[High_Q]

I notice that these headphones will pick up anything, it can pick up hissing.  Is this headphone that good, that it can pick up flaws?  With my Beyer 600ohm and other top end over the ear the hissing is not as loud.  I am now starting to appreciate what IEM is all about.

  These are the go to headphones when I test out equipments.

 

[Pianist]

Well, the RE0 hisses more than the Beyers because it is of much higher impedance (600 Ohm for Beyers vs. 64 Ohm for RE0). It has nothing to do with sound quality.

 

[High_Q]

Quote:

Well, the RE0 hisses more than the Beyers because it is of much higher impedance (600 Ohm for Beyers vs. 64 Ohm for RE0). It has nothing to do with sound quality.

That makes no sense.  Lets say for example there was a flaw in the recording, or the performance was not perfect, but the imperfection was faint because it is hard to pick up.  so a headphone with higher impedance not picking it up doesn't have anything to do with sound quality?  Thats like saying you do not want to hear details with high quality over the ear phones.  I hope that is not what you mean.

 

[rawrster]

Hiss does not mean superior sound quality (the opposite is not true either). If hiss was indicative of sound quality then my PL30 would be the best phone I have. I don't have the technical knowledge to tell you why phones hiss but I believe it has something to do with the high sensitivity of most earphones along with the amplifier inside your dap. I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable members here can explain why phones hiss.

 

[Pianist]

Ok, you need to be more specific - can you only hear the hissing with certain recordings and not with others? In that case, yes the RE0 is picking up imperfections in the actual recordings. But if you can hear hissing with every recording you put on, then the noise is generated by your source and/or amp and RE0 picks up that noise simply because it has higher impedance than your other headphones. Also, just plug the RE0 into your source without putting on any music. Can you still hear the hiss?

 

[High_Q]

Sorry, its picking up hissing from the amp. But does that mean, it is picking up imperfections along the path?  Wouldn't the headphone that drown out hissing also drown out signal of the same level from the source?

 

[kingpage]

that means there's a difference in the impedance between the amp and the phone as far as I know.

 

[High_Q]

Quote:

that means there's a difference in the impedance between the amp and the phone as far as I know.

Then how can I explain why I hear noise coming out of my 64 ohm RE0, but no noise coming out of my 64ohm k701 from the same source?
 

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Quote:
Then how can I explain why I hear noise coming out of my 64 ohm RE0, but no noise coming out of my 64ohm k701 from the same source?
 

Can you still hear the noise with no music playing?

 

[High_Q]

Quote:

Can you still hear the noise with no music playing?

Yes.  When nothing is playing.
 

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Quote:
Yes.  When nothing is playing.
 

Are you listening in a very quiet place? Perhaps the hiss is just less noticeable with the K701s because they are open and let more background noise in? That is the hiss gets masked by background noise with the K701, while with RE0, you can hear it better because RE0 offers better isolation.

 

[High_Q]

 
Quote:

Are you listening in a very quiet place? Perhaps the hiss is just less noticeable with the K701s because they are open and let more background noise in? That is the hiss gets masked by background noise with the K701, while with RE0, you can hear it better because RE0 offers better isolation.

No, its not very noisy, not to a level that I cannot hear as much hiss I hear with RE0.  I even raised the volume up on the K701, tried closing the open area, dead quiet.  

 

[j2kei]

may have to do with sensitivity and power. headphone drivers require more current to power and are commonly less sensitive compared to IEMs, thus you might not hear hissing in headphones. the hiss you are hearing is definitely from impedance and your source or amp. also, the fact that you are hearing hiss even when no music are playing clearly indicates that it has no correlation with the recording. often times, in the end it just has to do with your source or amp. a general rule that may not always hold true is that low impedance have high sensitivity while high impedance have low sensitivity. it is very clear that your beyerdynamics at a very high 600ohms will have low sensitivity so it will definitely not pick up any hisses or something is definitely wrong, while our re0 or any other IEM or earbuds will pick up hiss since its impedance is definitely lower and since it is made for portable sources the sensitivity will be higher.

 

[High_Q]

Does low sensitivity correlate with lower resolution of sound?  What I mean is if the detail is very small, would a high sensitive headphone respond better in revealing the sound?

 

[j2kei]

i dont think low sensitivity correlates with lower resolution of sound. if that is true, then the re0 wouldnt be as detailed as it is. i believe resolution of sound would have to do with ample amount of current or voltage to power the headphones and driver quality. i can't safely say that a high sensitive headphone would be more revealing in detail because low sensitive headphones such as the tesla t1 and hd800 are pretty high in impedance and sensitivity are pretty low.