[brschmid]

for normal headphones, with say 32 ohms resitance. what kind out output is that?

 

[Dweebgal]

i make it about 43mW @ 32Ohms

 

[brschmid]

that seems a little too high considering the source.
It was a thumb drive mp3 player. Glad i didn't purchase it.

thanks

 

[davei]

I presume you want volume; in this case it also depends on the dB/mW rating of the phones. But if 40mW isn't enough to make your ears bleed... jeez!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

he said the problem is 'too high', not 'too low'.

Actually you can't make direct calculations for the power output at one impedance given the output for another impedance. You know that they have an inverse relationship but if you calculate directly from a formula P=V^2/Z or something similar (which I presume is what Dweebgal did) you'd overestimate for lower impedances (like in this case) and underestimate for higher impedances (e.g. power at 600ohm?) The actual power/impedance curve depends on the design of the amp.

 

[Duxxy]

Wow... that's alot! What's the battery life on that thing like 10 minutes??

 

[brschmid]

i don't know, but i didn't buy it. The quality just didn't seem that good.

 

[nilanjan]

Joe Bloggs is right. Most amps are current limited when driving low impedance speaker loads. Only some very exotic ones can double their power as the impedance drops to half. This is why you read specs like "100 W/ch at 8 ohms, 160 W/ch at 4 ohms". This is also why most amps are accompanied by warnings about speakers with very low impedance.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Just a note: there's usually no need to worry about 'too much' power. Even if the power an amp can deliver at a given impedance is beyond the phones' power handling capacity, doesn't mean the phone would blow up the moment you connect it to the amp

Just don't turn the volume too high.