Audio News

Most of the AV receivers come integrated with headphone amplifiers and thus can be used occasionally for listening music through headphones. However, for habitual users of headphones and do possess an expensive set, then it is not advisable to plug them into your regular AV receiver or your home-theatre or computer systems. Reason being, the sound quality produced through such integrated systems is feeble, with hardly any bass or with muffled sounds instead of being amplified. So even if you possess an expensive AV receiver, it cannot perform as great a job as a decent quality specific headphone amplifier.

To judge the results for yourself, you can test a set of steeply priced headphones by plugging them into an AV receiver, an Apple iPod and an exclusive headphone amplifier and you will surely discern the difference. Undoubtedly, headphones perform their best in combination with a dedicated amplifier meant for headphones. Benchmark’s DAC1 USB is a highly recommended top-rated headphone amplifier.

Benchmark is a distinguished manufacturer of sophisticated and specialized audio equipment and is popular amongst music lovers and audiophiles. Its DAC1 USB model of headphone amplifier has additional features like a converter from digital to analogue (D/A) of 192kHz/24-bit, together with USB input, which enhance the sound quality. The headphone amp is also compatible with Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

Another benefit is that the amp has a striking appearance, is compact and durable. The DAC1 USB couples very well with a Grado GS-1000 headphone producing a surround sound, enormous depth, superb high frequency and a great deep bass.