[zareliman]

Hi headfiers

I recently stated to get a little worried because specs on some headphones not always put rated power and even less frequently put max power or handling power. Even when they do this specs sometimes do not seem to make sense. a 102 dB/mW with 2000 mW of handling power is not something that I would just take word for without seeing some extra data like testing conditions, frequencies, etc... And even then, I've never seen a curve of life-expectancy / power or something like that because to me it makes sense that the same headphone running at 20 mW will last longer that the same one running at 500 mW. It is RARE to see the number of working hours a headphone driver is expected to last on your regular headphone specs. Not all drivers are made equal, there's titanium coatings, kevlar, paper, lots of different plastics, sizes, efficiencies, mass, etc. So they probably don't last the same, then, what is like the minimum standard for them ? 500,000 hours or something ?
 
And then there's planars, I don't even know if those can be blown or what really happens if you overpower them. Also I don't know about their longevity, I imagine they put less strain on materials because there's no deformation of a shape, but I don't really have a clue.
 
Electrostats are probably not an issue because they come paired with their own amp so I assume the manufacturer makes sure you can't kill your headphone with the supplied amp. Still they work at brutal voltages, maybe they're dangerous past some point ?
 
 
So I just wanted to ask about some real life experiences, Have you blown a can?, How did it happen ?, How many years of use before death ?, Driver type, size, rated power, etc ?

 

[Me x3]

Audezes and Staxes are known for failing from time to time, more so than typical dynamics.
But maybe they just fail and it's not power related. Some people changed 2 pairs of Audeze drivers and more, you can read about that somewhere here on Head-Fi.
 
Most of the times max input power refers to the capacity of the voice coil before it breaks, not the mechanic resistence of the driver, then in most cases you'll break your driver causing over excursion before breaking the voice coil. If you listen to music at normal levels 100dB peaks top then a quality headphone will last forever or at least decades.
 
My brother blew up a Marshall Major driver with an ipod and some bass tracks, but that's not a good driver.
Friend of mine keep blowing Yamahas EPH-50, but he normally try to blow himself with the bass and it seems the headphones still blowing before. He broke two pairs by now.
 
Keep you eyes (ears) open when plugging and unplugging headphones on certain sources, most of the times sources are silent or make little harmless noise, but on some cases the amp can break the headphone.

 

[zareliman]

  Audezes and Staxes are known for failing from time to time, more so than typical dynamics.
But maybe they just fail and it's not power related. Some people changed 2 pairs of Audeze drivers and more, you can read about that somewhere here on Head-Fi.
 
Most of the times max input power refers to the capacity of the voice coil before it breaks, not the mechanic resistence of the driver, then in most cases you'll break your driver causing over excursion before breaking the voice coil. If you listen to music at normal levels 100dB peaks top then a quality headphone will last forever or at least decades.
 
My brother blew up a Marshall Major driver with an ipod and some bass tracks, but that's not a good driver.
Friend of mine keep blowing Yamahas EPH-50, but he normally try to blow himself with the bass and it seems the headphones still blowing before. He broke two pairs by now.
 
Keep you eyes (ears) open when plugging and unplugging headphones on certain sources, most of the times sources are silent or make little harmless noise, but on some cases the amp can break the headphone.

Did that Marshall Major die from the 3.5mm jack or Bluetooth ?
I read the iPod had like 60w output power, which even little sensitive IEMs can take.

The Yamaha EPH-50 should be robust (it's sort of a reputable company and they're not cheap) and they even include a 6.5mm plug so they're intended to be used with equipment that normally drives more power. Still I don't know if I would abuse them.

My most powerful source only does 260mW at 30 ohm, don't know if I should be worried about blowing some cans.

 

[Me x3]

 
Did that Marshall Major die from the 3.5mm jack or Bluetooth ?
I read the iPod had like 60w output power, which even little sensitive IEMs can take.

The Yamaha EPH-50 should be robust (it's sort of a reputable company and they're not cheap) and they even include a 6.5mm plug so they're intended to be used with equipment that normally drives more power. Still I don't know if I would abuse them.

My most powerful source only does 260mW at 30 ohm, don't know if I should be worried about blowing some cans.

 
3.5mm jack on iPod Nano 5G (30mW per channel as far as I know)
Max Input Power on the Marshall Major is 20mW anyway, nota good headphone in my book.
 
I had those Yamaha a few month and although I didn't like them they worked fine.
Yamaha EPH-100 are much better, my brother has them since a year ago, and two friends have them too since more than 3 years and they all work very well.
 
The thing with this friend of mine who keeps blowing up his EPH-50s is that he's an extreme bass head and keeps pushing the volume and boosting the bass on EQ then he'll break pretty much anything due to over-excursion.
 
Power and volume are tied, if you listen at normal levels very little power will flow through the headphone.
If you push the volume really loud to find out how loud it could be or things like that, then you'll be able to break some headphones.

 

[zareliman]

   
3.5mm jack on iPod Nano 5G (30mW per channel as far as I know)
Max Input Power on the Marshall Major is 20mW anyway, nota good headphone in my book.

May I ask where did you get that specs. Marshall doesn't put them in the website.

BTW would you say this bass EQ/ volume thing kills a pair over time or is it more like a spike that kills it in a certain moment.

 

[Me x3]

 
May I ask where did you get that specs. Marshall doesn't put them in the website.

BTW would you say this bass EQ/ volume thing kills a pair over time or is it more like a spike that kills it in a certain moment.

Now you know why!
It was printed on the box, but it seems newer boxes don't say it anymore ; )
 
Check this one: (at 20 seconds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4g-5X8ifPw
 
I think it's more of a spike or just a few successive tones that push the dynamic driver beyond its mechanical limits.
My younger brother broke a 15 inch car subwoofer that way.
Dynamic transducers are designed to work within certain limits.
 
If you use it close to their limits for an extended period of time you can break them, but this is not normally the case.
Best chances are you'll be using them at normal levels and everything fine, or crank them too much and break them in just a moment.
 
EQing the bass too high and distorted signals in general are more likely to break a driver than say a very well recorded acoustic bass on a Chesky Records album.