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600 Ohms? Watt requirements?

post #1 of 8
9/2/10 at 9:38pm
Thread Starter 

About how many watts am I gonna need to drive something so resistant as a pair of 600 Ohm headphones?

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post #2 of 8
9/2/10 at 9:42pm

Typically anything running 100mW or higher @ 600ohms should do a decent job driving them, besides that it's all up to taste.

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post #3 of 8
9/2/10 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 

Alright cool, just got a second hand Pioneer SA-730, it's  130mW. I just wanted to make sure it would be up to my needs if I ever moved up to a higher impedance cans.

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post #4 of 8
9/2/10 at 9:46pm

Is that at 600ohms? If so you should be good to go.

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post #5 of 8
9/2/10 at 9:50pm

Most 600 ohm headphones take the same 1-3mW (with 3 on the high end) that most other headphones take to run. You need more voltage swing to make that 1-3mw, but its 1-3mw all the same.

 

On that note, power is frequently a distraction from SQ. Make no mistake there are many very very good sounding amps that have tons of power, but tons of power does not mean it will sound good. just food for thought.

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post #6 of 8
9/2/10 at 10:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod View Post

Most 600 ohm headphones take the same 1-3mW (with 3 on the high end) that most other headphones take to run. You need more voltage swing to make that 1-3mw, but its 1-3mw all the same.

 

On that note, power is frequently a distraction from SQ. Make no mistake there are many very very good sounding amps that have tons of power, but tons of power does not mean it will sound good. just food for thought.


Haha I understand that quiet well, but I am new  to a lot of this stuff and strapped for money this is the best I can do right now. I wanted an amp( preferably portable) and I got one for free from a buddy. I'm not going to say no to that and this one has been pretty damn good from what I am hearing so far.

 

My only complaint is it has a faint( very faint, I have to really concentrate to hear it) hiss while there is nothing being pushed through my cans( rx700's).
 

 

According to the amp I'm pushing 0.3 watts to drive these headphones.


Edited by SoSpecial - 9/2/10 at 10:30pm
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post #7 of 8
9/3/10 at 7:46am

No worries, we all have to get our musical fix :)

 

The noise is random noise, its one of the problems of using a power amp to run headphones. Even though the amp may have very good specs for SNR this is relative to a speakerish load, and speakerish power levels. If you measure the random noise, and compare it to headphoneish loads & power levels most power amps look pretty rough. 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by SoSpecial View Post

According to the amp I'm pushing 0.3 watts to drive these headphones.


Most of the time those scales are simple voltage meters calibrated against an 8ohm load. 

 

You are using about 4mw with 600ohm headphones. A little bit more than I guessed but still not much.

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post #8 of 8
9/3/10 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod View Post

No worries, we all have to get our musical fix :)

 

The noise is random noise, its one of the problems of using a power amp to run headphones. Even though the amp may have very good specs for SNR this is relative to a speakerish load, and speakerish power levels. If you measure the random noise, and compare it to headphoneish loads & power levels most power amps look pretty rough. 

 


Most of the time those scales are simple voltage meters calibrated against an 8ohm load. 

 

You are using about 4mw with 600ohm headphones. A little bit more than I guessed but still not much.

Not sure you caught that I don't have exactly 600ohm cans yet, I'm only on RX700's for the time being, probably going to wait till I can get some Sextett AKG's I needed to make sure this would be enough.

 

I figured, this isn't a dedicated headphone amp ( even if I am using it as such) and it's quiet a bit more powerful then I need. The Hiss is not a problem at all though, I can't hear it while music is playing at all.
 

 

Oh and correct me if I'm wrong( and I'm a little bit of a psu fanatic if you knew me on OCN) but Voltage is the potential across a given distance, the amps times the voltage equals your wattage. Is their any way to find out the AMPs this thing can potentially feed? I've seen 130w on the manual,  but no mention of volts, if I knew the volts I could work out the amps on a my current resistance to give me a more accurate reading across all loads.


Edited by SoSpecial - 9/3/10 at 7:54pm
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