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32 ohm Headphones with 600 ohm amp card- OK?

post #1 of 3
1/16/13 at 10:50am
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking of combining these headphones with this sound card.
• AKG K550 - 32 ohm impedance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1J70FM4269

• Creative Soundblaster Z - 600 ohm amp sound card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=29-102-048&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

I'm concerned wether the headphones and the sound they produce may suffer damage or sound degradation due to too much juice coming from the 600 ohm amp to the 32 ohm impedance headphones.

I did google the issue but most info is too technical for me and mainly focuses on the opposite issue, making sure the amp's strong enough for the headphones.

What do you guys think?
Edited by MajorBrass - 1/16/13 at 10:57am
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post #2 of 3
1/16/13 at 1:15pm

It should work great. You generally don't have to worry about too much power since you're only delivering all that power with the volume on full blast.

 

600Ohm is just saying up to what impedance headphones the amp can drive. It's a silly way to label an amp since sensitivities aren't always consistent but soundcard manufacturers like to do this anyways.

 

In some headphones you would have to worry about impedance mismatches, as in making sure the output impedance of the amplifier is less than(some people say 1/8th) of the headphone's input impedance. But this is not the case for the k550's, their frequency response will remain flat quite a ways up the line.

 

And also don't confuse the Z's being able to drive headphone's up to 600 Ohm's with its output impedance. Its output impedance is not 600 Ohms, it's probably 35 or less. But nobody really knows at this point(or if they do know they haven't shared it).

 

FYI the k550's shouldn't even need an amp, low impedance, high sensitivity headphone's are easy to drive.

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post #3 of 3
1/16/13 at 4:45pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you for the information! I currently have the Asus xonar Essence STX. But cat seem to get the settings to my liking for gaming (things sound too distant or too close or too loud up close when things further away sound right) so I'm considering buying the Creative Z.

Thank again for taking the time to educate me!
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