroom and let’s test some great headphones and amplifier combinations. You’ll fall in love with your favorite music all over again — that much, we can promise.
