Aye75 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2003 Since this is not related to my post earlier...I decided to start a new thread... ... I'm deciding whether to get an amp or not I mean I have a nad 302 at home...not mine but I could use it would this suffice ??... Anyway what are the criterias I should consider if I were to get an amp?? What are the difference between a normal amp an a headphone amp ??? And how would I know that the amp has enough power to power the headphones ?? I mean I've seen headphone with impendance of 300 and mine is aroung 150 If not mistaken... and I think the higher the impendance the harder to drive it . Am I right ?? So how do I know an amp is power enough to drive the headphone...which part of the specs do I look for ?? any calculations ?? One more thing I noticed some bookshelf speakers has an impendance of 4(I passed by some audio shop and looked around) or maybe I looked the wrong part... how come headphones have higher impendance ?? I'm not really sure about this..please clarify it to me as always thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jtfoo 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2003 Should be lower impedance more harder to drive, as it requires more current from the amp to give the same wattage of a higher impedance speaker/headphone.. Remember Watts = I^2 X R. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rameish 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2003 You have several technical questions. The only real way to tell is a headphone amp would match your headphones is to give them a listen. For eg, low impedence cans like the Grados are not best driven by say X-Cans. However, X-Cans with Senn HD-600 is a better match. Trying to decide by Impedence rating of headohones will lead you astray. For example, the Beyer DT831 (250 ohm) sounds much better out of the 120 ohm jack of a Corda Amp. While the Beyer DT990 (also 250 ohms) sounds better out of the 0 ohm jack on the same Corda amp. Some headphone amps like Corda, Headroom come with crossfeed. This make headphone listening come closer to speaker listening. Hope this helps. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mackie 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2003 Agree with Rameish. I used to own a HD600 and tried it on a Mackie VLZ1202 pro mixer which did not sound good......thin and dry. After a check with the makers in US, the mixer's headphone circuitry is capable of driving cans up to 600 ohm. Hence, using impedance as a gauge of sound quality is inaccurate. Of course, technicals surrounding low impedance ear buds to high impedance audiophile/pro cans cannot be fully ruled out. Ultimately, let your ears make the decision. If one cannot hear the difference in a pair of cans driven from a socket to head amp, stick to the cheaper alternative then. IMHO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aye75 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2003 Ok thanks for the tips guys... Will do some testing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
