[newworld666]

I am wondering if somebody had the chance to try the Heddphone with a Sony DMP-Z1 ?
Is worth to try ? or power is unfortunately not sufficient to go in details with low frequencies ? I can only imagine that 1.5W@16Ohms (5V) seems to be too much under the target and probably too short for at least for some DSD.
Because, I imagine available peak voltage is probably far more important than sustain voltage with the heddphone, Sony's DMP-Z1 could possibly do well => but I couldn't get any info about peak voltage for it.

 

[KaiSc]

The thing I hate about the switches on the SPL is that the distortion sets in rather quickly once they are turned on(specific to balanced) Using 4v output from the DAC and no switches is not satisfying but With one switch I need to adjust the output from the DAC to 2.5v to reduce the distortion.

It is a little better but I suppose it might not be a good pairing, either the DAC and AMP or the whole set up.

Distortion should not be an issue with the SPL Phonitor 2.
It can power the HEDDphone with up to 3 Watts, to 122 dB SPL.

Even with one DIP switch on, Phonitor 2 can handle up to 8.2 V input.

You are either listening extremely loud - or have set the SPL Phonitor 2 to the wrong mains voltage.
If you live in USA you should have set it to 110 V mains voltage, see manual page 6.


I would strongly advise everyone not to listen as loud as 120dB SPL over an extended period of time, or your hearing ability will be largely compromised quite soon.

 

[newworld666]

But .. it seems some higher peak voltage maybe necessary in lower frequencies to reach the best sound that an heddphone can deliver...
So even if 4V is the sustain voltage target with an heddphone... a few milliseconds with 10V or more seems to be welcome to bring some more details, depth and impacts without any distortion.
It's what i feel when I switch from a Xduuo X05+ amp to a Monolyth THX 887 when using a Heddphone with WM1A ... with mini DSPears measurements for both amps .. Frequency curves are almost identical, THD too .. but sounds is definitely richer with the 6W of the THX 887 without listening louder.

 

[Jthompson300]

Distortion should not be an issue with the SPL Phonitor 2.
It can power the HEDDphone with up to 3 Watts, to 122 dB SPL.

Even with one DIP switch on, Phonitor 2 can handle up to 8.2 V input.

You are either listening extremely loud - or have set the SPL Phonitor 2 to the wrong mains voltage.
If you live in USA you should have set it to 110 V mains voltage, see manual page 6.


I would strongly advise everyone not to listen as loud as 120dB SPL over an extended period of time, or your hearing ability will be largely compromised quite soon.

Everything is set right on the Voltage side, I have had the SPL for almost 2 years now. I am not sure what’s going on, could be the adapter/cable combo for the Heddphone or I need more power from the DAC to the SPL and no switches.

When running unbalanced the SPL powers them with 0 problems and no switches are needed, they sound fantastic as well but I prefer them balanced. I can run the Heddphone balanced from my DAC in High gain which is currently doing a better job than my SPL in balanced so I am guessing that it is a problem of not enough Volts from the DAC to the SPL or the new balanced XLR cable I got for the Heddphone.

 

[JaZZ]

But .. it seems some higher peak voltage maybe necessary in lower frequencies to reach the best sound that an heddphone can deliver...
So even if 4V is the sustain voltage target with an heddphone... a few milliseconds with 10V or more seems to be welcome to bring some more details, depth and impacts without any distortion.
It's what i feel when I switch from a Xduuo X05+ amp to a Monolyth THX 887 when using a Heddphone with WM1A ... with mini DSPears measurements for both amps .. Frequency curves are almost identical, THD too .. but sounds is definitely richer with the 6W of the THX 887 without listening louder.

There are numerous examples (posted on this forum) showing that a weaker amp can sound better than a stronger amp as well. So don't draw hasty conclusions as to more power is better. Enough is enough. But certainly different amps will sound different, also in terms of quality and accuracy. It's just that «better» in the sense of more euphonic or more spectacular (e.g. more bass) isn't always more honest in the sense of high fidelity.

Personally I'm absolutely convinced of the headphone output of my DAVE, which delivers about 1100 mW at 42 Ω. There is a lot of power reserve left for the HEDDphone at the volume levels I use to listen to, which are slightly higher than average I would think. It's a bit complicated, as the Neutron equalizer needs to be padded with 10 dB, and the M Scaler reduces the gain by another 3.5 dB, but the estimated translated volume setting is about –13.5 dB, with clipping reserved to levels above +5 dB.

 

[KaiSc]

Everything is set right on the Voltage side, I have had the SPL for almost 2 years now. I am not sure what’s going on, could be the adapter/cable combo for the Heddphone or I need more power from the DAC to the SPL and no switches.

When running unbalanced the SPL powers them with 0 problems and no switches are needed, they sound fantastic as well but I prefer them balanced. I can run the Heddphone balanced from my DAC in High gain which is currently doing a better job than my SPL in balanced so I am guessing that it is a problem of not enough Volts from the DAC to the SPL or the new balanced XLR cable I got for the Heddphone.

Now we got it:

The SPL Phonitor 2 does not have full power balanced outputs to drive headphones!
The back XLR outputs are line outs, meant to drive high impedance loads like amplifiers or high impedance headphones like the Sennheiser HD 800.

The 42 Ohms HEDDphone presents close to short circuit to those, it's astonishing that it works to almost satisfactory level.

You need to use SPL Phonitor 2's 6.3 mm jack output on the front.

 

[Jthompson300]

Now we got it:

The SPL Phonitor 2 does not have balanced outputs to drive headphones!
The back XLR outputs are line outs, meant to drive high impedance loads like amplifiers.

The 42 Ohms HEDDphone presents close to short circuit to those, it's astonishing that it works to almost satisfactory level.

You need to use SPL Phonitor 2's 6.3 mm jack output on the front.

They work as balanced headphone amp too and provide the same power as the 6.3 mm( at least according to SPL). With my Audeze I never had any problems, just with the Heddphone.

 

[KaiSc]

They work as balanced headphone amp too and provide the same power as the 6.3 mm( at least according to SPL). With my Audeze I never had any problems, just with the Heddphone.

They don't, as you experienced.

Most low impedance headphones have a higher sensitivity, with a few exceptions like the Hifiman Susvara.

The AUDEZE headphones are a good part louder than the HEDDphone, therefore it works.

 

[Jthompson300]

They don't, as you experienced.

Most low impedance headphones have a higher sensitivity, with a few exceptions like the Hifiman Susvara.

The AUDEZE headphones are a good part louder than the HEDDphone, therefore it works.

You are probably right, I have had my suspicions for a while because it didn’t do so well with a couple of Beyer and Sennheiser that I have either but I prefer them from my McIntosh unbalanced.

I guess it’s time to find a new balanced AMP.

 

[newworld666]

There are numerous examples (posted on this forum) showing that a weaker amp can sound better than a stronger amp as well. So don't draw hasty conclusions as to more power is better. Enough is enough. But certainly different amps will sound different, also in terms of quality and accuracy. It's just that «better» in the sense of more euphonic or more spectacular (e.g. more bass) isn't always more honest in the sense of high fidelity.

Personally I'm absolutely convinced of the headphone output of my DAVE, which delivers about 1100 mW at 42 Ω. There is a lot of power reserve left for the HEDDphone at the volume levels I use to listen to, which are slightly higher than average I would think. It's a bit complicated, as the Neutron equalizer needs to be padded with 10 dB, and the M Scaler reduces the gain by another 3.5 dB, but the estimated translated volume setting is about –13.5 dB, with clipping reserved to levels above +5 dB.

Till now even the weak powered Sony WM1A was sufficient to my ears with my Z7M2 or Ultrasone Ed15 veritas, then even if it's powered with the THX887 ...none of those two reaches what the heddphone can offer with this amp at same level of sound of course (I can easily compare A/B with balanced and unbalanced input and 2 dac).
with the Sony or Ultrasone an external amp doesn't improve anything significant for sure.

The heddphone is definitely power hungry, not in the way that 6/7V is not enough as sustain voltage (1W/42Ohms), but, I feel, definitely the Heddphone needs a peak voltage far more than 10V probably even 12V or more for a few milliseconds maybe or less ? (I can't even measure this instant need with the miniDSP ears).

I don't know the Dave Chord at all, but I imagine easily that such DAC/Amp can afford a high peak voltage with far more than 7V, maybe 20V or more if needed.

 

[vlach]

Everything is set right on the Voltage side, I have had the SPL for almost 2 years now. I am not sure what’s going on, could be the adapter/cable combo for the Heddphone or I need more power from the DAC to the SPL and no switches.

When running unbalanced the SPL powers them with 0 problems and no switches are needed, they sound fantastic as well but I prefer them balanced. I can run the Heddphone balanced from my DAC in High gain which is currently doing a better job than my SPL in balanced so I am guessing that it is a problem of not enough Volts from the DAC to the SPL or the new balanced XLR cable I got for the Heddphone.

What is the voltage your DAC is putting out?

 

[JaZZ]

I don't know the Dave Chord at all, but I imagine easily that such DAC/Amp can afford a high peak voltage with far more than 7V, maybe 20V or more if needed.

The DAVE provides 6.8 volts with a digital zero signal at +5 dB (1% HD). My –13.5 dB scenario is 18.5 dB lower than that – so there goes your peak-power hypothesis.

 

[newworld666]

The DAVE provides 6.8 volts with a digital zero signal at +5 dB (1% HD). My –13.5 dB scenario is 18.5 dB lower than that – so there goes your peak-power hypothesis.

Maybe ....
But... I just got such type of info from Centrance staff and beta testers on the M8 V2 thread, as they are all pretty sure the Heddphone shouldn't have any issue as they claim to provided at this stage of development before final specs (July ?) around 1.4W 32Ohms (7V) and 20V peak voltage with this potable amp.I pre-ordered one .. and I will see.

 

[adydula]

Just ordered a set from headphones.com.
Should be here tomorrow...

Alex

 

[pippen99]

I was a participant in the TTVJ loaner tour. Here is my take on the HEDDphone.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/heddphones-loaner-program-ttvjaudio-com.932018/page-2#post-15712946