jlbrach
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2005
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The abyss is an easy load to drive with an impedance of 46 ohms, so there is no way Dave will run out of current - so you can run Dave at +4dB and the output from Dave will be linear. So assuming you are not running above +4dB, there is plenty of drive in voltage and current available.
The interactions of headphone and outputs are not simple, and for sure a lack of distortion will make it sound brighter, as low order (particularly 2nd) harmonics fatten up the sound. An additional factor is output impedance in terms of damping factor. A high damping factor better controls the drive unit, making the bass sound fast, tight and somewhat leaner. Additionally, low output impedance itself reduces distortion. The load presented by a headphone varies with cone displacement, so the impedance itself varies with amplitude. Now with an amp and cables that have zero impedance, this variation in load has no effect - no increase in distortion. But with a finite cable and amp impedance, you will increase distortion, and because it depends upon bass, this will fatten up the sound too, making the bass much bigger.
Now Dave has only 55 milli ohms of output impedance (0.055 ohms), so it has a substantial damping factor (much lower than any other amp I have seen), which will ensure the bass is tight and accurate; also it will almost eliminate distortion due to load non-linearity (assuming you have a low impedance cable too).
My view is if a headphone is too lean, then use good EQ - or even better, use headphones that innately have more bass to suit your taste. The problem with using distortion to fatten up the sound, is that everything then sounds the same - big and fat. I want my music to be fast, tight and lean when the musician wanted that sound - and big and fat when that was the intent. You can only get that when the system is truly transparent.
Rob
The abyss is 46 ohms but the LCD-4 is 200 and I must say it is tough to drive,I do wonder what Rob thinks about the LCD-4 with the Dave direct