If you’re looking for more devil in your musical detail, you need to invest in one of the best headphone amps. Even a low cost portable headphone amp has the potential to dramatically improve your private listening, providing your cans with more power and precision than a smartphone ever could.
For home listening, a dedicated headphone amp on your desk, partnered with premium headphones, will outperform a speaker-based system often for a fraction of the price – and leave you more floor space to spread out your vinyl, CDs, magazine and band merch collection.
Here's our pick of the best headphone amps around. Turn it up!
The best headphone amps: The Louder Choice
Ridiculously affordable, beautifully built and as adorably compact as Ronnie James Dio, the iFi Audio Zen Can warrants top spot in our headphone amp roundup. There’s some serious sonic science at work under the hood, but we love its ease of use too. It's a superb, high-value desktop headphone amplifier.
The other contenders to the crown are all worth a look, but in our opinion, this sweet bit of kit should be your first port of call.
Best headphone amps: Product Guide
UK-based iFi Audio says its Zen Can headphone amp offers 25x the power output of a typical smartphone. Using Class A amplification, and boasting stuff like ceramic capacitors and MELF resistors, it’s clear there’s a lot going on inside this diminutive unit.
We just know we dig the design, and love the way iFi Audio makes stuff sound.
There are three inputs - a 3.5mm jack, stereo phonos and 4.4mm Pentaconn - so it’s pretty versatile. The Zen Can offers a choice of balanced and unbalanced outputs, so you can confidently pair it with higher-end head-fi.
There’s also switchable XBass, a booster if your own headphones don’t drop deep enough.
Other niceties include a four stage gain control, to precisely match the Zen Can to your headphones. This means you can eke out more volume, without going into distortion, which is obviously something we approve of.
There’s no Bluetooth on board, although you could partner it with iFi Audio’s matching Zen Blue component if you feel the need.
Offering next level audio, Chord’s Hugo 2 is a transformational portable headphone amp. Cutting edge filtering improves the dynamic range of all source material and it’s powerful enough to drive even the most demanding of audiophile cans.
It looks astonishing too, thanks to an aircraft grade aluminium case, and futuristic spherical control buttons. These colour coded spheres are used for volume control, input selection and filtering.
There are four digital inputs (optical, coaxial and HD USB) plus aptX Bluetooth with high-res audio support. Outputs include analogue stereo, plus 3.5mm and 6.35mm headphone outputs. Audio quality is precise, detailed and dynamic.
The Hugo 2 has a battery life of around seven hours, but it’s quite a chunky device to carry. Heavy metal indeed.
If the Hugo 2 occupies rarefied air, the Mojo is rather more accessible, and much easier to pocket. It shares many of its stablemate’s characteristics: analytical of tone, but never dry or dull to listen to, and it’s unflinchingly dynamic, sledgehammer riffs landing unerringly on the chin.
It’s also able to drive a wide variety of quality headphones, with plenty of volume. True to form, it features a high-grade aluminium case and Chord’s idiosyncratic control spheres. The power button illuminates with different hues, depending on the sampling rate of the input signal. Battery life is a solid eight hours.
Pricey, but borderline perfect.
It may be styled after a hip flask, but the Hip-dac from iFi Audio is as sober as it gets. This compact headphone amp and DAC is easy to carry, and boasts some seriously high grade tech.
A Burr-Brown DAC makes the most of all key audio formats, including PCM, DSD and MQA, with sampling rates that go up to eleven (or more specifically, 384kHz),
Usability is good too, thanks to a dinky rotary volume control. Connectivity includes a USB input and two outputs, a standard 3.5mm socket and a Pentaconn 4.4mm.
If you favour over-ear headphones, there’s a PowerMatch mode which optimises its output, while XBass, a user-selectable bass boost tool, ripens low frequencies without damaging the mid-range.
Battery life lasts around eight hours. We think it’s a steal for the money.
This long-serving audiophile grade headphone amp from Naim looks as timeless now as it did when first launched back in 2013.
The DAC-V1 sports five digital inputs (three coaxial and two digital optical audio), plus an asynchronous USB port for a laptop connection. Analogue outputs comprise analogue stereo and DIN. Naturally it's Hi-res and DSD compatible, but lacks support for MQA, as favoured by Tidal Masters.
When it comes to musicality, Naim is a classic rocker - the brand has a signature sound that’s rightfully won it a legion of audiophile fans.
It's practical too. The compact design means you’ll be able to find room on your desk or shelf, with simple on-body buttons to select inputs. Just plug your headphones into the 6.3mm headphone jack and you’re good to go.
This rugged headphone amp will give your headphones a high fidelity lift without putting undue strain on your pocket. Designed for desktop at-home use, it comes with a remote control for easy volume control, and offers a range of tasty features.
There’s Bluetooth built-in (v5.0) with support for aptX-HD and LDAC, and unlike most every other headphone amp and DAC we’ve seen of this size, there’s a clear on-body status display too. High-res audio support is good, up to DSD512 - Topping is using an AKM DAC chip inside.
Input options cover coaxial and optical digital audio, plus USB. There’s also a stereo analogue output. With a decent power output, and adjustable gain, it’s good for a wide range of headphones.
You might say this Topping is pure cream.
The Sound BlasterX G6 from Creative is a headphone amp and gaming DAC, designed principally to upgrade the audio from games consoles. A wacky combo? Not if you listen to metal playlists on Spotify while perfecting Mortal Kombat fatalities!
The G6 boasts a Creative-designed Xamp amplifier module with adjustable gain control, to drive both in-ear monitors and audiophile over-ears. A 32-bit 384kHz DAC ensures you're always listening to the highest fidelity.
Outputs include a 3.5mm headphone jack, mic socket and optical output, along with a digital optical input and Micro-USB (which works with consoles but not smartphones).
Unlike other headphone amp DAC units in this roundup, this Sound BlasterX supports 7.1 virtual audio from your PlayStation, Xbox or Switch, using Sound Blaster’s proprietary surround sound encoder.
We particularly like Scout Mode, which enhances in-game audio cues (like footsteps), theoretically giving an edge on opponents. So even when you’re playing Call Of Duty to Sabaton, they won’t hear you coming.
Both a dedicated headphone amplifier and a system defining desktop DAC, this combi from Cambridge Audio is a great upgrade for headphones, laptop and Hi-Fi components for the price.
The DacMagic Plus uses twin Wolfson WM8740 DACs, coupled to some clever audio upscaling, to improve the quality of streaming services.
Connectivity is versatile, with a quartet of digital inputs (split between coaxial and optical), plus USB for your laptop. There’s a 6.3mm headphone output on the front fascia. Outputs include both optical and coaxial digital outputs, along with analogue stereo and XLR.
It’ll work with Bluetooth (kinda) - you’ll need to buy an optional BT100 receiver.
The best headphone amps: Buying Advice
So what exactly is a headphone amp, and how do you use one?
A headphone amp is essentially a power amplifier designed to drive headphones rather than loudspeakers. They can be small, light and utilise either a single amplifier chip, or embrace a more audiophile approach, with a separate output stage and premium componentry.
Consequently, they come in all shapes and sizes, from small portable pocket units, to more traditional looking Hi-Fi kit.
A headphone amp sits between your source component and your headphones. Depending on the inputs available, you’ll be able to connect anything from a smartphone or laptop, to CD player and one of the best record players. It’ll then amplify the source to drive your headphones.
Some offer Bluetooth connectivity, for convenience, others don’t.
The question is, do you need a headphone amp at all? If all your listening is done on wireless headphones, save your money for cheap vinyl records and gig tickets. That said, if you really like the idea of a headphone amp, read our guide to the best audiophile headphones, and then jump on board.
Many headphone amps also have a DAC (digital to analog converter) built-in, another big sonic upgrade, and some offer additional functionality (but let’s not concern ourselves too much about that).
Buy the best headphone amp for the job, one that will match both your cans and how you intend to use them. Connectivity can also be a minefield, so double check before you write that cheque.
Read more on how we test products and services at Louder.
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