[digidesigner]

Hello, I hope this sort of post is OK in this subforum...

There is a headphone amplifier in a certain wireless device that performs completely awful with sub 10 ohm IEM's. Actually it performs bad with anything below 32 ohm I would say.

I am not a technical guy myself, but I would still like to advise the manufacturer to make the product better.

I hope people reading this might understand what is wrong with the design of this HP amplifier in this device, so maybe someone of you could help me explain how to advise this manufacturer to fix this product so that it would work well with IEM-s.

The problem with the product is, that there is a large loss of bass, meaning frequency response gets all messed up especially in the low end, also noise level is high and THD is also not small, when IEM's are used. With lets say 32 ohm overhead headphones the quality is fair, therefore I assume the impedance load is somehow heavily affecting the performance of this device.

What do you think they do wrong in the design and what do they need to change in your opinion based on my description? Thanks

 

[dunring]

The output impedance of your amplifier or device has to be 1/8th of your headphones or IEM. I tried some 10ohm IEMs with a Topping DX3 Pro and they sounded really bad. It changes the sound profile for the worse. A cheap way around is a resistor adapter and they come in different ohm ratings. On AliExpress they're very inexpensive, just male to female 3.5mm adapter.
Ideally having an amp that has near zero output impedance is best. It's an important spec to check for.

 

[wirewiggler]

Yep it is a design choice by the manufacturer. Different designs have inherent limitations on output impedance. Jason at Schitt is always coming out with different headphone amps designs, there are always pros and cons . I like that he likes to experiment with different designs and not stick with tried and true, you just have go into knowing it may not be perfect for all headphones. That said I have never has issue driving any of mine, they just sound different.
Bill