AKG K812 into 272 Headphone jack..or?

Unfortunately I tried them with many headphones

They are OK with easy to drive headphones but not with difficult ones

Even a humble creek or arcam dedicated headphone amp is far better

Even mojo is better

So just get a nice creek arcam or anything, connect to line out and enjoy them with every source trough 272, Hugo will,  be hassle with tour use with connected to main system  and very expensive, you don't need a dac

That's what I am doing with my Elear,hd800,lcd2

Thanks, very helpful.

I actually run AKG K812s. I though they sounded good via my SuperNait2 headphone output. Until I tried them via Headline from my NAC252. It's like a new set of headphones.

K812 are demanding. The best headphone amplification are really worthwile with them.

That is the feeling I am getting, looking around.  Yes, 812s can be driven by less power, but they shouldn't be if you want them to shine.  I am going to try this and Ill report back:  

creek and new arcam are very good!  Violectric v200 is also very good but expensive and i would not know the synergy with AKG.... with HD800 they are great, Elear is great with everything  

Looks like my link was removed..sorry if I violated a rule.  The amp I am likely to try is  the HeadRoom Standard Amp.  I've used on of their older, cheaper models (Total BitHead) for about 10 years and it has worked really well for me.  The new one is a step up for the 812s.  Good to get some advice that getting a quality amp is not redundant to the headphone 272 jack ....

Now to find a decent set of RCAs  (272 Line Out to HeadRoom Stanard Amp is RCA to RCA).

WM. - please pause for a second and think again.

I don't think a Headroom Amp will offer that much improvement over what you already have in your N272.

You need to aim much higher than that to trully utilise your K812s

Ok, that's cool.    What are your suggestions?  Headline 2?

I use a Hugo,but a mojo is very close to the Hugo...can't go wrong with either.

Sorry , excuse my ignorance...I guess the 272 does have a DIN Analog output?  So I should really be using that from what I gather.

For the Hugo,if that is what you are asking,you would use a digital out from the 272 directly into the Hugo,then your headphones would plug into the headphone jack of the Hugo.It has a built in headphone amp that easily drives most headphones,and is miles better than plugging directly into the 272...in my opinion,the headphone jack in the 272 is just a courtesy to quickly listen to something.

Wm. posted:

Ok, that's cool.    What are your suggestions?  Headline 2?

No too expensive with a decent PS, i will insist on Creek, Arcam and Violectric. They are all black and look on the Naim setup as well. 

There are millions alternatives but those three are the best ones for the money for just an amp. 

Hugo is great but you end up paying for a DAC rather then amp, i connected the mojo to 272 it was good but i like my creek/272 combo better. 

I dont like to see 272 just as a transport which can be done also by a DAP such as AK70 for 500£. 

Wm. posted:

Ok, that's cool.    What are your suggestions?  Headline 2?

Definitely Headline - it's not even a heaphone amp as such. It's way better - its a piece of dquipment which let's you enjoy your pre-amp's sound with a volume control attached.

Just double check with Naim which output and which connector to use.

Emre posted:

Wm. posted:

Ok, that's cool.    What are your suggestions?  Headline 2?

No too expensive with a decent PS, i will insist on Creek, Arcam and Violectric. They are all black and look on the Naim setup as well. 

There are millions alternatives but those three are the best ones for the money for just an amp. 

Hugo is great but you end up paying for a DAC rather then amp, i connected the mojo to 272 it was good but i like my creek/272 combo better. 

I dont like to see 272 just as a transport which can be done also by a DAP such as AK70 for 500£. 

 

I still think Headline is the way to go

headline is good, no discussion but it is not that good if you add the price of a PS. 

a Violectric v200 is far better than headline with hd800, an i am no going to the upper scale models of violectric. 

New arcam or creek is as good as the headline with a modest cost compare to it. 

İf the headline was 350£ without a PS needed that it will be a good value, but 400 something £ with a PS it becomes a very serious price point where it not belongs... So i am not saying that it is a bad amp at all but it is not an amp for 1000£+!! 

Headphones are not Naim's forte, we can see that form the crappy headphone outputs of all devices... 300£ Marantz CD player has the same quality headphone amp as 272, DAC v1 is the only decent one which is still not a hot cake among headphone users...  

all my subjective opinions based on HD600/HD650/HD800/Focal Elear/Fostex 900/th00/Sony z7/Audeze LCD 1/2/3 and some brief timing with Audio technicas/HD800s/Focal Utopia etc.

EMRE and I will disagree and that's OK.
I actually run K812 into a HeadLine powered by NAPSC. Pre-amp is 252. It's the closest I have ever heard heaphones emulating a sound of my NAP250DR into Ovators S-400.

But let's look at it this way - we have headphones costing somewhere in a range of EUR 1000 - 1500 (retail).
Would you really want to skimp on a piece of equipment for your EUR 5000 pre-streamer and EUR 1500 headphones?

I had dac v1 with senn. hd650 and i share same opinion with emre. Just headphones are not Naim's forte and i think no one from naim want something else.

Adi Stefan posted:

I had dac v1 with senn. hd650 and i share same opinion with emre. Just headphones are not Naim's forte and i think no one from naim want something else.

But how does the above help OP who has professional mixing-monitoring headphones vs commerical HD650?

Adam,he does ask for experience comparing a Hugo versus the 272 jack...and I have done this,I own the 272 right now,and I own the Hugo right now.The Hugo wins by a large margin,I know it is tiny and non Naim,and might not be visually appealing to some,but I stand by my statement.

The hd650! The classic, the legend, everybody who is interested in headphones have, had or will have one 

actually adam we are making the same point, it is a serious headphone that needs a serious amp a violectric v281? 

İ think naim will come up with something good very soon to match Focals

No quarter posted:

Adam,he does ask for experience comparing a Hugo versus the 272 jack...and I have done this,I own the 272 right now,and I own the Hugo right now.The Hugo wins by a large margin,I know it is tiny and non Naim,and might not be visually appealing to some,but I stand by my statement.

That's clear and a very valid suggestion with Hugo. 

I was quizzing Adi with regards to DAC V-1 and HD650

This is great, I'm happy to have such quality information from folks who have direct experience.... Definitely helping me make a better decision and that is how a forum should work!

Ill give it some thought.  Things I have learned;

1.  The 272 headphone jack does not rival a decent headphone amp.  

2.  The Hugo, while excellent, may not be the best fit for me, as I have a good DAC already and no optical output from the 272.

3.  The Headline 2, with a HiCAP DR would be sweet but pricey.

4.  There are a lot of good headphone amps out there; Creek, Arcam, and especially Vioelectric V200 are proven winners.

5.  The AKG K812 do benefit from a high quality dedicated amp.

Adi, if I go the V200 route, what is your preferred method of connection?   Has anyone ever tried Lehman amps?

Wm. posted:

2.  The Hugo, while excellent, may not be the best fit for me, as I have a good DAC already and no optical output from the 272. 

There's no optical out, but there is a coax. SPDIF out, which seems to be the preferred way of connection a Hugo to a Naim streamer, so I wouldn't rule it out just on those grounds.

V200 is more " warm sounding " tube like sound, which is a very good match for Hd800,  lehmans are great amps as well but I would not know the match with akg

You can just connect v200 to 272 tape loop  or line out and you can use it with all sources but can not control the volume

It is a little annoying because the different volume levels in different albums

Take your headphone and try the amps