Headphone Problem with Arcam Solo

[Musicman]

Last year I bought an Arcam Solo and the retailer threw in the accompanying iPod dock. I'm pleased with my purchase except the headphone facility. The sound quality is poor and to make matters worse, by default, when the headphone jack is used, the treble and bass controls are switched off, meaning you can not use to improve the sound.

The immediate solution would be to buy a headphone amp, but am I right in thinking good quality headphone amps use the tape loop for connection?

In addition, on the Solo, the tape-in has to be used to connect the iPod dock which I use frequently. You can use other spare phono inputs but you loose the functionality of using the Solo remote and display function to control the iPod - On the Solo, the tape-in has been designed to sycnchronize with iPod dock.

So want I am looking for is a high quality sound via headphones from music played through the Arcam Solo.

Any help, suggestions would be gratefully received.

[ShaunG]

Yes, I can see that a headphone amplifier would provide a solution. I've been trying to come up with an alternative, but nothing obvious springs to mind.

You are correct in assuming most desktop headphone amps accept input via 2x Phono (RCA) connections, which you would normally connect via the tape loop. The tape out on the loop is essentially a pass-thru from the tape input, which I understand the dock must be connected too, so it would make sense to drive an amp from this.