Headphone Amplifiers

Looking for the best headphone amps? Quick picks: Best portable — Chord Mojo 2. Best desktop under $1,000 — Lehmann Linear. Best reference-grade — Chord Hugo TT 2. Best tube/valve character — Modwright Tryst.

A headphone amplifier is a dedicated low-impedance amplification stage designed to drive headphones directly with sufficient current and voltage swing, delivering dramatically better dynamics, resolution, and soundstage than the headphone output on a smartphone, laptop, or integrated amplifier. Vinyl Sound in Toronto, Canada carries a curated selection of headphone amplifiers and headphone DAC combinations from Chord Electronics, Musical Fidelity, Audiolab, Lehmann Audio, Yamaha, TEAC, and Modwright Instruments, with authorized dealer status and in-store demonstrations available at our Richmond Hill, Ontario showroom.

Portable headphone amplifiers and portable DAC amp combinations are available from Chord Electronics, whose Mojo 2 and Hugo 2 represent two of the most respected portable DAC amp designs available. Both Chord models function equally as a headphone DAC for desktop use and as a portable DAC for on-the-go listening.

Desktop solid-state headphone amplifiers are available from Lehmann Audio in a range spanning the compact Traveller and Rhinelander through the Drachenfels, Linear, Linear USB, Linear D, Linear SE, Linear Pro, and Studiocube. The Musical Fidelity MX-HPA delivers Musical Fidelity's class A amplification heritage in a dedicated desktop headphone amp, and the Yamaha HA-L7A adds ESS Technology DAC and Yamaha's Floating and Balanced Power Amplifier technology.

For reference-grade headphone listening, Vinyl Sound carries the Chord Hugo TT 2, the Audiolab D9 Flagship DAC and headphone amplifier preamp, the TEAC UD-701N network audio player and USB DAC with balanced headphone output, and the Modwright Tryst and HA-300 tube headphone amplifiers.

To complete your headphone system, explore our headphone collection at Vinyl Sound Toronto, where our audio specialists can match amplifiers and headphones across all price points in-store at Richmond Hill.