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How to properly drive my hd6xx for vinyl use?

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I recently got the hd6xx and it seems I'm stuck with where to get the best sound out of them when pairing them with my record player. I currently have them plugged into a shereood s-7450 cp reciever. Would i see a large improvement if i went record player> pre amp> headphone amp? Is what i havenow fine? If i only use them for vinyl is a dac neccessary? And i should upgraded can you suggestions? My thoughts right now with zero help or clue was the cambridge duo preamp and the thx aaa when it drops? Any help would be great everyone.
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Mcclain21
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bluebeard
6
Jan 11, 2019
I have HD6xx and use my Receiver .... works very well... I had a Schitt Magni 3 which was adequate but ended up selling it.... as the Receiver works fine... I have a NAD integrated AMP and it also works very well
dcha12
461
Jan 10, 2019
I'd recommend starting small and getting an amp first. My recommendation is the Cavalli Liquid Spark; it's inexpensive at $100 and it's a very musical amp that I think pairs well with record setups. Messing about with stuff like preamps and stuff in the get-go is probably going to lead to more headaches.
Mcclain21
2
Jan 10, 2019
dcha12Record players to amp requires a phono input. Most modern amps don't offer one which is why i mentioned the preamp.
dcha12
461
Jan 11, 2019
Mcclain21I was thinking more along the lines of using an inexpensive phono-to-RCA adapter, but yes in general @Mcclain21 is correct. I should have mentioned this in my post.
Heefty
1387
Jan 8, 2019
Keep in mind that your 6XX will scale to whatever you drive it with. I've heard them sing from a SS amp that I built for about $120, and been blown away by them on a friend's Apex Teton ($5k). The point that I'm trying to make is that you can probably get more out of them, but you can easily destroy your wallet in the process. I can't find headphone output specs for your receiver so I can't really make any recommendations based on spec issues, but I can say that you can probably get better sound out of them if you want to spend the money to do so.
GunsOfBrixton
911
Jan 8, 2019
Is the Sherwood working well? Are you able to get enough volume from your headphones? If your answer to both of those questions is yes, I'd suggest just enjoying your setup. The late 70's were a good time for solid state receivers and Sherwood made pretty good stuff. It would be very easy for you to spend hundreds of dollars and end up with the same (or maybe even worse) sound quality. I'd say your money is better spent on more vinyl. I found a similar level/era Kenwood at a thrift shop that I'm doing a light refurbishment on for my neighbor, and I've been really surprised at how nice it sounds, both for speakers and headphones. Every bit the match for modern solid state gear. Bottom line, outside of any problems with your equipment, you're doing it right with your current setup. You're not likely to see a dramatic improvement.
kphooligann
51
Jan 6, 2019
Well ... You won't need a DAC for vinyl. Why are you using a vintage receiver? You may want to consider a newer model. Say, the Emotiva TA-100. It has preamp outputs. If you weren't satisfied with its headphone output you could always then buy an inexpensive headphone amp such as the JDS Labs Atom. Got speakers? The Emotiva T-Zero look very good for $500 a pair.
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