Driving Beyers 600 Ohm headphones...use 0 ohm or 120 ohm output on Amplifier?

[oak3x]

For those who own high impedance Headphones such as the 600 Ohm Beyerdynamics , I am curious which headphone output is preferred to drive them...0 Ohm or 120 Ohm?

My Meier Corda HA-2 MKII SE has two headphone outputs:

0 Ohm
120 Ohm

Thanks!

 

[oak3x]

anyone opinions?

Thanks

 

[orkney]

Hi,

I'd go with whichever one you prefer. On my Opera, I tend to use my DT-880 600s with the 0 ohm output but now and again, when I crave a touch more midband warmth or a slight bass boost, I move to the 120 ohm output. They do sound different and I'm glad I have both but the low z output offers enough of an advantage in speed, control and immediacy that I suspect it's the one to be preferred. Ultimately it's your call though -- listen to both and pick a winner. And you can change your mind whenever you want!

best,

o

 

[silverrain]

I've always wondered just exactly WHICH cans the 120 ohm jack was actually designed for?

 

[jcn3]

sounds like an option for "low" impedance phones or "high" impedance phones.

i would think the 120 ohm would sound better if my assumption is correct.

 

[BushGuy]

For the 600 ohm Beyers you will definitely want to use the 0 ohm output.

The 120 ohm output comes in handy with bright-sounding 'phones, or recordings where treble is grating or annoying with whatever your 'phones may be - the higher ohm output will dull those highs......somewhat.

Tom Hanks once said " there's no crying in Baseball" (A League of Their Own)
Bushguy says there is no harsh in Beyer dt880/600 or dt990/600

 

[Logman]

From a pure engineering standpoint, wouldn't you want to match the impedence of the amp and headphone as closely as possible? Doesn't an impedence mismatch force the amp put out a lot more power to drive the headphones to a given volume level? I thought that the greater the mismatch, they greater the loss.

 

[jellojoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logman /img/forum/go_quote.gif From a pure engineering standpoint, wouldn't you want to match the impedence of the amp and headphone as closely as possible? Doesn't an impedence mismatch force the amp put out a lot more power to drive the headphones to a given volume level? I thought that the greater the mismatch, they greater the loss.

Yes, but maximizing power to the headphone does not maximize the voltage across the headphone. Apparently, voltage is what's important to control the driver. In the end, pick the one that sounds the best!