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Topic: Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones (Read 4469 times) previous topic - next topic
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Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

I'm about to order a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or a Videologic SonicFury, and use the latest Santa Cruz drivers on it on WinXP Professional. First of all, given that they should be identical cards, which one do you recommend most and why (software bundle) ?

I'm also about to order a Sennheiser HD-580 or HD-600 (haven't decided yet if I will spend the extra money on the HD-600).

My plan is to connect the headphone directly to the VersaJack (no amp), configured as headphone out in the drivers (I will use multimedia keys on the keyboard to control the volume).

However, these headphones have a pretty high impedance (300 ohm), so I am wondering if the soundcard can deliver enough power for these without using a headphone amp.

Has anybody of you tried this and can comment on the soundcard volume on this setup ?
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

Reply #1 –
Considering the hd600 and hd580 are low sensitivity and open, santa cruz may have problems driving them to high (desired?) volume levels.

According to numerous posts at 3dss, the only difference between SC and SF is their drivers, which aren't that different anyhow:

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/cgi-bin/wwwthr...&vc=1#Post65385

Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

Reply #2 –
If it's of any help, my SB128 powers my HD570's (64 ohms) quite nicely.

Likely 128 ohms would still be double, but 300? Sounds a bit much.

--
GCP

Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

Reply #3 –
Depending on what your looking to do....
I understand that the Santa Cruz is very good for taking in analog signal and converting to digital.

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~abcomp/lp-...ecord_soundcard
What if the Hokey Pokey....is What it's all about?

Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

Reply #4 –
Garf's on the track..

You need higher voltages to drive the higher impedence 'phones..  basic Ohm's law.

Regular amp outputs are designed for speakers (4-8ohm) and the lower power amps usually won't be loud enough.

You can build or buy a headphone amp..  which will raise that soundcard output to a reasonable voltage level to give you all that those Sennheisers should...

www.headwise.com  has some DIY projects and kits..  some,  like the Chu Moy portable are available built,  if you don't want to yourself.. 

www.headphone.com has some more built ones..

www.head-fi.org  has a large forum on headphone and related audio subjects.

That should get ya going..

Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

Reply #5 –
Quote
Originally posted by JonPike
www.headwise.com  has some DIY projects and kits..

I assume you mean www.headwize.com... www.headwise.com is a cybersquatting page full of spam links.

Edit:[/b]
Quote
From the page
# 6/3/2002: IMPORTANT NOTICE: I may be shutting down HeadWize.com in a week or two, because I am unable to afford the hosting charges at this time. If possible, I will move the site files to the donated forums server at http://headwize.powerpill.org. Although I own the HeadWize.com domain, I will not be able to change the DNS record to point headwize.com requests to the new server due to problems with my domain registrar. Thanks everyone for your support. I will keep you posted of developments throughout the week.


Seems even www.headwize.com isn't a safe bet for that URL

Santa Cruz / SonicFury and high-impedance headphones

Reply #6 –
Oops..  sorry for the typo!  Was operating from memory..

Yep, I noticed that he's having to fall back... hope things can stay together at the new site, it's a great place for DIY'ers and a good enthusiast's forum community.. Lots of great projects are hosted there..  would hate to see it go.