[depleted]

may need some work but great!!

 

[jseaber]

  Whenever I want a new pair of headphones, I often find myself wondering, "Do I need an amp?" (The answer is inevitably "yes"). Then for the next week or so, I spend my waking hours doing research, reading reviews, and obsessing over specs.
 
There's got to be a more efficient way, right?
 
Well, after many hours of reading blogs like InnerFidelity and NwAvGuy, and poring through countless Head-Fi threads, I collected all the info I could find about the interplay between amps and headphones, and built it into an online tool. The tool basically does all the calculations for you -- things like damping factor, SPLs, conversion between sensitivity and efficiency, whether the amp has enough power to drive the headphones, and other factors that may influence the amp you choose. I call it AUDIOBOT 9000.
 
 
I started building it last week, and I finally have a usable version today. I hope you find it useful - www.audiobot9000.com
 
BTW, suggestions are more than welcome.

 
Great work! We've pondered doing something like this, since so many people ask, "Will ____ headphones work with ____ amp?" Our intern compiled a list of 500+ headphones in early 2013, complete with uniform sensitivity ratings (all in dB/mW). PM if you'd like a copy.
 
Suggestions:
 

1. The "Match" rating needs a tooltip explanation. I'm not sure what this calculation is intended to convey.
2. Calculate and display minimum amplifier power required to reach target SPL output for each headphone. We usually provide customers with minimum output power for 110-120dB in 2.5dB in increments.
3. Provide reference tooltips to explain SPL, headphone impedance, amplifier output impedance, sensitivity, damping factor. Most people seeing a tool like this need the information because they lack an understanding. Give users as much concise knowledge as possible.

 

[Solrighal]

I don't think he intended to quit his job just to please us with that page

Aye, this is great work already.

 

[superjawes]

First off, this is a great idea. Second, here are some suggestions:

1. Mjolnir is a special-case amp, as it cannot run single-ended headphones, and that's the kind of important thing that should be noted on it, since you'll need both a balanced set of cans and a balanced cable to actually use it. Generally, though, I think that each entry could use something like that in the notes, like pointing out which amps have tubes, what kind of outputs are provided, etc.

2. As others have noted, I don't think that you should solely base synergy on impedances and SPL. Higher impedance headphones might actually pair well with higher impedance amps, but your calculations give a big bias towards low impedance amps. There's also a discussion in Sound Science about whether or not dampening factor is relevant for orthodynamic/planar magnetic headphones. It might still be a good rule of thumb for efficiency, but I think the biggest goal is overall power delivery to planars, as they tend to be less efficient.

Perhaps you should add some sort of karma system for each pairing. Note that it is user generated, then allow people to thumb up particular combinations. This should help to capture some combinations that users enjoy (like how HD600, HD650, and HD800 owners seem to like tube amps).

3. This might be more important as the database grows, but having other sort and filtering functions could sidestep concerns from #2. It could be an easy way of eliminating combinations where dampening factor is <10, for example.

4. Prices. This will be very difficult with dynamic prices and discontinued models, but I think it would be extremely useful to see how much each component costs. Even if the metrics say that a combination is good, I don't think that anyone wants to spend more on the amp than on the headphones, so adding the price would let people know if an amp is in a sensible price range for the paired 'phones.

Good luck, and thanks for starting this!

 

[Disciple]

Another question, what should the % be used for?  As someone who is not an experienced audiophile, can I assume that the highest % match is the best amp for the headphones?
 
For example, one of the highest matches for Beyerdynamic T1 was the Nuforce ICON-DAC (at 87%).  Is it accurate to assume those are great pairings based on that %?

 

[cel4145]

Also, how does Autobot rank E17 as a similar match to the Lyr 2 for the DT770 250 ohm. Clearly the Lyr 2 is a better match, and E17 isn't even rated by FiiO for 250 ohm headphones.

 

[haslaughz]

  Did you enter all this data manually?

 
Site bookmarked. Good job!

 
It was a combination of manual data entry and some site scrapping. Unfortunately, I found that most specs (especially for amplifiers) were incomplete, missing units, or just plain missing. I did my best to make the units consistent and verified the measurements from different sources. But I probably fumbled some of the numbers during the process, which is why I added a "corrections" link in case you see a mistake.

 

[haslaughz]

This is a great idea. I agree with the aforementioned comments about headphones that may need amps. In my experience most audiophile/reference quality headphones perform best with an amp. The only possible exception would be some of the Audio Technicas and Grados methinks.

Keep up the good work!

Perhaps I should remove that paragraph section altogether and let the user make that decision based on the specs?

 

[superjawes]

Note: I can't open the site. Is it down? Or is my network to blame?

Do we have some agreed upon levels for impedance and sensitivity? Normally we deal with both when looking at amps, but you might be able to auto-fill imformation about each. "High" sensitivity will tell users that these headphones are made to be run by almost anything, "medium" sensitivity 'phones will get a noticeable bump from an amp (more power), and "low" sensitivity phones will almost always require an amp for quality listening.

Impedance will be similar, although low impedance headphones are generally very sensitive, too, at least if we're thinking about ear buds and IEMs. The important note will be for "high" impedance headphones, which require an amp to get proper voltage levels. This could also be the place how you note that higher impedance headphones can make better use of higher output impedance amps.

Regardless, keep the auto-calculated stuff on headphone-to-amp pairings. Being able to see the dampening factor of the combination is excellent.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

  Whenever I want a new pair of headphones, I often find myself wondering, "Do I need an amp?" (The answer is inevitably "yes"). Then for the next week or so, I spend my waking hours doing research, reading reviews, and obsessing over specs.
 
There's got to be a more efficient way, right?
 
Well, after many hours of reading blogs like InnerFidelity and NwAvGuy, and poring through countless Head-Fi threads, I collected all the info I could find about the interplay between amps and headphones, and built it into an online tool. The tool basically does all the calculations for you -- things like damping factor, SPLs, conversion between sensitivity and efficiency, whether the amp has enough power to drive the headphones, and other factors that may influence the amp you choose. I call it AUDIOBOT 9000.
 
 
I started building it last week, and I finally have a usable version today. I hope you find it useful - www.audiobot9000.com
 
BTW, suggestions are more than welcome.

WONDERFUL! A lot of research, as well as web page programming, came to fruition here.  Thank you!
 
Could you describe a bit how you went about this, e.g., what criteria did you use when you recommend an amp for a headphone, and how you determined effect of damping for a particular headphone/amp pair, etc.? 
 
Any chance you could include the Sennheiser HDVD800 amp (actually, DAC/amp... the HDVD600 is the amp only).
 
Thanks again!

 

[Music Alchemist]

Since you seem to be taking requests, might as well add the Woo Audio WA5 and WA234 MONO!

 

[jodgey4]

Damping = headphone impedance divided by amp output impedance. Most recommend that number to be 8 or higher.
 
Fantastic info with the amps... I wouldn't mind spending some time helping you gather/verify information for this site, PM if interested. Tools like these are always bookmarked by me. Take a look at this one, btw. http://www.head-fi.org/t/707281/headphone-data-sheet-table-with-power-voltage-current
 
A question for everyone... for amps with not many power specs... how would y'all feel about using the lines between points for approximations, instead of choosing the closest listed spec (like Garage1217 has on their site)? For OTL's, this could cause maybe some trouble... just a thought. It shouldn't be too terrible to implement, though it could be a 'v. 9001' goal (IT'S OVER 9000!!!!) need be.

 

[superjawes]

Well now that I can see the site again, there are suggestion forms linked at the bottom of each page. Pricing information was also added, and that includes links to Amazon and other sites!

Pretty awesome real-time updates there

 

[Music Alchemist]

Well now that I can see the site again, there are suggestion forms linked at the bottom of each page. Pricing information was also added, and that includes links to Amazon and other sites!

Pretty awesome real-time updates there

 
Sweet, so he could potentially make some affiliate commissions from this! (I think that type of thing is against the TOS in posts, but having a separate site should be fine.)

 

[Headfire]

bookmarked the site.
 
Fantastic job!