What is everyone's AMP volume?

Essence STX on Low gain at 40% volume with LCD-2. Using ReplayGain, that's about 70 dBrms give or take a dB or two.

Your volume is very low because your IEMs are very efficient. You don't need an amp at all. I think the E7 uses digital attenuation so at least you're not getting channel balance issues.

I meant don't need one as in don't need the power. The E7's low output impedance may be advantageous. I don't know the iPhone's output impedance, but I know an iPod Touch was measured to be high enough to affect your IEMs. Balanced armature drivers like yours are very susceptible to output impedance, thanks to the crossovers.

Depends on which setup I use. With customs and the e11 I cant go up past 3. With universals I go up a bit higher. With p51 and customs it goes about 2 or 3. and with universals it goes to about half.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrconfuse 

I'm not to good at the technical stuff, so is  "Balanced armature drivers like yours are very susceptible to output impedance, thanks to the crossovers." a good thing or bad thing?

A good or bad thing if your amp has high output impedance (your iPhone might), depending on if you like the coloration. Not a good or bad thing if your amp has low output impedance (the E7 does).

Output impedance can color the frequency response of certain headphones. It can also mess with electrical damping which is always a bad thing. I recommend you always aim for low output impedance, unfortunately manufacturers don't always publish it.

I use 11 out of 10.  Or I mean 2.5 out of pi.  Or...

Anyhow, there's no good reference.  Better just ask for the exact output levels.

The Westone 4 are just extraordinarily sensitive (loud) compared to what many other people are using.  I mean, they're quoted at 118 dB SPL / mW (31 ohms nominal, probably at 1 kHz?).  Some headphones are like 88 dB SPL / mW.  Humans perceive about 10 dB difference as about twice as loud, so...yes there's a big difference

this is a bit arbitrary really, since the source, recording, headphone impedance/sensitivity, VAS gain, environment and ears in question will profoundly effect the volume each person uses

what ever level fits the recording, to make it just right for my ears.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrconfuse 

so if the E7 Is low and the IEM's are low but the iphone is high ther?e would be coloration in the freq?

It's a little more complicated than that, but generally yes. The closer the two, the worse. You want an output impedance 1/8th the headphone impedance or less as a rule of thumb. The only iPod measurements I know are the iPod Touch 3G's, which has a 7 ohm output impedance, about 1/4th the Westone's impedance. The iPhone might be different.

well that really depends, define 'good' its unfortunate that descriptions like that are even allowed here. the iphone and ipad both have very accomplished hp outs, not quite enough voltage swing for some headphones and not as high quality dac as some external dac/amps, but thats not the case here; the E7 dac cant really be called high end and since it probably uses virtual ground in its amp section like some earlier models, its output impedance is bound to be higher than iphone 4 as well. So basically yes, stick with the iphone 4, or to get better you really need to spend more money, at which point i would recommend you get yourself some customs first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrconfuse 

When I plug the Westone 4 into the Iphone 4 directly I have to up my volume up a lot more. It's not as loud.

 

When I use the LOD to my E7 and then use the Westone 4, music is much louder.

 

I borrowed a friends Fiio E11, on low gain, no equalizer I'm on 1.8/1.9 volume with the Westone 4.

 

I found this link while searching on the forum

 

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cT8HSg0ArbkJ:www.head-fi.org/t/499008/iphone-4-sound-quality/255+iphone+4+impedance&cd=37&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

It seems like the IPhone 4 impedance is 0.9 OHM (not even 1 OHM). Westone 4 are 31 ohm which means max output impedance is 31/8 = 3.875 ohms.

 

The E7's & E11 power output/headphone impedance is 16 Ohm - 300 OHM

 

When the IPhone 4 is connected to the E7 or E11, my source is no longer the IPhone 4 but the E7/E11. The message that I'm getting is that most headphones work best when the output impedance is less than 1/8th the headphone impedance. In my case there's no way the IEM are 1/8th the E7 or even E11. So basically the E7/E11 is changing the frequency response of the phones. So would it be better for me to completely not use the AMP and just up the volume on the iphone 4?

 

I thought the purpose of the using an external amp was because built in amps on most players aren't as good.

The E7 has an output impedance of about 0.1 ohms. The 16-300 is its recommended headphone impedance, not its output impedance.

The purpose of an external amp is volume and reduced noise/distortion. The iPhone probably has negligible amounts of distortion anyway.