Using the C1100 Headphone Jack?

[PMCH]

Does anyone use the headphone jack in their C1100? I have new Focal Utopia headphones and they sound great plugged into the C1100 but I wonder if I get a decent dedicated headphone amp will I hear significant improvement in sound quality. I did hear significant improvement when I put in a dedicated phono preamp and wonder if a decent headphone amp will provide similar improvement.
So far I prefer the HXD off.
Does anyone know if the headphone output on the C1100 is a tied into the tubes since the tubes are only labeled for high level, MC & MM?

If I get a new headphone amp, I believe that I would want to run balanced cables from the C1100 output 2 into the headphone amp so I can switch between my CD player and Dac easily. Does this make sense and does anyone have any suggestions?

I think this may have been discussed before, but when I plug the headphones in the speakers don't mute. I have been just turning the output to the speakers off so they don't both play at the same time so it's not a big problem. I have the newest firmware update on the C1100 and thought I followed the directions but the speakers are not muting.

I have never been a headphone guy in the past but I thought I would give my wife a break when she goes to bed when I play music later into the night. Sounds good but different. It will take me a little time to get adjusted to something on my head.

Thanks for any input.