Sending audio to headphone amp from Denon receiver

[rjpwp001]

I have a Denon 2809ci receiver. I have a digital connection coming into it from an Airport Express. This the primary source of my music. I recently purchased a headphone amp and I want to use the most appropriate output from the receiver (the headphone amp has a single R/L analog in connection).

I tried using the pre out, front left and right outputs from the receiver but I'm not getting any audio into my headphone amp. I'm using the VCR Rec output instead which seems to be working fine.

I have two questions:

1. Should I be getting any audio from the pre outs when playing music coming from my Airport Express?
2. Is the VCR Rec out a good output signal for the headphone amp?

Thanks very much for your help.

 

[Adam]

Hi. The level of signal being sent out from the pre out connections is controlled by your volume control, so you likely had a signal but one that was too low to hear. As far as I know, there should always be a signal from those outputs.

As for the best connection to use, I'll leave that to the folks here that use headphone amps. If no one chimes in, you could always try out the other analog audio outputs to see if any provide a better signal - that way you'll know for sure because you did it yourself. My guess is that the VCR output is as good as the others, though.

 

[rjpwp001]

Thanks very much! That's helpful. I actually prefer not to have the volume controlled by the receiver in this case.

I have a follow-up question. If I'm using the VCR Rec Out connection is the signal simply being passed through from my Airport Express to the headphone amp or it it being processed (for example, by the Denon's AL24 processing)?

 

[Adam]

Hi. If the connection to your Airport Express is a digital connection like you mentioned, then the audio signal must be processed to some extent by the Denon in order to be output from the analog VCR outputs. The signal has to be converted from digital to analog, and the receiver would be doing that. I don't know what level of processing the Denon is doing, though.

 

[Stereodude]

Use one of the fixed volume analog outputs from your receiver. It looks like VCR & DVR are your best options and perhaps Zone 2 or 3.