dlayman
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2015
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I am curious:
With phones coming out now with good amp/DAC combos, what is the highest impedance headphones that could be run on any of them (G5, v10, axon 7, etc) without needing an external amp? Has anyone tested this in detail?
With high impedance headphones, its a matter of how much voltage the device is capable of pumping through its headphone jack. A source can be very high quality but still not have a powerful output. Or vice versa, or any combination thereof. My lowly ZTE ZMax 2 drives my Senn 600's very well and quite loudly, but it doesn't do as well with sensitive low impedance IEM's. I expect that while it has a powerful output, its output impedance is on the highish side, causing frequency variations in low impedance IEM's like the FLC8S. I don't think you can make any general statement about the capabilities of "audiophile" phones with high impedance headphones, too many variables. The output voltage of smartphones varies tremendously among different models. You need to know the specs (output voltage and impedance) of the individual models to know what it will drive well.