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Topic: Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor) (Read 5349 times) previous topic - next topic
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Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor)

Hi
I've already had a topic where I wanted to buy some new earphones.
Now I want to Know what is Impedance and what is THD
I was comparing to different Earphones:


                          AKG K 314 P                Sennheiser MX 55 V Street

Impedance:            17 Ohm                                64 Ohm
THD:                        <1%                                    <0.1%     
Frequency:        17-23.000HZ                      17-21.000HZ


So I want to know, which one is better (has got the better sound quality Output)?
Thanks

Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor)

Reply #2 –
Those numbers don't tell you anything about sound quality. Although lower distortion, of any variety, is generally to be preferred, those specs are highly suspect and unlikely to be much of a guide to anything.

Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor)

Reply #3 –
Quote from: AndyH-ha on
Those numbers don't tell you anything about sound quality. Although lower distortion, of any variety, is generally to be preferred, those specs are highly suspect and unlikely to be much of a guide to anything.
THD is unlikely to be a guide to anything? That's a real stretch. When comparing apples to apples (like DAC performance, or performance of push/pull transistor amps), THD is an extremely useful performance parameter, as is IMD and THD+N. Sure, if you compare things with very different distortion spectra (like a tube amp and a transistor amp) THD might not be a great measure.

Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor)

Reply #4 –
Quote from: cabbagerat on
Quote from: AndyH-ha on

Those numbers don't tell you anything about sound quality. Although lower distortion, of any variety, is generally to be preferred, those specs are highly suspect and unlikely to be much of a guide to anything.
THD is unlikely to be a guide to anything? That's a real stretch. When comparing apples to apples (like DAC performance, or performance of push/pull transistor amps), THD is an extremely useful performance parameter, as is IMD and THD+N. Sure, if you compare things with very different distortion spectra (like a tube amp and a transistor amp) THD might not be a great measure.


Pretty sure he means the numbers won't be truthful, not that the measure itself is useless.

Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor)

Reply #5 –
Quote from: cabbagerat on
Quote from: AndyH-ha on

Those numbers don't tell you anything about sound quality. Although lower distortion, of any variety, is generally to be preferred, those specs are highly suspect and unlikely to be much of a guide to anything.

THD is unlikely to be a guide to anything? That's a real stretch.
...

Cabbagerat, I think you misunderstood AndyH-ha. What he means is that if someone just throws some nice numbers at you about an amp or headphone, it's really not enough information. First you have to check the distortion at a given power level at a given frequency or frequency range. Then there is also IM distortion which is an important parameter. Also the distortion spectrum, which you yourself mentionned.
About frequency response, it's also meaningless when quoted the way it was:
- 25Hz-19kHz +/-1dB is going to sound much better than 18Hz-27kHz +/-5dB.
Etc.
Well anyways, I am sure you know all that, and so does AndyH-ha.

Impedance and THD (Klirrfaktor)

Reply #6 –
Yes. Impedance changes with frequency. Values for two different headphones are not even related unless they are both made under the same conditions. Regardless, the impedance of headphones will not relate to audio quality unless there is something really strange, such as the impedance keeps shifting wildly up, then down, then up, etc. as frequency increases. Don't know how one would manage to build such headphones offhand.

Distortion is important but meaningfully measuring distortion in headphones is not a trivial exercise. Two different figures for two different headphones don't mean anything unless the measurement conditions are the same, and well controlled. How likely is that?

Even if such measurements were controlled and comparable, two single numbers may well not tell you anything of significance. You need complete curves across the frequency spectrum, for at least a few different power levels, to know if you can really say much about which one might sound better. I have one set of headphones that specs at 3000mW maximum power handling and another that says 50 mW. Maybe their distortion levels are comparable at very low input levels, but what if you really want to crank up the volume?

The question was "which one is better?" The numbers listed don't give you a clue.