Attention: necro thread. Oddly enough, the 2kOhm HD424 is rather easier to drive than the 600 ohm HD420SL. I am guessing that it's a rather high-efficiency driver - which would also explain why bass response takes a nose dive below about 200 Hz already (those familiar with loudspeakers may have...

You can switch level display in Vista/Win7 from x/100 to dB, at least in the playback device properties, Level tab. Right click in the field with the number. (That's rather well-hidden indeed.) The slider response itself is somewhere between linear and logarithmic, presumably mimicking its...

Sounds more like coincidence tbh.   The very first thing I'd do if HD25s were intermittent would be wiggling the cable connector at the earpiece affected. Of course it's not impossible that the driver itself has a problem or the contact spring is bent.   When in-ears go very weak, usually...

Digital attenuation at sufficient precision (24 bits and up) can be regarded as transparent. Thankfully so - I like ReplayGain!   That said, the total dynamic range provided by an oldfashioned analog volume control / amplifier may be 130 dB or more. Achieving that sort of performance in a DAC...

^ Sounds about right. ;)   Actually it's about entirely items 1), 3), 5) and 8) for me right now, though 2) could use some work as one of my speakers is acting up (and getting to the problematic part is quite a pain).

Are you sure about K271/272 sensitivity? Going by Tyll's results, they ought to be at 107-110-ish dB/V. Spec is 104.   Data for more / older headphones (usually spec, some measured) is available in ye olde sensitivity table in my spreadsheet department, along with a simple sound output level...

If you're using some semi-current version of Windows, you may want to give EqualizerAPO a shot first. That gives you a system-wide fully parametric EQ.

I prefer medium-bitrate MP3s on my Clip+ as they give 13-ish hours of battery runtime rather than 8/9-ish hours. Does that count?   (Admittedly this directly relates to file size, as the difference in battery drain is caused by varying flash memory activity.)   In addition, sometimes...

It might actually be. Output impedance for the X3 is very low (spec = <0.3 ohms), and the AD8397 does not like driving significant amounts of capacitance without some extra series resistance. 2.2 ohms is recommended for up to 470 pF in the datasheet, while otherwise 270 pF is the recommended...

I'm a little surprised a SB card would be misbehaving like that. Those I've seen usually had muting transistors installed. Maybe the Audigy 1 didn't yet, but e.g. a SB Live! 24-Bit does.   I did have one card once that produced a big POP upon powering up and down, an Audiotrak ProDigy 7.1...

Bumpity-bump. You guys may be interested in the level calculation spreadsheet that I put together a while back. Ye olde sensitivity calculator (dB/mW <-> dB/V <-> dB/V@given R_out) is here.

^ That first one reminded me of something... [Portico Quartet - News from Verona] ...and then there's this lovely track I stumbled across recently: [*Shels - Butterflies On Luci's Way]

Quote: "Down On The Corner" - Creedence Clearwater Revival  

That question seems mighty fuzzy to me. Maybe reword it with some more detail?

With ~256 kbit VBR AAC we should be way in diminishing returns territory. You'd probably need some funky kind of hearing damage to make out any differences at this point. I mean, even half that bitrate tends to be transparent to a large majority of people.   These days, encountering audible...