[Hansotek]

Hail audio nerds! (where would we be w/o them?). I am sorta one, too...

Just looked at those little resister thingies. Didn't even know such things existed. Is each supposed to plug into the amp, then HP cable plugs into female side? If so, unless your HP cable has a 3.5mm business end and your amp has a 3.5mm input jack (few do), aren't you looking at using 2 X 3.5mm-to-6.35mm adapters? 

I'll probably do it with the mojo for that reason.

 

[ProfFalkin]

How's that?

You might end up liking it?

Don't mind me, just being silly.

 

[heliosphann]

You might end up liking it?

Don't mind me, just being silly.

Stay in your lane. I do it better. 

 

[ProfFalkin]

Stay in your lane. I do it better. 

ROAD RAGE!!!

LOL

 

[mwhals]

ROAD RAGE!!!

LOL

Audio Rage for the nerds like us.

 

[JerryLeeds]

So I have a schiit magni and a liquid carbon with a mjolnir 2 on order with a few other tubes coming in the mail. DAC's Schiit Modi multibit and Gumby .. what other Amp suggestions for future enhancements To pair with E&A ...

 

[Pharmaboy]

Oh, no worries at all! Like I said, I'm trying to figure out where this extra little bit of magic is coming from. I experimented with a 100 ohm resistor the other day with some interesting results, so now I ordered a 20 ohm and 75 ohm resistor, just to see what happens. I will report my findings.

The output impedance on the Vioelectric is 0.1ohm on unbalanced and 0.2 ohm balanced. That will result in a very high damping factor of 3,000 on the Atticus.

You can calculate the damping factor of any headphone and amp combo by dividing the headphone's impedance by the amps output impedance. In this case 300/0.1=3,000. The damping factor is essentially the amps ability to stop the driver from moving. Typically, a damping factor of 8 is sufficient for most applications, but higher damping factors have been shown to have an effect and several companies are big believers in pushing it as low as possible. But in some cases, dropping the damping factor lower (say, 3-6) can create a pleasurable sound (particularly with 300 ohm headphones).

I'm basically experimenting right now to see how much or how little effect this can have on the Atticus's sound.

 
Check this article out. It's not the most coherent thing I've ever read, and some of it's over my head, but it's certainly relevant here:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/musings-headphone-amplifier-output-impedance#1Qr4VCf6wDfMF5AZ.97
 
(don't forget to read the comments at the end)
 
One of the comments led to this adapter:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Etymotic-ER4P-to-ER4S-6-35-to-3-5mm-resistor-adaptor-/282122706136?hash=item41afd2dcd8:g:VHwAAOSwEeFU5Xof
 
It looks like 3.5mm female to 6.35mm male. To me, that means once you select the impedance (51, 75, 100, 120, 240, or 300 ohm); that value adapter plus one 6.35mm-to-3.5mm adapter will allow you test this system w/any headphone w/TRS input jack & any amp w/TRS output jacks.
 
And that gets to something this topic has me thinking about. If the Atticus responds well (in some unspecified way) to amps having higher output impedance than SS amps (ie, OTL tube amps)--then I'm curious to know whether an otherwise excellent/reputable SS amp could be outfitted w/one of these imedance adapters -- and then have a fair contest vs a tube amp for powering the Atticus. In other words, if impedance matching is the "secret sauce" to getting good sound of the Atticus (rather than something inherently superior/different about tube vs SS amps), this setup would specifically test that hypothesis.

 

[RollinHard843]

I was looking up info on the Garage1217 project polaris since i know it has a lot of options for a solid state amp. They use the terminology "output resistance" but i guess they mean the same thing.

You can adjust the output resistance to 3 different settings: 0.1ohm, 35ohm or 120ohm. If this is the same that people are discussing here, maybe this amp could do well with the atticus? It's not a bright amp, i actually bought it to use mostly with grados.

 

[Hansotek]

   
Check this article out. It's not the most coherent thing I've ever read, and some of it's over my head, but it's certainly relevant here:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/musings-headphone-amplifier-output-impedance#1Qr4VCf6wDfMF5AZ.97
 
(don't forget to read the comments at the end)
 
One of the comments led to this adapter:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Etymotic-ER4P-to-ER4S-6-35-to-3-5mm-resistor-adaptor-/282122706136?hash=item41afd2dcd8:g:VHwAAOSwEeFU5Xof
 
It looks like 3.5mm female to 6.35mm male. To me, that means once you select the impedance (51, 75, 100, 120, 240, or 300 ohm); that value adapter plus one 6.35mm-to-3.5mm adapter will allow you test this system w/any headphone w/TRS input jack & any amp w/TRS output jacks.
 
And that gets to something this topic has me thinking about. If the Atticus responds well (in some unspecified way) to amps having higher output impedance than SS amps (ie, OTL tube amps)--then I'm curious to know whether an otherwise excellent/reputable SS amp could be outfitted w/one of these imedance adapters -- and then have a fair contest vs a tube amp for powering the Atticus. In other words, if impedance matching is the "secret sauce" to getting good sound of the Atticus (rather than something inherently superior/different about tube vs SS amps), this setup would specifically test that hypothesis.

 
Great resource. I'm totally going to use this!

 

[Hansotek]

I was looking up info on the Garage1217 project polaris since i know it has a lot of options for a solid state amp. They use the terminology "output resistance" but i guess they mean the same thing.

You can adjust the output resistance to 3 different settings: 0.1ohm, 35ohm or 120ohm. If this is the same that people are discussing here, maybe this amp could do well with the atticus? It's not a bright amp, i actually bought it to use mostly with grados.

 
Very interesting! 

 

[nScott89]

I actually have 3 different impedance adapters. One 75ohm, a 120 ohm, and a 240ohm. I've found that they can definitely help match cans to a amplifier.

 

[Monsterzero]

  I actually have 3 different impedance adapters. One 75ohm, a 120 ohm, and a 240ohm. I've found that they can definitely help match cans to a amplifier.

Care to share links?

 

[nScott89]

  Care to share links?

I got them on eBay. These should be about the same thing. I don't remember exactly who sold me mine. 

 

[luvmusik]

Just 2 curious questions here, -
 
Can using any impedance-adapter from 50 to 300 ohm cause any damage to a dedicated headphone amp, loudspeaker-amp using front headphone jack or the actual headphones ?
 
Do these impedance-adapters only effectively sometimes help dynamic headphones rather than any effect on planar-magnetic headphones ?

 

[ProfFalkin]

Just 2 curious questions here, -

Can using any impedance-adapter from 50 to 300 ohm cause any damage to a dedicated headphone amp, loudspeaker-amp using front headphone jack or the actual headphones ?

Do these impedance-adapters only effectively sometimes help dynamic headphones rather than any effect on planar-magnetic headphones ?

There should be no damage from this that I am aware of.

It should not matter for planar drivers.