Trying to work it out . . . ohms, just plug em' in???
Trying to work out which way to go with headphones, originaly one thought, buy em, plug em in, thats it . . . ?
I'm now begining to realise . . . nearly used the word 'understand' . . . far from it! I get an idea as I read, understand . . . I dont think so. One reads verious impedances for different models; 32ohms, 40ohms, 600ohms, and a lot in between. I dont have a headphone jack on my Icon Stereo 40 valve amp, so plan to use 'tape out', this will be to a head phone amp, an early Pro-ject 'Headamp' model, with twin headphone sockets and volume controls, it has ribbed sides, the curent one is smooth. The spec., says impedance is 32ohms, asked the question of the importers, will a pair of Audio Technica ATH-A500x work, the spec., says they have an impedance of 48ohms. Henlys say not ideal match but they have used the combination many times with no advers affect.
The AT 500x are not my final choice, but it throws up the question, what is all this impedance stuff all about with respect to headphones???
Next question I have come up with, more of a frustration perhaps? Headphones seem to have built in colourations . . . to compensate it would appear for the short comings of the inadequate source so often used like iPhones etc. Large full size units are fited with folding joints, compromising the strength, use short cables to make them 'more convenient on the move' . . .
I'm am beginnig to track down the studio/audiophile types, via reviews, still no practical dems!!! . . . Despite the obvious leaning towards studio and home use, the review almost apologises for a 'flat respons' in model 'A' . . . try getting away with that on a pair of half decent speakers, coluration emphasis will be jumped on very quickly, in a good review. Is this the way we are going with our hifi? I supose this frustration is bourn of me being an ex audiophile and having used 'studio monitor' type speakers as a control through my whole 30 year hifi carear.
Confusion and frustration . . . anyone explain in word of one sillable, how I should approach the above, especialy the ohms problem.
CJSF
The ohms story is worse than you think. If there were a way to simplify, I would say try to use 40 ohms or less on portable gear such as ipods, but not old ipods which may have high output impedances (much detail there). With desktop amps you should be able to use anything from 32 ohms up, but higher is preferable usually, in case the headphone output has a high impedance.
Colorations were not the order of the day up until sometime after ipods were introduced. There were many good years before that with competition for good sound. Now even Sennheiser makes "Lifestyle" headphones. My current favorite is the ATH ESW11Ltd, which is not free of coloration and has a substantial high-freq. rolloff and costs $700 USD. Does that sound really horrible? But with a simple treble boost, it's giving me a more satisfactory sound than the old Sennheisers as well as the new Momentum, more satisfactory than the weird-sounding Beyer headphones, and more satisfactory than anything else I can think of, except the Apple Earpods with Dirac DSP. If only I could get the Earpod/Dirac sound in a form like the ESW11, I'd be in heaven.
OK Dale, if I have this right, the ohms thing is not a problem for me, as I will be using a valve amp tape output into a Pro-Ject Head amp, "dont go below 32ohms" . . . which is what the instructions say.
The frustration of colouration sounds like its not only me? But I might be looking in the right area in Audio Technica?
Thanks again for your reply Dale . . . its all building into some sort of picture, like a jugsaw, tots of peices to fit in. I have had a 'headphone demo room' facility pointed out to me, a bit of a drive but they have everything ones heart might desire on dem I told?
CJSF
Not to belabor the issue, but there are more times than I like to remember that a headphone sounded great in the store, then at home some subtle thing I missed in the store is killing me. You can't preclude that 100 percent, but you can save yourself some trouble by taking precautions. I recommend taking high quality music along that you are *extremely* familiar with, and if they aren't going to have a good player on site that will play your physical format (disc, digital track etc.), take whatever you need to play the music. If (and this is important) they don't have a comfortable and reasonably quiet place to sit and listen, at least take a folding chair so you can sit down. Closed-back headphones will help a little with noise, but not that much. Most ordinary stores are too noisy for evaluating anything except electronic noise-canceling headphones, but some high-end dealers may have a quiet place....
Not to belabor the issue, but there are more times than I like to remember that a headphone sounded great in the store, then at home some subtle thing I missed in the store is killing me. You can't preclude that 100 percent, but you can save yourself some trouble by taking precautions. I recommend taking high quality music along that you are *extremely* familiar with, and if they aren't going to have a good player on site that will play your physical format (disc, digital track etc.), take whatever you need to play the music. If (and this is important) they don't have a comfortable and reasonably quiet place to sit and listen, at least take a folding chair so you can sit down. Closed-back headphones will help a little with noise, but not that much. Most ordinary stores are too noisy for evaluating anything except electronic noise-canceling headphones, but some high-end dealers may have a quiet place....
Thanks Dale good advise, the intention is to phone first, make an appointment, ask what facilities are avaliable, I will even take my headphone amp with me, along with my own very special interconects. Done this before with amp and speakers, even took my own turn table once. Unfortunatly it would be impractical to take the Icon valve amp I use, it weighs 25kg!!!
I doubt there will be vinyl facilities (although I will ask) so I'm in the process of sorting my CD's. Fortunatly I have a couple of decent CD duplicates of my favourit vinyl, as well as some very searching CD's in there own right.
If all that fails, forinstance they say, 'vinyl, CD, you need a digital computer medum, then I will resort to ordering on line and sending back if the phones are not to my liking, a faff but shops only have themselves to blame???
CJSF
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The ohms story is worse than you think. If there were a way to simplify, I would say try to use 40 ohms or less on portable gear such as ipods, but not old ipods which may have high output impedances (much detail there). With desktop amps you should be able to use anything from 32 ohms up, but higher is preferable usually, in case the headphone output has a high impedance.
Colorations were not the order of the day up until sometime after ipods were introduced. There were many good years before that with competition for good sound. Now even Sennheiser makes "Lifestyle" headphones. My current favorite is the ATH ESW11Ltd, which is not free of coloration and has a substantial high-freq. rolloff and costs $700 USD. Does that sound really horrible? But with a simple treble boost, it's giving me a more satisfactory sound than the old Sennheisers as well as the new Momentum, more satisfactory than the weird-sounding Beyer headphones, and more satisfactory than anything else I can think of, except the Apple Earpods with Dirac DSP. If only I could get the Earpod/Dirac sound in a form like the ESW11, I'd be in heaven.
SoundMagic HP200, Final Audio FI-BA-SS, V-Moda M100, Sennheiser IE800, Beyer DT770LE, FiiO E07K/MicroStreamer/Vamp Verza DAC/amps, FiiO E12/Zen Head amps.