[austonia]

I am interested in comparing some of my headhones and it is cumbersome to have to plug and unplug each phone from the source. I saw on headroom that the splitters they sell are recommended for use only with the same headphone model on each side of the splitter. Can I damage the phones in some way by using a splitter with different models, or will it just sound crappy..? I have 2 models of Beyerdynamics with similiar specs (DT770; DT990) but I would also like to compare with Grados and Sony D66 eggos. I will be using a lower-end amp : Porta Corda 2, best I have for now.

 

[dokebi]

It's fine.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

No, you shouldn't be able to damage the amp or cans when using a splitter. All you're doing is divided the total resistance the amp sees, therby increasing the current demand on it. In your case the Porta Corda can easily handle running two set of cans simultaneously.

Just as an experiment, try hooking up the splitter with only 1 set of cans. While listening to the same exact piece of music attach teh second pair of cans and see if te music changes. Plug and unplug the second set repeatedly to verify this all the while you're listening to the first set. If you don't notice a difference, have at it. If you do it night not do your reviews and comparisons justice as you're instoducing a degredation in quality by keeping another item in the circuit.

 

[kelly]

You won't damage anything but...

By creating an uneven load, the headphones may not quite sound themselves. With those two, I'm sure you'd have enough power to drive them but it's still not an ideal test. Further, because the two phones won't have the same impedance and sensitivity, the volume won't be matched. Better would be to swap back and forth a couple times in the jack to figure out roughly where to set the volume for each phone and physically swap the two phones to compare.

 

[austonia]

i will consider that, thank you.
I saw on audiocubes they sell a Audio-Technica AT-HA60 Headphone Amp that allows for up to 5 headphones to be connected.
http://www.audiocubes.com/product_in...roducts_id=150
This looks like something that would be really convenient to A/B with (though maybe not good for everyday use).

 

[ServinginEcuador]

IMHO, an AT headphone distribution amp will make for bad headphone comparisons. It sucks, and will not do a good job of allowing you to hear what the cans are capable of. IOW, you will only hear what a junky amp will feed to the cans, nothing more. Stick to a realy high quality A/B headphone cable splitter and a decent headamp.

 

[gerG]

The splitter won't hurt anything, but it will mislead you. It won't allow you to match levels, and that will make headphones sound very different. An in-line attenuator could be used, but it adds a suspect element to the signal path.

Anybody heard the Behringer multi-headphone amp? I was thinking of getting one for home theater use, but the A/B thing had crossed my mind as well.


gerG