Incorporating headphones into my pc audio system

Hi kijanki,

     I think you understand my situation and goal very well.  Yes, I'd like to avoid running a long headphone cable from the Oppo's headphone jack to my listening seat about 14-16' away.  I know this would give me what I'm after: the ability to listen via headphones to my hi-res flac music files once they've been converted to analog by the Oppo's very good internal DAC.  I was hoping for a wireless solution but the technology may not exist so I've been thinking of a few ways to accommodate  a wired solution:

     I have 2 identical leather chairs in my room, 1 along my back wall that is my current listening position with a wireless laptop and the other near the back of the room's left 23' wall with a fairly large end table next to it.     I could utilize this as a dedicated headphone station and choose to hook it up in 2 ways I been able to think of thus far:

Method#1: Run a long headphone cable from the Oppo's front 1/4" headphone jack to the end table next to my extra chair.  I could run this cable in back of my rack along the bottom of the front wall (running about 8' -half the distance of front 16' wall) and the along the bottom of my left longer wall to the end table (running about 16' back from the front wall on this 23' left wall).  I would buy a good set of headphones and just plug them into the female 1/4" jack on the end of this cable.  I'd select what to play the same way I do now for music I play through my speakers(a wireless laptop running JRiver with a Synology storage unit and the Oppo all connected via my wi-fi).

Method#2:  Run l+r rca cables from the Oppo's rear panel dedicated l+r stereo outputs (I'm using the other XLR outputs to my mono-blocks but both sets of outputs are active whenever source material is playing).  My thought is I could experiment with headphone amps with this method. I  also may need a boost in power depending on the headphones I buy.

     The Oppo also has an optical audio output but I need to research possibilities using this.
      I'm also interested in the W3 adapter you mentioned and in how you utilize a portable headphone amp in your setup even though you have the excellent Benchmark DAC.  Could you elaborate a bit on both?  I'm currently open to all suggestions and just looking for the best solution.

Thanks for your assistance,
   Tim 

" I found that Audioengine sound bars work wirelessly with W3 adapter ($150) over 100'. They call it "Best sounding 16-bit wireless adaptor" suggesting digital transmission."

Hi kijanki,

     Yes, the W3 adapter and anything utilizing Bluetooth don't seem acceptable since they require additional A/D and D/A conversions.  I visited a couple of electronics stores today and  all their suggestions were Bluetooth based, too.  If a wireless solution that doesn't involve additional conversions does not surface, it looks like a wired solution may be required.

Thanks,
   Tim

Hi Tim,  My situation might be different, since I don't use CDP.  I transfer music from computer/server located next to my armchair over WiFi to Airport Express and then thru optical to DAC.  Headphone amp is next to me plugged into computer's (Mac Mini) USB.  Sound quality of this amp is fantastic.  New "SE" version uses ESS Sabre ES9028-Q2M  D/A converter and discrete output stage.  It also has strong lithium battery (charged thru USB) allowing me to used it with my phone's USB.  In case you wonder - No, I don't work for Oppo  :)

Longer cable should work and I also like idea of separate place/armchair for headphone listening.  People replace headphone cables with better quality ones, often longer.  For instance Cardas makes quality cables for Sennheiser HD600 family headphones.  I'm not sure how long.  They don't specify so perhaps it can be made to order.

Hey kijanki,

     I've been researching and  thinking more about what I'd really like, what you said about  using a portable Oppo  HA-2 headphone amp/dac and that marktomaras had also suggested using a portable amp/dac.  Well, it's taken longer than it should have, but both of your very good advice has finally sunken in and I'm thinking this may be the best method.

     I could set this all up on the rather large end table next to my current listening chair through one of my laptop's USB ports.  I would just need to run a usb cord from the laptop to the amp/dac, install any necessary drivers and plug my headphones into it. ... and wallah, instant semi-wireless headphones that give me access to my entire collection of flac files on my Synology storage device.  This is a little different than I originally envisioned it since my music files would be converted to analog via a different dac, which may not sound as good as the Oppo's excellent internal dac, and it still wouldn't allow listening to movies or tv through the headphones but I think this still may be the best solution thus far. 
      I could still run a quality 25' headphone extension cord to my other chair for the times I'd like to to have cable tv, blurays or even my music files converted to analog via the Oppo's internal dacs and listen through headphones.

        After reading and watching numerous reviews on the portable and desktop amp/dac products currently available at reasonable prices, however,  I think the better choice for myself would be a desktop unit preferably combined in a single case but also acceptable as separate amp and dac. I've discovered 2 desktop headphone amps from Aune (pronounced "ow-knee") I'm considering buying:

One is the Aune X1s a desktop amp and dac combo in a single case. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlXW20ptu7E  

The other is the Aune X7s  pure class A headphone amp only, so I'd need to add a dac.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLpI5Ui7TsY  

Both run about $300 on Amazon and I'm leaning toward the X1s because it's a combo but I'd buy the X7s if it included a dac.

OR

I may just buy a pair of Sony headphones (MDR-1A or MDR-Z7) and use the small and inexpensive Audioquest Dragonfly usb dac.  No headphone amp but unlikely it's needed with either of the efficient Sony headphones.

Tim

 
       

   

which may not sound as good as the Oppo's excellent internal dac,

Tim, It happens that Oppo HA-2SE has better DAC.  Oppo 105 uses ES9018 while HA-2SE uses ES9028, not to mention that HA-2SE incorporates discrete output stage (matched transistors) while Oppo 105 has chip.
I've never had occasion to test 105, but suspect that HA-2SE sounds better, since it was reported that HA-2SE sounds better than HA-2 (mine), that has the same DAC ( ES9018) as Oppo 105.