[VictoriaGuy]

Wandering around the web, I stumbled on this site:
http://audiotools.com/headphones.html
 
At the top of the page appears this statement:
"Caveat : Do not use standard hi-fi headphones with the line output of a device such as a soundcard, while this works the high resistance of the headphone will over time dim and eventually kill the output."
 
This doesn't make much (electronic/electrical) sense to me.
 
Your reaction?
 
Thanks!
John

 

[jasonb]

doesn't sound right to me either.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Sounds like someone is just making things up.
 
But that's par for the course in audio.

 

[SoSpecial]

Outrageous baseless claims while discussing audio? Non-sense, never happens ever.

 

[KneelJung]

Not sure, doesnt make much sense.
 
 But good headphones could potentially damage your hearing

 

[HiFlight]

Pure, unadulterated BS!!!

 

[kboe]

Is there not a difference between the "line out" and the "headphone out"?

 

[xXFallenAngelXx]

Doesn't make sense to me either..Im guessing it's just nonsense

 

[OrionPax]

That must be an awfully made sound card

 

[darkswordsman17]

Quote:

Is there not a difference between the "line out" and the "headphone out"?

I think that might be why they made that statement. I believe there's a pretty major difference between the lineout of a PC sound card and one out of other equipment. I would guess they don't understand that on most sound cards the lineout is the headphone jack.
 
As others said, not too surprising, its par for the course with audio, especially when it has anything at all to do with a computer.

 

[VictoriaGuy]

Quote:

Outrageous baseless claims while discussing audio? Non-sense, never happens ever.

I understand that using a headphone cord/cable made with unobtanium and wrapped in pure cotton, and keeping the cord elevated from the floor on mini-tripods will prevent this potential damage to my soundcard......

 

[winma]

I'm sure the headphones would blow before the sound card would....

 

[soundaddicted]

Quote:

I'm sure the headphones would blow before the sound card would....

Lol...thats a good point.
 
Ridiculous just to think that a soundcard could damage your headphones. 

 

[VictoriaGuy]

Understanding resistance (I know it's impedance here, but the author of the web page in question didn't seem to understand the difference...) is tricky for a lot of people. I used to teach high-school science and 99% of my students' 'intuitive' concept of resistance was incorrect.
 
Demo: Two pieces of nichrome 'resistance wire' - one long, one short. Connect each in turn to DC power supply. One (the shorter one) gets red-hot, the other doesn't.
Question:" Which wire has more resistance?' Almost universal answer:' The shorter one!'
Question: 'Why do you think the shorter one has more resistance?' 'Because it was so hard for the electricity to get through the wire that it heated it red-hot'....
 
So the guy (gal?) at the headphone site may have a similar mis-conception: High 'resistance' headphones make the sound card 'work harder' , and in time, the sound card 'gets tired' and 'wears out'.
 
And I thought that everything I read on the web was true!!
 

 
John
 
 

 

[jasonb]

i know for speakers and amps to low of and impedance can damage the amp if it is allowed to get to hot. but i've never heard of to high of an impedance hurting anything.