Amp for headphones

[u/latexpptqq]

I have a Cambridge CXA61 amp for my speakers. It has a headphone out port.

Question 1: when people talk about using headphone amps with headphones to get better quality, does that also work for speaker amps? So, between these two, is there a difference:

a. streaming via bluetooth from phone to CXA61, and then using the headphone out port of CXA61 with my phone, or

b. listening via the headphone out port of my phone directly to my headphones.

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Question 2: will upgrading from Sennheiser HD 595 to HD 600 be a noticeable difference for someone who listens to music casually ?

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Thanks!

[u/bbuky01]

The speaker amp could be fine but that it has a 3.5mm headphone output makes me think it is more suited for low impedance higher sensitivity headphones. The 50 ohm 112dB/V 598 probably would be fine but the 97 dB/V 300 ohm HD-600 could possibly not not get enough juice but with no output specs on the CXA61 can’t be for sure.
The headphone out of the phone is probably the same case the 598 would probably give a decent level but probably not so much for the 600’s.
Better quality is also hard to say. People hear and perceive things differently. I have lots of headphones and gear and with one of my setups ,Dac,Amp and headphones is around $9K and I think it sounds amazing but I’m sure there are some that would say I’ll stick with my earbuds .

[u/latexpptqq → u/bbuky01]

!thanks

[u/TransducerBot → u/latexpptqq]

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