Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Headphone ideas / Sennheiser HD580 (Read 11700 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Headphone ideas / Sennheiser HD580

Reply #25 –
Quote from: copperblue on
This is an interesting discussion.

Without invoking TOS #8, I prefer the sound of my HD650 (high Z) from the headphone out of my Audiolab 8000Q preamp (100 ohms output impedance) than out of either my Sansa Clip+ or my O2 (both with very low output impedance).


Even if the levels were matched, there might be be a strong enough bass boost around 100 Hz due to the high source impedance to tickle your fancy.Equalization could provide a similar effect with the O2 and Clip.

HD 650 Technical Tests Innerfidelity

Quote
The converse is true with either of my Grado/Alessandro or my MDR-V6 (which are lowish impedance headphones and sound better to my ears out of the Clip+ or O2 than the HD650, but both sound much worse to me than the Sennheisers when plugged into the Audiolab).

It would be interesting if I still had my old Etymotic ER-4P - ER-4S converter (series resistors) to have a play with the low-Z phones off the high-Z output...


Just get a simple resistive in-line volume control.

Headphone ideas / Sennheiser HD580

Reply #26 –
Quote from: MusicExp on
Let's bring some common sense in the matter.


Common sense is that at high Z all amps are basically equal.  You have to actually load an amp before you see if its any good. 

Quote from: MusicExp on
Surely you choose the 100 W amp, as it will control the speaker better, less distortion, higher volume etc.


Not how amplifiers work. 

Headphone ideas / Sennheiser HD580

Reply #27 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Quote from: MusicExp on
Let's bring some common sense in the matter.


Quote from: MusicExp on
Surely you choose the 100 W amp, as it will control the speaker better, less distortion, higher volume etc.


Not how amplifiers work.


I'm trying to figure out how so many people get this wrong.

Let's take an obvious example.

The actual question is Like: Does a 40 watt amplifier amplify better than a 10 watt amplifier?

That is like the question: Does a gallon bucket carry water better than a quart bucket?

In either case exactly what you want to do is highly relevant.

If you want to carry a gallon of water, the quart bucket is entirely inadequate.  But, if you want to carry a quart of water, then the quart bucket is the better choice for the job at hand because it is smaller and lighter and better suited to it.

I think that the confusion comes about because the issues with amplifiers are not as readily tangible as they are with water and buckets.  For example, most audiophiles seem to `have absolutely no clue as to how much power their amps deliver to their speakers under any particular operating conditions.  IOW, they don't know if they want to carry a quart of water or a gallon.

The consumer audio industry perpetuates this by selling audio gear that almost universally lacks any useful kind of power meter.

IME most power amp upgrades are based on what at best could be called speculation.  It is often more like audio nervosa run wild.

Headphone ideas / Sennheiser HD580

Reply #28 –
What I am trying to say is, if you push an amp above 75% of its power threshold it will start to clip. So, instead of running a 10 W amp at 100%, I prefer running an 100 W amp at 10%. That's what I mean by less distortion.

Headphone ideas / Sennheiser HD580

Reply #29 –
Quote from: MusicExp on
What I am trying to say is, if you push an amp above 75% of its power threshold it will start to clip.


AFAIK Power Threshold is not a formally-defined audio term.

Most amplifiers power ratings are based on a certain relatively high but still not audible amount of distortion. Rule of thumb is that a good SS power amp usually has less than 0.02% THD at clipping, so any spec that specifies more than 0.02% distortion is probably based on the amp being pushed slightly into clipping.

The operative word is slightly.  Rule of thumb is that 0.1% or less THD is unconditionally inaudible, so any power amp that is speced at 0.1% or less THD at rated power is producing no audible distortion at rated output even though it might be clipping a tiny amount. 

The nature of power amps is that they strongly tend to have less undistorted power at the ends of the audio band than in the middle, but the majority of the music is towards the middle. Most power ratings are based on operation over 20 Hz - 20 KHz. That means that a power amp can easily not be clipping at all even though it is being pushed slightly above its ratings.

Some may find it shocking that clipping can be spoken of in such a blithe manner, but as bad as it is, our audible tolerance for clipping is greater than zero. For one thing audio signals tend to be impulsive even when themselves highly compressed or clipping during production. That means that a amp that is clipping is only clipping part of the time. It takes sustained severe clipping to be audible with music or speech.


Quote
So, instead of running a 10 W amp at 100%, I prefer running an 100 W amp at 10%. That's what I mean by less distortion.


As I have shown above, in context the above lacks general relevance. It is very often far from a being any kind of a technical fact. 

It is stated as a personal preference that you may enjoy as you will as long as you don't try to turn it into a general rule or recommendation.  One of the fairly common  problems with running excessively powerful amps is that this can lead to audible noise in the speakers.