skhan007
1000+ Head-Fier
I ask this question because I have recently acquired my first DAC/headphone amp combo and I'm using it with 300 Ohm headphones. To my ears, the unit (RME ADI-2) drives the headphones (ZMF Auteur) just fine. Perhaps the word "drive" needs to be defined and if I'm using it wrong, please correct me. I'm hearing full bass, crisp highs, my volume/output is nowhere near the maximum of what the unit puts out. I did an A/B between the RME unit and two different tube amps at the hifi shop and could hear little difference between them, in terms of how my headphones were driven.
I posted my experience in a thread and someone told me I was wrong and that I have no experience. Furthermore, I shouldn't post "absolute statements" such as my unit drives my headphones. I was told that an external headphone amp was necessary.
This made me curious. Is there math that says X impedance headphones require Y watts of power to be properly driven?
I can't imagine why RME would make a DAC/headphone amp (with a dedicated extreme power mode, specifically designed for high impedance headphones) if it was not capable of the task. Please share your thoughts, as I'm genuinely perplexed.
I posted my experience in a thread and someone told me I was wrong and that I have no experience. Furthermore, I shouldn't post "absolute statements" such as my unit drives my headphones. I was told that an external headphone amp was necessary.
This made me curious. Is there math that says X impedance headphones require Y watts of power to be properly driven?
I can't imagine why RME would make a DAC/headphone amp (with a dedicated extreme power mode, specifically designed for high impedance headphones) if it was not capable of the task. Please share your thoughts, as I'm genuinely perplexed.