Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › are fullsize dac/amps overkill for iems?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

are fullsize dac/amps overkill for iems?

post #1 of 4
1/17/11 at 2:57am
Thread Starter 

i'm currently using a d10->ie6 setup not as a desktop setup just because i prefer iems to fullsize comfortwise. i'll be upgrading to ie8 or something similar pretty soon but i've had interest in seeing what else is out there ampwise. the d10 is not completely silent with nothing on so to find one that is would be on characteristic i'm looking for. i don't want to upgrade right now for fullsize headphones that i may pick up in the future because as it stands i'm calling them off entirely. any ideas here?

Reply
post #2 of 4
1/17/11 at 4:50am

There is a slight difference but most of the diff comes from getting a digital signal rather than an ipod LOD output.

Reply
post #3 of 4
1/19/11 at 4:23am
Thread Starter 

i'm always hooked via usb. i've never used an ipod lineout and never would it'd strictly be for computer use.

Reply
post #4 of 4
1/19/11 at 7:12am

Generally, it's not that it's "overkill," but chances are there will be an impedance mismatch. By "overkill" it sounds more like you mean that a headphone amp will always produce more power as the impedance is lowered; this is more true for speaker amps than headphone amps. Some produce less power at lower impedances, and may not be overcome by the sensitivity. In any case, if the gain/impedance is mismatched and the amp is "too much" for the IEM, this still isn't like a speaker set-up where you're likely to blow the drivers. Chances are you'll blow your eardrums first, meaning you'd definitely pull back on the knob before that happens. Another issue is that some potentiometers may have channel imbalance at too low settings, which is what's likely to happen when you have a lot of power going into a sensitive-enough unit. 

 

But in your case, I'd say no. That's designed as a portable as much, if not more, as a purely desktop use amp. Just get the gain setting right and it should be fine. BTW, jsut because IEMs are small and go in closer to your ear drums doesn't mean none have too low sensitivity, or because of the low impedance, makes current from the amplification all the more important.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › are fullsize dac/amps overkill for iems?