ProtegeManiac
Headphoneus Supremus
Roughly 150ohms. Once you hit higher load impedance range the effects aren't as bad, ie, a 138ohm output impedance on a 150ohm load isn't as bad as using a 30ohm output impedance on a 32ohm load.
Typically though the HD600 and HD650 at 300ohms are the safest bet for using with speaker gear headphone outputs. The response has no problems like Beyer's sharp treble (although the 3500hz peak on the HD600 has only the rolled off past 1000hz response of the HD650 as the alternative) and I used my HD600 out of a Marantz CD60 before and loved it enough. Not as slamming as with my Meier Cantate.2 but more neutral than my Little Dot MkII.
If anything though note that you're using a Pre-Pro, which very likely just has some small circuit with high impedance and possibly very low power (and especially voltage) output. Unlike some (not all) integrated amplifiers (and power amps with headphone outputs) that use the speaker output stage routed to the convenient front jack (and modifying gain if not also output impedance), the pre-pro doesn't have that kind of output stage for this kind of circuit. I'd seriously doubt that Arcam would put anything close to a real headphone amp circuit in there.
Mar 19, 2017 at 6:13 PM
Post #17 of 20
according to the manual "accepts headphones with an impedance rating between 32Ω and 600Ω, fitted with a 1/4-inch stereo jack plug"
You do not say if you have heard any of the cans you have listed in your post, but I can concur with some of the thoughts expressed here. You will never get a headphone to give you close to what a speaker does as far as illusion of a live performance. And I tend to agree with the recs to look at some of the more popular planars. Having heard all the Hifiman models, Elears, LCDs and Ethers, I would spend my money on Senn 650s which I have or perhaps one of the ZMF models. LCD 2 are still a fave but weigh too much for me. Good Luck!
Mar 19, 2017 at 6:40 PM
Post #18 of 20
Mar 19, 2017 at 6:54 PM
Post #19 of 20
Mar 19, 2017 at 7:30 PM
Post #20 of 20
I have not heard the 595s but if they are even remotely like the 598 then the 650s sound nothing like them. The 650s are a bit warm, and quite natural sounding without any harsh or exaggerated upper end to enhance the "feel" of resolution. Yet with a few mods and a good setup they can keep up with $1000 contenders all day. They are a bit polite but I never find myself getting tired after a half an hour or so. Elears, once modded can sound very close to what the 650s offer. but when you can buy Senns for $299 at times, the Elear is not as competitive to my ear.
Not sure the Arcam will be the best match, but supposedly they have engineered the equivalent of a $150 headphone amp into it rather the $5 simple circuits most AV guys use. In the end even the $179 Vali2 amp would be a great match for something like the cans you are listing. It is not the most transparent but an awfully good amp that you would have to spend triple or more to outperform.
Good luck, hope you get to hear some of these.
As much as my HD600 worked well with my CD60, that uses a headphone driver chip by Philips that was used in the Fiio E9 amplifier nearly two decades since it first came out, so Marantz headphone outputs tend to be better than their competitors barring a few select products (like the NAD D3020 and the Cayin CS-55a). It also sucked with my 9v CMOY (even with an active ground circuit and 9v peak to peak output), but that probably has more to do with the response than the voltage output.
Basically, I'd get these as the safest bet for response and sensitivity (plus the all important high impedance), but I won't be able to guarantee enough of whether it will be good enough (not even for myself) unless I've tried the specific speaker gear or know the circuit. If the AV9 has a fixed line out (ie not affected by the potentiometer) you can hook up a headphone amp there just in case it doesn't sound good enough (although it can still be more of how you don't like the sound of the headphones themselves). No need to spend all that much - the Schiit Vali2, Meier Corda Rock, and if you like warm syrupy tube sound, the Little Dot MkII, are all under $200.
For planars there's more wiggle room for impedance as they are less affected than dynamic drivers, but most of them have low sensitivity, and only the open back LCD series from Audezee fit the bill at 70ohms and 100dB sensitivity. The older LCD-2 however has a general response balance as the HD650, and the newer ones are more like the HD600 but flatter response deeper into the bass region. Still, the Sennheisers and Audezees can be limited by the open back design, which can let in enough ambient noise to make the bass seem weak (on top of subjective differences in the inherent differences between headphones and speakers - more on this below) in all but the quietest environments (otherwise you'd still need a bit more power to play them louder to get over the ambient noise). Even my A/C at running just short of full tilt on the fan speed is already a problem in my room (and that's with the windows closed already).
94dB and below is just barely there, and that's with dedicated, low power but low impedance headphone amps (and some lesser USB-powered DAC-HPamps just get them loud, but sound boring), not an auxiliary headphone amp out of a speaker system pre-pro that is basically a small circuit added as an afterthought.
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according to the manual "accepts headphones with an impedance rating between 32Ω and 600Ω, fitted with a 1/4-inch stereo jack plug"
You do not say if you have heard any of the cans you have listed in your post, but I can concur with some of the thoughts expressed here. You will never get a headphone to give you close to what a speaker does as far as illusion of a live performance. And I tend to agree with the recs to look at some of the more popular planars. Having heard all the Hifiman models, Elears, LCDs and Ethers, I would spend my money on Senn 650s which I have or perhaps one of the ZMF models. LCD 2 are still a fave but weigh too much for me. Good Luck!
subway
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I downloaded the manual for the AV9, and it had very few specs for the headphone jack: a max of 5 volts peak to peak into 600 ohms and an output impedance of 5 ohms. ARCAM seems to agree with your recommendation. I tried my Senn hd595 in the AV9 (volume from 0 to 82 with THX at 63) and it drove them pretty well at 43 but made my ears hurt from spl at 64. I assumed they would have the similar specs to the hd650, but the Sennheiser site said it is 50 ohms with sensitivity of 112 dB. Should I expect greater clarity, greater bass impact, or larger soundstage with the higher impedance of the hd650's? With the planars being less finicky and in the 70-80 impedance range, can i expect at least the performance of the of the hd595's with the preamp? I guess getting a headphone amp is similar to add a phono stage to a preamp -- a circuit designed to work on a specialized signal. If I were to get one, would I feed it from one of the line level outs of the AV9?
subway
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I haven't heard any of the planars,. I hope to demo some of them soon(esp. the Elears and LCD-2s) If I like one of their sounds, will I need a headphone amp to get their best sound?
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I have not heard the 595s but if they are even remotely like the 598 then the 650s sound nothing like them. The 650s are a bit warm, and quite natural sounding without any harsh or exaggerated upper end to enhance the "feel" of resolution. Yet with a few mods and a good setup they can keep up with $1000 contenders all day. They are a bit polite but I never find myself getting tired after a half an hour or so. Elears, once modded can sound very close to what the 650s offer. but when you can buy Senns for $299 at times, the Elear is not as competitive to my ear.
Not sure the Arcam will be the best match, but supposedly they have engineered the equivalent of a $150 headphone amp into it rather the $5 simple circuits most AV guys use. In the end even the $179 Vali2 amp would be a great match for something like the cans you are listing. It is not the most transparent but an awfully good amp that you would have to spend triple or more to outperform.
Good luck, hope you get to hear some of these.
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