Do we really need a headamp?

[mychew]

Sorry to disturb u all. I wish to ask that what is the criteria for us to use a headamp to drive our cans?

for me,i'm currently using a Senn HD 202. below are the spec of it:

Transducer: principal dynamic, Closed-Aire
Ear coupling: semi-circumaural, leatherette
Frequency response: 18 – 18,000 Hz
Sound pressure level (1 kHz, 1 Vrms): 115 dB
THD: < 0.5 %
Nominal impedance: 32 Ohms
Connector: 3.5 mm mini-stereo with 1/4” adapter
Cable: 3 m OFC copper cable

for my case,i'm using it with my notebook computer with a normal soundcard,if i'm not wrong,the driver of my sound card is ALi Audio Accelerator WDM Driver. My friend recommend me not to use a headamp. He said unless i buy those high-end cans then i can try, but dun try headamp.just a high-end end will do. He said those amp we use with speakers is better than headamp and would be more well worth for money. For a newbie like me, i really duno i should listen to him or not?

Therefore,i decided to ask u all whether anyone of u can offer advice and help to me. I would highly appreciate any incoming comments and suggestions or even critics. As for me, there's still a long way to go, as i just step into this whole new cans community

BUt i can deny that i did enjoy my stay here and have a strong desired to learn more about headphone since i bought my HD 202, i think i should call it entry level cans,shouln't I?but for now, i can tell u that i am enjoying pretty much with my cans, although i dun really satisfied with the treble. Coz i dun think it handle treble pretty well. When i read the old review in this forum, i must be frank that i did agree with what the reviewer said, HD 202 did not handle treble well up to a satisfied level. Although i'm not a pure classical music lover...but i hate it when i listen to some of the classical pieces and modern music. This always make me feel that i make a wrong investment. But nothing to blame for, as i'm still a newbie of headphone.

as for bass,it's ok for me,but sometime the bass is a bit over for me when i'm listening to some heavy bass music, please correct me if i'm wrong. For midbass,i dun really know what is it.sorry

overall,it's still ok to me at least it fits my budget. As i said,i have no experience in cans before, therefore i always ask a lot of stupid questions here. please pardon me if i waste your precious time by reading this. I really hope that for those who are willing to help me, can spend sometime reading through and help to clear my doubts. Thank you.

oh yeah, before i forget, i got test on my fren's CD player before, but it sounds that it can drive my cans well, duno whether i'm inexperience in doing the work or wat, i feel that my cans still cant show me the true power of itself, although it's not comparable to other higher-end cans u all are using now. But i can feel it that i need to test out more.

Ok. I think that's all i wish to know. Thank you for spending time to read through my questions until here

THANKS~~!!!

p/s: one last thing,can tell me whether the driver of HD 202 is the same with senn HD 477?i'm curious about this

 

[Guyferd]

mychew,
skip the headamp altogether if you are only using a notebook.
I am using koss ksc-35 for my notebook. In my opinion, anything more expensive than it will only expose the weakness of your source(soundcard in this case)

Unless you want to get a cd player in the future, I don't see why you need the amp for. Garbage in , garbage out. The amp will only amplify the garbage, so you wouldn't want that rite

FYI, I used to hook up creek obh-11 and the SE to my dt770 , out of my toshiba laptop soundcard jack. It sounds alright but their performance is hindered by that bottlneck(soundcard)

Btw, are you a singaporean? if so, please visit our local forum http://www.sgheadphones.com

 

[pbirkett]

FWIW, I started a thread in the amp forum. When I had my Beyer DT931's, I wanted an amp, and it was said the Corda HA-1 was a great synergy. So I got one. Then I decided I didnt like the 931's all that much. So I got the 770 Pro's. These sounded pretty good out of the HA-1.

So then, I decided to try them from the headphone jack of my Rotel RA-01 amplifier. Well, lets just say, at best, I cant tell the difference, and at worst, I'd say the Rotel was slightly better than the Corda. I spent £200 on this amp to find that out, but needs must, after all I only really believe my own ears, and my own ears are telling me that my integrated amp sounds better. However, the Rotel was just £250, seems to sound better on headphones, sounds as good as some much more expensive amps driving speakers, looks good, and is built as solidly as a tank.

So perhaps I reckon that maybe a headphone amp could sound better, but I'm thinking it would take something of the Corda HA-2 or above to start getting worthwhile improvements.

My source is pretty good too IMO, the Cambridge DAC3 sounds as good as many of the best budget and midrange CD players around to my ears.

So, with headphone amps, use a little caution, and if you can, I'd seriously recommend an audition.

 

[Guyferd]

corda ha-1 is a neutral amp and it doesn't exaggerate much warmth, treble etc. Plus it's extended in both the lows and highs and possesses speed. Personally I can't seem to find any good in the corda ha-1 too way back early this year when I auditioned them vs the obh-11 SE. However, recently I found out that the corda reveals things better and doesn't mask details like obh-11se. Not to mention it has 2 jacks and crossfeed.I sold the obh-11se immediately.

Ah well... different sound for different folks I guess

 

[braillediver]

Guyferd is on the money considering your source.

An option might be building a Cmoy or something similar. They are inexpensive $20-$40, fun to build and it’ll give you an idea of what amps do and are capable of. Some of the mint tin amps are really sharp looking.


Mitch

 

[pbirkett]

Quote:

Originally posted by Guyferd corda ha-1 is a neutral amp and it doesn't exaggerate much warmth, treble etc. Plus it's extended in both the lows and highs and possesses speed. Personally I can't seem to find any good in the corda ha-1 too way back early this year when I auditioned them vs the obh-11 SE. However, recently I found out that the corda reveals things better and doesn't mask details like obh-11se. Not to mention it has 2 jacks and crossfeed.I sold the obh-11se immediately. Ah well... different sound for different folks I guess

Dont get me wrong, I am not saying that the Corda is a bad amp, far from it, although, if it really does sound much better than the likes of the Creek and similar amps, I am very glad I didnt buy one of those. I havent compared it to other headphone amps, as I dont have any at my disposal, but suffice to say, with these headphones (DT770 Pro) the Rotel does seem to sound better. The more I listen, the more it seems noticable too. It seems more extended, less grainy, and exhibits superior drive. In particular, the midrange is quite forward on the Rotel - I like that! The difference was subtle at first, but the more i listen, the more i realise whats what.

Strange how I seemed happy with the 931's but when I got the Corda, they ended up being sold...

If this is the case, then I'd suggest it worth spending extra on an HA-2 for an amp to make a noticable difference over something like my integrated.

This is all IMO of course.

 

[mychew]

as i'm still a newbie and beginner of head-fi, don't really get what u all talking about

but i think i did need to learn a lot in judging the sound quality and those related terms like midbass,highs and so on. too bad i cant find much about these from the internet, nor in this forum. Who can teach me more.i really don't know. sort of lost myself in the head-fi world.

but i did appreciate those who reply to my thread, although it might sound like a stupid question, but for me.i don't mind being scold or ignore, because i think as a newbie,it's always good to ask stupid questions and being scold by those audiophile and maybe the god of audiophile as well??

 

[usc goose]

you got thread jacked a little bit (discussuion went off topic). here's a teeny tiny guide on how to decode our speaking

 

[mychew]

oops...sorry.i think i'm confused with the two thread i started already...reply in wrong threads

now i think it's still not the time for me to purchase a headamp

anyway my reply was wrongly put under the thread "What's the diffence between L-shape jack and straight jack".

if can, please feel free to give me some feedback

but anyway..is it any criteria for purchasing a headamp?nobody answer my questions more in depth yet

 

[usc goose]

if your headphones have more than 100 ohms impedance than it's probably a good idea.

if you have a problem with audiophilia and compulsively acquiring new equipment it's going to happen that the above condition will be met anyways.

if you like having random gadgets for people to go, "what in the hell is that thing", then it's also something nice to have around.

hmmm.... yeah, it's personal preference. if you're happy, you're happy. if you want better sound than get an amp, get some new cans, get a source upgrade. no one can tell you to be happy with what you got but you. there's always going to be a better setup out there.

 

[mychew]

actually my friend is willing to get me a cheap amp from his uncle..because his uncle know how to make one. But he strongly dissuade me from getting one. He said it's really useless for a headphone. As what i have mentioned above, he said better get a normal amp with the headphone out. Not only it can drive your headphone, also the speakers,as normal. He said, my headphone with 32 Ohm impedance is not suitable for laptop and portable listening. For these purposes, he recommned me to get the $5 really cheap headphone in the market. oh man, i hate it, they may sounds ok, but i hate that. it hurts my ear when i heard those low quality sound reproduction

might as well stick back to my HD 202 for now, at least better than all the other model my friends have now. Not many of them are really willing to pay that much to get a pair of cans for themselves, somemore what i'm talking now is a headamp. they never thought of this before. They always told me, don't waste money on headphone and headamp, but who cares?because i'm the one who is going to enjoy it and pay for what i need to get for myself,right?

 

[usc goose]

your uncle thinks 32 ohms is high? oh lord, he'd have a heart attack if you knew what some of us had to power through. do what you like man. i still listen to semi-crappy headphones once in a while, enjoy them thoroughly. so yeah, if you're happy with what you got, more power to you. quit before it really gets bad you know?

 

[mychew]

tell u one thing, my fren got a panasonic can, but i don't really remember the model now..if i'm not wrong the can has an impedance of 35 Ohm, he complained that he can hear the hissing sound in the background...i think maybe the device he use is not able to drive it well?coz he's using a CD player to drive his can. now he din't even wish to listen to any piece of sound recording with his cans. he rather dump it on the table and let it become dusty and rot.he better give it to me, let me experience the difference or maybe sold to me at half price

what a waste man....

but maybe he should get an amp for it?but i still think 35 ohm not really neccessary to get an amp to drive it.hm....puzzled

 

[usc goose]

probably a source issue. kind of hard to tell without more specific information.

 

[mychew]

i also think so...i think we can forget about getting details from him. he only know how to say someting like..."crap headphones","i don't know, it's just a lousy headphone". i heard from him that the cans sucks and cant satisfied him. i ask him to describe a little bit more..he can't...i tell him to test out on more sources or maybe go for a headamp....he said..huh?what is headamp?he said heck care...don't bother about it.. just want to throw it away. i said..maybe your house has a normal amp,u can give it a try and see has any improvement or not. i told him i experience the sdame problem with him which i eventually "solved" it..because i did not hear it after some time, and i also set the operating mode of my source to a bit lower than "Best performance", coz it really sucks when i turn all things to highest performance settings. When i readjust all those things,it seems fine to me, and i did sounds better ad smooth to me now...but the sound produced are a bit too soft for this HD 202...cant really make me enjoy those heavy bass music...an amp may not help much too..as with the 32 ohm impedance...it's not really well worth for the money, after thinking twice