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New and In Need of Help!

post #1 of 7
1/7/12 at 2:25pm
Thread Starter 

Hey everyone,

I'm new here and have been 'creeping' the forums for information and researching about headphones. I recently bought the Sennheiser HD448 and I love them. With them being a closed pair, my friend let me try their Grados SR60 and I really liked them. I primarily brought a set of closed pairs because I was going away for Christmas Break and didn't want the sound leakage. They could double as being able to cancel some of the noise from outside. I'm now looking for a pair of open ones and I'm looking at the range of ~$350. This leads into the questions.

1. I've been looking for headphones online for prices and I've come across the Beyerdynamics DT-770 that are offered for 600, 250 and 32ohms. I know the basics of impedance - just that they're resistance (lol) - and almost nothing about their use in headphones. As the impedance goes up, I read that you'll need an amplifier once it hits ~120ohms to provide higher current and voltage. I've also seen people say that headphones with 32ohms and less is good/acceptable for portable devices. Is this information I learned correct? I'm also confused they offer the 600 and 250, I'm not sure what the difference between the two other than the obvious ones with a higher voltage and current needed.

2. I'm starting to back up my music in flac onto an external hard-drive. I want to be able to use it to play music for home too but I have no idea where to start with a source component. I only got [source component]->[amp]->[headphones]. Is a source component like a AV receiver? Could you suggest an entry level source? Don't really think it's going to be through a computer or anything.

3. I'm currently looking at the AKG K701, Beyerdynamics DT770, Sennheiser HD 650 and the Grados SR325i are these ones good to start researching with? Also, I'll be building a cmoy when the parts, will this be able to power these headphones? I'm hoping to build amps from now on. So if not, could you let me know what'd be a good amp to start reading on.

Sorry for the long read, but I'd appreciate your help. Unfortunately electrical engineering courses doesn't cover much with audio and my university doesn't offer anything related to audio engineering.

 

Thanks so much!

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post #2 of 7
1/7/12 at 2:37pm

 

 Welcome aboard man,

 

 First thing is trying to work out what you like ~ easier said than done!

 

 Good news is that if you liked the SR60's signature then I'm guessing there is some

 fun, energetic music in your collection ranging from rock, funk or even a bit of modern

 jazz? They are simply excellent for this sort of material.

 

 The DT770 is a different beast and will prefer the lower end of the spectrum. The 80ohm

 version is a very popular choice here with pop, hip hop and electronica listeners.

 

 K701 is an excellent can for the classical genre and vocals, sound stage is large

 and spacious but the middle frequencies can be presented in a distant fashion,

 their treble is also some will regard as 'extended' while more sensitive ears will

 label it harsh.

 

 HD650 is the opposite, it still features decent sound stage but the overall presentation

 is very lush and forgiving, just about any rough material can be played through them

 without any discomfort. Having said that, they can be too polite as a result leaving

 some of us (read: me) like they could be a bit more engaging and visceral.

 

 That leaves the 325i which I absolutely adore, it's a scintillating up front roller

 coaster ride of a can and of all of those, will be the easiest to amplify.

 

 Did you wish to run from a CD player or a PC/Mac as a source?

 

 Or were you looking into something like a Logitech Squeezebox?

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post #3 of 7
1/7/12 at 8:33pm

Beyerdynamic DT770s  250-Ohm and 600-Ohm need to be used with a decent headphone amplifier.

The 32-Ohm and 80-Ohm will work decently without a headphone amplifier, but you really do need to use a headphone amplifier to bring out their best.

The 32-Ohm version really requires more juice then other 32-Ohm headphones.

I personally would recommend the 250-Ohm with a decent headphone amplifier.

If you would spend $200 or more for a headphone amplifier, then buying 600-Ohm would make more sence.

 

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post #4 of 7
1/7/12 at 9:23pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the replies. Since I listen to a pretty wide range, I'll definitely make sure to check out the Grados. Guess I'm going to be building a new one then for the higher impedance headphones. What's the difference between the difference impedance thought? Is it better sounding or something? And Gwarmi, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Are there any other ones you know about??

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post #5 of 7
1/7/12 at 10:04pm

Impedance is one factor, I guess you could say the higher the impedance, the better the sound.

I believe the high the impedance, the better control there is of the signal, or something like that.

But the higher the impedance, the less headphone jacks you can use the headphones with.

 

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post #6 of 7
1/8/12 at 11:00am
Thread Starter 

I was thinking something like that but I wasn't super sure cause I couldn't imagine it. But thanks for clearing it up! :]

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post #7 of 7
1/8/12 at 12:04pm

The impedance doesn't really matter as long as you have an amp that can deal with it.

 

A cmoy with a high current opamp like an NJM4556 should be decently versatile.  For a slightly more advanced project and the ability to drive more headphones the Objective2 would be a good project too.

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