[ooheadsoo]

What does more voltage do in an amp? Besides provide more wattage

How does it affect the sound? Right now, my JMT built meta42 can handle 25 volts, but my ac/dc adapter can only handle either 13.5 and 30 volts. I'm considering asking if JMT would modify it to be able to take a good 30 or so volts, but I don't want to bother him for no good reason.

So, in a nutshell, what kind of sonic benefits does one derive from higher voltage?

 

[morsel]

More voltage allows higher output levels without distortion. The higher the impedance of your headphones, the more voltage you need. My DT990s are 600 Ohms so my META42 needs about 24V to drive them at rock concert levels without distortion.

If your META42 uses an AD8620 you can't use more than 24V or you will blow your opamp. Get a proper 24V supply.

 

[andrzejpw]

The amount of voltage that you need is dependent on you needs(uhh). Say, an AD8620/10 opamp will be happiest with over 12 volts(not to say it won't work with 9 volts) The 823, however, will make due with 9 volts.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Well. That takes care of that problem. I have the AD8620, so I guess it's time to hunt for a 24V supply.

Any suggestions on where to get an inexpensive one? (Read: under $40, I hope

)

 

[ServinginEcuador]

In some cases it will also give you more choices of op amps to use. My CDP would not run with the Burr Brown 627s in place since they like to have at least 10-12 volts or so running to them, and my CDP didn't do that so it distorted and sounded horrible. As soon as I took them out and replaced them with something else the problem went away and the enjoyable sounds came back.

 

[KurtW]

Be careful about using a 24v walwart, as it may put out well over 30v and toast your op amp. Your 13.5v supply, if it is unregulated, probably puts out much more than this. I doubt if using a higher supply voltage of the same quality is going to improve the sound unless you now hear clipping at high volumes.

 

[ooheadsoo]

The radio shack supply I'm using is supposedly regulated, so I hope I'm ok on that front. I don't have any equipment on hand to test it...I don't think I listen to music loud enough for it to clip, so I guess getting a new ps is not a very high priority on my list right now.

In fact, I'm not sure what my next step should be. In another thread, I had mentioned that I was getting distortion when the performer being recorded played really loudly (some ppl had misinterpreted this as me bumping my music too loudly,) but after listening to the cds on a few different cd players, I'm now 100% sure that the distortion is from the cd itself, not my computer.

As a side note, I'm getting a lot of bass from the hd580s in classical music. It's almost unnatural...I'll have to listen to the cds on a better system than my own to determine that that's just how it's supposed to sound. I know that no real performance of an orchestra I've been to has monster bass like that

I wonder how much a better sound card would affect the sound.