You're right, earwax. If it is that rolled of in the highs it will show up easily on frequency response testing. If it's that pronounced, it'll show up as maybe at least two or three decibels low and likely starting somewhere well below 10 khz. Rocket science it ain't. All this other idle chatter means very, very little.
You're right too that impedence mismatches can affect the sound, but these effects tend to be very minor and usually are within the "just noticeable" range, as they call it in the audio industry -- in other words, hardly worth fretting over.
EXCEPT THAT Wodgy makes a truly excellent point too about the possible ground problem. It could possibly be something the Ray Samuels amp is doing RIGHT or a chance immunity to certain ground problems. I recently returned a headphone amp because of ground-reletad hiss and hum and emphasis of high frequencies. Learning about ground and ground loop noise is part of working your way up the audio learning curve (I don't know too much about it myself, but I have a very helpful audio industry professional I ask when I run into problems). My Corda HA-1 seems to have a very nice ground scheme, such that it does not pick up ground loop hum and other ground noise that some other amplifying equipment I have had (and returned) does pick up. Interestingly enough, my Behringer UB802 mixer ($60), which I am totally in love with as a headphone amp, also seems to have excellent ground noise immunity.
As for the idea of a warmly voiced amp, that would show up as a gross frequency response aberration in the frequency response graphs, IMHO, and as I understand it, it's extremley difficult to "voice" and amp to empahasize middle frequencies (as opposed to roll off or emphasize high or low frequencies) so I respectfully disagree with Wodgy there, that is to say, I find the idea of a warmly voiced amp unlikely. And let me qualify that by saying I have no doubt Wodgy is more knowledgeable than I am about many things audio. I suppose if the amp has a VERY high output impedence and the phones have a VERY uneven impedence curve with a high impedence in the mid-bass region this could account for a noticeably "warm" voicing, but I think it's all extremely unlikely. But in the end I suppose I chalk it up to my relatively strong objectivist tilt; "warm" amps are not really consistent with my audio belief system. I suppose nearly anything is possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earwax
You may not believe this, but I actually did think this would be something that could be objectively put to bed. A few frequency response graphs under various loads would satisfy me.
[oh dear, look at the time. Good Night folks]
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