Been thinking about low impedance headphones

[RadiKalDreamerX]

I have relatively weak amplification powering my Sennheiser HD-600s and was wondering if lower impedance headphones would sound a lot better. The two I was looking at were the AKG k701, and the Sennheiser HD-595. The AKG seems to have gotten more praise, but the circular cups on the AKG scare me. Is this more comfortable, the cushions don't rest on your ear do they?

 

[bemmis]

no, the k701 pads will not rest on your ear. as for the circular shape i think it is personal preferance between that and oval pads. it will depend on your head shape but i think they are just as comfortable as oval ones hands down.

 

[Fungi]

You should sell your RA-1 and get another amp first. Or get the HD595, but please keep your HD600 to try it with a more powerful amp before getting rid of it.
The K701 is as picky, or pickier, than the HD600 about amplification.

 

[RadiKalDreamerX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fungi /img/forum/go_quote.gif You should sell your RA-1 and get another amp first. Or get the HD595, but please keep your HD600 to try it with a more powerful amp before getting rid of it. The K701 is as picky, or pickier, than the HD600 about amplification.

But would the k701 or HD 595 sound better than the HD600 + Dowin cable with an amplifier in the $200-$450 range? I don't think anyone would want to buy my RA-1, since I have had to resolder the leads that connect the batteries many times.

 

[TMM]

I think you're better off spending your budget on an amp that will drive your HD600 properly.

 

[jgonino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RadiKalDreamerX /img/forum/go_quote.gif But would the k701 or HD 595 sound better than the HD600 + Dowin cable with an amplifier in the $200-$450 range?...

I dont think so. The hd600/650 scale really well with amplification. Spend the money on a new amp, maybe a PPAv2 built by someone hear on head-fi or a good tube amp.

 

[jellojoe]

You could just get a Grado to pair with the RA-1 you have.

 

[RadiKalDreamerX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jellojoe /img/forum/go_quote.gif You could just get a Grado to pair with the RA-1 you have.

I plan on and removing the RA-1 from my setup. To everyone who recommends/ has recommended the HD-595, please state weather it is the 50 or 120 ohm version. I have asked the mods to put options for the 50 or 120 ohm versions of the HD-595 in the poll.

 

[Fungi]

I had no idea there were two versions of the HD595. Where are you getting this?

 

[jgonino]

The rarer versions of the 555 and 595 were available in 50 and 120 ohms. I believe the red version of the 595 was 120 ohm as well.

 

[RadiKalDreamerX]

On their website Sennheiser lists both phones as being 50 ohm in the specs list, and 120 ohm in the pdf, with no mention of a special version. Definitely something fishy there. If the 120 ohm version of the phones has been discontinued and is rare than their is no need to add it to the poll.

 

[RubyRedHead]

More phones is a waste of money, spend it on an amplifier.

 

[virusvoodoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgonino /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont think so. The hd600/650 scale really well with amplification. Spend the money on a new amp, maybe a PPAv2 built by someone hear on head-fi or a good tube amp.

I don't want to offend anyone but those inexpensive portable amps won't do any of those pairs any justice. They might have enough volume but won't explore their full potentials.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Don't buy anything until you get your head around the concept of impedance.

Impedance is a measure of electrical resistance. It does ***NOT*** tell you how loud the amp will drive the headphones.

Yes, there is a relationship, but it's more like trying to figure out what your car's mileage will be knowing only the horsepower. Those two are related, but how much does the car weigh? How is it geared? Do you drive on highways or in cities? And so on.

The measure of how loud the headphones get is found in the sensitivity. You will see this measured in decibels, or dB given a certain amount of power, measured in Watts (W) or milliwatts (mW).

Impedance tells you how efficiently the amplifier transfers power to the driver. The amp has an output impedance and the headphones have impedance. The closer the two are, the more efficient the transfer of power.

But that's not all there is to it.

If you had an amp putting out 10mW at 32 ohms, and 32 Ohm headphones that need 150mW to generate 100dB, that's not going to work well. The impedance would be perfectly matched, but 10mW would not be enough to drive them. Now, if you had an amp putting out 1W into 8 Ohms, that would work much better than the 10mW amp with the perfect impedance match.

There's more to it, but I hope you're beginning to see why lower impedance headphones will not necessarily increase performance.

And I'd stick with the HD-600. I don't much like the HD-595 or the K-701. Some people do, but I think the 580/600/650 series is much better.

I'd unload the RA-1 (those are designed for Grados, by the way) and pick up something like the Gilmore Lite. That has good synergy and is far better matched to Sennheisers. Also look into selling the soundcard and picking up a DAC or a CDP. Or maybe a turntable.

 

[rockbottom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by virusvoodoo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't want to offend anyone but those inexpensive portable amps won't do any of those pairs any justice. They might have enough volume but won't explore their full potentials.

I don't think the PPAv2 is a portable amp, you might be mistaking it for the PA2V2.

Anyhow, back on topic: yes, your sennheisers can and most likely will benefit from amps around $200~$450. The ASL MG Head on OTL mode drives them very well and is very smooth sounding. Also, a lot of the amps in tbonner's review are available at very reasonable prices, like the doge and the bada (long live Chinese tube amps!)

Also, Uncle Erik's description of impedance is right, it's not a direct measure of how much power is required to drive them. Impedance mismatches cause a lot of the power outputed from your amp to go to waste, just something to keep in mind.