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Balanced Headphones from Mini-Dac, DA10, DAC1

post #1 of 21
4/7/07 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
Has anyone tried the K701 balanced (or other low impedance phones) directly out of an Apogee Mini-DAC, Benchmark DAC1, or Lavry DA10. I have read in a few places that low impedance cans don't work as well balanced when connected directly to DACs. Is this true. If so. Why?

Thanks for any responses.
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post #2 of 21
4/7/07 at 8:10pm
Thread Starter 
i know a few people own these dacs.
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post #3 of 21
4/7/07 at 9:07pm
Kubba uses sa5000 balanced out of DAC1 and loves it. Does that count?

k701 is while low impedance is painfully hard to drive so keep that in mind.
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post #4 of 21
4/7/07 at 9:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcoheda View Post
Has anyone tried the K701 balanced (or other low impedance phones) directly out of an Apogee Mini-DAC, Benchmark DAC1, or Lavry DA10. I have read in a few places that low impedance cans don't work as well balanced when connected directly to DACs. Is this true. If so. Why?

Thanks for any responses.
Depends more on the can then the impedance of the headphone.. My SA5000 is 60-70 OHMS.. & is great balanced out of my DAC1..
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post #5 of 21
4/7/07 at 9:16pm
Don't you need female XLR connectors to go directly to the DAC's, as opposed to most balanced amp jacks requiring male connectors (which is the more common, or default, balanced wiring method)?

Therefore, if you have a headphone wired for one, it won't work (directly) with the other.
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post #6 of 21
4/7/07 at 9:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpelg View Post
Don't you need female XLR connectors to go directly to the DAC's, as opposed to most balanced amp jacks requiring male connectors (which is the more common, or default, balanced wiring method)?

Therefore, if you have a headphone wired for one, it won't work (directly) with the other.
That is true.. I have female XRL connectors..If I wanted to use the headroom balanced desktop amp I would need to get them recabled again or get a female to male XRL cable, if thats even possible..
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post #7 of 21
4/7/07 at 9:36pm
Thread Starter 
i ordered my zu with female xlr and have a a pair of balanced dt880s coming, also terminated withg female xlr. if i ever get a dedicated balanced headphone amp, i will have them re-terminated. the cost to do this should be minimal.

still very curious if anyone had tried the k701 from any of these dacs.
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post #8 of 21
4/8/07 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kool bubba ice View Post
That is true.. I have female XRL connectors..If I wanted to use the headroom balanced desktop amp I would need to get them recabled again or get a female to male XRL cable, if thats even possible..
Nope, this is all you'd need, an can be had at your local friendly guitar center: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GXX144/

Maybe pick up a couple if you want to try your SA5000 from regular balanced amps at the meet?
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post #9 of 21
4/8/07 at 2:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer View Post
Nope, this is all you'd need, an can be had at your local friendly guitar center: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GXX144/

Maybe pick up a couple if you want to try your SA5000 from regular balanced amps at the meet?
you don't think those connectors will degrade the signal.
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post #10 of 21
4/8/07 at 2:13am
Out of my DAC, the K701 is very good, but the bass is a little loose and the dynamics suffers a little due to low dampening factor. Higher impedance cans would work better.
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post #11 of 21
4/8/07 at 2:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcoheda View Post
you don't think those connectors will degrade the signal.
Perhaps, but I think that would mostly be a psychological problem
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post #12 of 21
4/8/07 at 2:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cotdt View Post
Out of my DAC, the K701 is very good, but the bass is a little loose and the dynamics suffers a little due to low dampening factor. Higher impedance cans would work better.
how do you listen to your k701 balanced?
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post #13 of 21
4/8/07 at 2:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer View Post
Perhaps, but I think that would mostly be a psychological problem
maybe . . . but if i got a balanced amp, i would never listen to my phones balanced from my dac, so it would be a one time switch. probably worth it, even if the improvement is minimal, or less.

got to have that extra 1 percent.
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post #14 of 21
4/8/07 at 3:01am
Yeah, if I were paying someone else to recable my headphones to balanced, I'd get them with male XLR's. That way you'd only need to use adapters when going from a DAC, which is suboptimal compared to a balanced amp anyway.
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post #15 of 21
4/8/07 at 3:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vcoheda View Post
how do you listen to your k701 balanced?
I originally heard the K701 out of a Zhaolu, but obtained much better results out of a balanced amp. I heard it out of the Dynamight and it was heavenly. But you can get a balanced amp for $99 or less these days.
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