The Workbench

Re: Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

yachadm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:43:28 GMT

Hi BeoLab

The CD7000, just like the CD6500 and CD5500 before it, is based almost entirely on the Philips CD650 circuits. Even though B&O designed their own PCB's, they certainly did not reinvent the wheel, and the circuits are almost a carbon-copy of the Philips CD650 family (except for B&O's discrete output stage).

That was a very smart decision by B&O (not to reinvent the Philips circuit), because over 20 years later, the CD650 circuit design has proven to be one of the most desirable sounding designs ever in the CD world.

Which also makes the BeoCD's very easy to maintain - most good techs know their way around the CD650-type circuits, so can easily troubleshoot the B&O CD's, even if they've never opened a BeoCD before.

On another note, I agree that the AKG701 is a wonderful sounding headphone, but Harmon (the parent of AKG) is atrocious with customer service.

I sent my 701's back twice to Harmon-AKG in the US for warranty service, and twice they failed to fix the problem, making stupid excuses both times. They will never see me again.

Menahem

Re: Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

Beolab1 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:17:26 GMT

I bought a pair of new AKG701 headphones for a very good price (209,- Euros) and after around 100 hours of burning in, they sound incredible with the BeoSystem 7000. It is like rediscovering all your CD's, records and tapes again. These headphones do need a high input volume to come alive, but the headphone amplifier of the Beomaster 7000 is handling that very well!

Re: Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

Beolab1 — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:38:12 GMT

Thanks! I'f you don't notice a difference using these very expensive headphones, then that also says something about the good quality of the Beomaster 5500. I am thinking of getting a AKG701. Not as good as the one you have, but it got nice reviews on the web.

Re: Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

Peter — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:53:12 GMT

I run a Beomaster 5500 and BGCD5500 with an external Musical Fidelity X-Can v3 headphone amp. I use Grado RS1 headphones. Just had a listening session comparing the two - internal amp of 5500 and v3. To my relatively useless ears, nothing in it!

Re: Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

Beolab1 — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:22:56 GMT

Thanks a lot! So the quality of the headphone output signal is the same as what the Beomaster 7000 gives to the speakers. Since Beomaster 7000 is a great sounding amplifier, that should work wel with an good on-ear headphone. I'll give that a try first!

Re: Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

tournedos — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:05:32 GMT

BM7000 has no headphone amplifier as such, the headphone socket receives the same signal from the power amps as the passive speakers, only attenuated by resistors (which is a common feature to pretty much all B&O amps and receivers).

Probably won't excite high end purists, but completely adequate. Try it in practice before buying a separate amp, you might be happy with the builtin sound.

Quality of headphone amplifier Beomaster 7000

Beolab1 — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 08:49:47 GMT

I often read in this part of the forum, impressed by the specialist knowledge that people have in this section about the insides of Bang & Olufsen equipment. Therefore a specialist question. I have been captured for several years by the very high quality sound of the Beogram CD7000. Reading more about it, I discovered that the whole technical structure with separate power supplies and separate signal processing sections resembles the way that high-end cd players are built. The basics of the internal set-up are even compared to the very expensive NAIM players. I also like the fact that it was completely designed and put together by Bang & Olufsen using high quality European components, compared to CD players built by Philips for Bang & Olufsen. Also there is also lot of praise on the internet for the TDA 1541A chip that was used for the D/A conversion path. This article about the almost similar Beogram CD5500, was very interesting:

http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/REFERENCES/Bangandolufsen/Bang%20&%20Olufsen%20CD5500%20CD%20player.html

I use a Beogram CD7000 with a Beomaster 7000, mostly listening through A8 headphones. Now I’m thinking about maybe buying some good on-ear headphones such as AKG 701 to enjoy the CD7000 to the fullest. But how is the quality of the built-in Beomaster 7000 headphone amplifier? Is that also a no-compromise construction such as the Beogram CD7000 with quality components or is it just average, as many integrated headphone amplifiers are in music systems. In that case I might consider buying a separate dedicated headphone amplifier for better sound quality with a good quality headphone.

I can find a lot of information about the Beomaster 7000 as an amplifier for active or passive speakers, but nothing on the quality of the headphone amplifier that is in the Beomaster 7000. I hope that some people who know the Beomaster 7000 inside and outside can shine some light on this matter. Thank you in advance for your information!