[gosub3]

Recommended way would be iPad at full volume, then dial in preferred listening level from amp. Saves battery and gives less distortion.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

With this configuration you will allways have distortion from the amp as you are driving it full out. In all audio reproduction you first max the source and after that the stages coming after it. Ie. For maximum distortion free output in say, car audio you max the source and then turn up the amps till distortion limit. So then you can drive your system to its limits safely and with the amps working as little as possible, that is then good as it gives minimum distortion.

 
If you're talking about audible distortion, this completely contradicts the 15 years of hobby experience I had with car stereos when I used to live in the U.S., and also contradicts all of my personal experience with this new portable headphone system hobby. The amp gain is simply a volume control, and has no bearing on how much power the amp can push without it clipping. With my headphone setup, I've tried it both ways as you've described, and cannot hear any difference whatsoever in the amount of distortion it puts out.
 
If you're talking about noise, however, then that's a different story. In a car stereo system with a plethora of various components, with long, thick power cables being used, long RCA cables, chassis grounding, alternator running, etc., the potential for noise is everywhere. So in a car stereo, it's certainly best to set your amp gains lower and turn up the volume on your head unit more to reduce noise in the system. I used to have a pair of Phoenix Gold RCA line drivers behind the head unit to boost the source signal, and it definitely helped with the noise.
 
But in a portable headphone system that contains only a music player, one portable amp that it's tethered to, and one pair of headphones without any of the shenanigans of a car's electrical system, the potential for noise is very, very low. So I set my amp gain at max with the gain switch set to high, and control the volume from the music player because of the convenience and ergonomics of doing it that way. At medium and high listening levels, I can't hear any noise, so this works great for me. At low listening levels I can, so I just flip the amp gain switch to low while playing it quietly. Problem solved.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

 
I used to compete in IASCA
 
My source was around 40%
Enough for the passing of the music data clearly and then my amp/s did their job.
Many folks rec 70% at the source but my team said 40% and it worked well
 
Source up to 40%
Amp takes that clean signal and boosts it.

 

[Fearless1]

   
. The amp gain is simply a volume control, and has no bearing on how much power the amp can push without it clipping. 

When referencing  a car audio amp, gain is the voltage that should match your head unit voltage out that does have bearing on clipping. Volume is controlled at the head unit, not the amp. It is not a volume control.
 
I personally would use an oscilloscope to set gains when I was installing back in the day.

 

[gikigill]

I used to compete in IASCA

My source was around 40%
Enough for the passing of the music data clearly and then my amp/s did their job.
Many folks rec 70% at the source but my team said 40% and it worked well

Source up to 40%
Amp takes that clean signal and boosts it.

What was the voltage on your head unit HBB? I am running a HX D2 with 8v outputs and it's too hot so have to reduce the volume on the head unit to 4V as that's the best setting for my amps.

In portable audio however, unless you have a really hot output, I always keep my source at 100% and control the volume on the final part of the chain I.E the amplifier. It's pretty recommended practice for lowest possible distortion in your chain. Doesn't apply to car audio though.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

  When referencing  a car audio amp, gain is the voltage that should match your head unit voltage out that does have bearing on clipping.

 
This is to make sure you aren't overpowering the input on the amp, right? Certainly if you send too strong of a signal from the head unit / RCA line drivers into the amp's input, you'll get clipping.
 
Today when connecting my iPod & portable amp to my small desktop stereo (using the auxiliary input on the receiver), I have to set the iPod volume just below 50% (with the EQ in Rockbox turned off and set to flat, and with the bass boost switch on the little amp turned off), or I'll get distortion from it overpowering the receiver input. In the past before getting a portable headphone amp, I always set the iPod volume at max when connecting it to this receiver. (The latter has a remote control I use to adjust the volume.)

 

[DiscoProJoe]

I am running a HX D2 with 8v outputs and it's too hot so have to reduce the volume on the head unit to 4V as that's the best setting for my amps.

 
Back in the day I was using an old Sony MP3-CD head unit (purchased in 2001) that had 2V of max output, and the pair of Phoenix Gold RCA line drivers were 8V each. I never had a problem with this combination overpowering the amp inputs.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

  I used to compete in IASCA

 
Cool! I saw that you did the IASCA dB Drag stuff. What's the highest SPL rating you got?
 
As for my old car stereo, I never did competition or anything like that, since I have my own unique tastes and ways of doing things. I never cared about SPL, either, and just wanted it to sound the way I liked it. I had a pair of Kicker Comp VR 12"s in a custom-built, rear-firing, sealed box that was 1.75 cubic feet per sub (internally), and was filled halfway with pillow-stuffing. I had a pair of MB Quart tweeters custom-mounted in the front A-pillar frame panels, 6.5" Pioneer Kevlar-cone coaxials in the front doors, and 6.5" Boston Acoustics coaxials in the rear deck. I had an Ohio Generator alternator and Optima battery, 3 amplifiers (1 each for the front, rear, and subs), a 1-farad cap, Dynamat foam, two cooling fans in the trunk, and all kinds of other stuff.
 
Anyway, check out this article I wrote two months ago if you haven't seen it: "Why a $500 Enhancement for Your Portable Music Player is Awesomely Better Than Spending $5,000 to Upgrade a Car Stereo"
 
(I wrote this article before discovering Rockbox firmware and upgrading my FiiO E12A amp to the Cayin C5, by the way.)
 
In the article, all the car pics are of my third and final car I had while living in the U.S. before moving to China in 2008. I had been a huge fan of big car stereos for 15 years prior to that. Prior to this year before getting into portable headphone systems, I'd miss my old car stereo a tiny little bit once in a while, but nothing major. But since starting this fun new hobby in the last two months,...NEVER! 

 
How 'bout you?

 

[gikigill]

8V is too hot hence the 4V setting for the amps. My amps have to run on very low gain as they only power one set of components. It's 2 4-channel amps powering 2 sets of components. One for the front and the second for the rear pair.

Basically it works out to about 650w RMS amps into a total of 320w comps all combined. The amps rarely get hot even in summer.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

   
Cool! I saw that you did the IASCA dB Drag stuff. What's the highest SPL rating you got?
 
As for my old car stereo, I never did competition or anything like that, since I have my own unique tastes and ways of doing things. I never cared about SPL, either, and just wanted it to sound the way I liked it. I had a pair of Kicker Comp VR 12"s in a custom-built, rear-firing, sealed box that was 1.75 cubic feet per sub (internally), and was filled halfway with pillow-stuffing. I had a pair of MB Quart tweeters custom-mounted in the front A-pillar frame panels, 6.5" Pioneer Kevlar-cone coaxials in the front doors, and 6.5" Boston Acoustics coaxials in the rear deck. I had an Ohio Generator alternator and Optima battery, 3 amplifiers (1 each for the front, rear, and subs), a 1-farad cap, Dynamat foam, two cooling fans in the trunk, and all kinds of other stuff.
 
Anyway, check out this article I wrote two months ago if you haven't seen it: "Why a $500 Enhancement for Your Portable Music Player is Awesomely Better Than Spending $5,000 to Upgrade a Car Stereo"
 
(I wrote this article before discovering Rockbox firmware and upgrading my FiiO E12A amp to the Cayin C5, by the way.)
 
In the article, all the car pics are of my third and final car I had while living in the U.S. before moving to China in 2008. I had been a huge fan of big car stereos for 15 years prior to that. Prior to this year before getting into portable headphone systems, I'd miss my old car stereo a tiny little bit once in a while, but nothing major. But since starting this fun new hobby in the last two months,...NEVER! 

 
How 'bout you?

 That pic was 2 15w3's and my best was 136.  I was running MB quart seperates for mids and highs in the front and back doors and running of a 4 channel JL amp. The subs had 1 1000 watt RF amp running mono into each. Way over kill but I liked crossing over at 55-58Hz in that rear fire config. I had a cap same size as yours. 4 gauge speaker wires from amp to sub soldered to the tabs.
 
I later switched to Digital Design subs with the same config facing up in an explorer and hit 141. Little mic on the dash 3 inches from windshield per rules at that time.
 
I love my MB Quart. Infinity was decent for a bit but the MB's were a nice sound. I got 17,000 dollars worth of disturbing the peace tickets and lost my licence. The fine doubled usually. I used to go into giant concrete parking structures and slam some Geto Boys and set of 20-100 car alarms. Very fun

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

8V is too hot hence the 4V setting for the amps. My amps have to run on very low gain as they only power one set of components. It's 2 4-channel amps powering 2 sets of components. One for the front and the second for the rear pair.

Basically it works out to about 650w RMS amps into a total of 320w comps all combined. The amps rarely get hot even in summer.

 I knew this thread would eventually get filled with car audio folks

 
LOL

 

[DiscoProJoe]

 
Very fun

 
Awesome! Yeah, just before giving it all up, I had a JL Audio 300/2 v2 amp running the front, a Kicker ZR120 driving the rear deck, and a Kicker ZR360 pushing the subs. My last car was a '97 Pontiac Grand Prix.

 

[lltfdaniel]

I am finding it harder to turn back to my other headphones because of the bass and the way it sounds as stock.
 
Knowing it has plenty of bass that's why and thinking it is a bass king out of my collection.
 
Knowing it sounds lively despite it sounding mediocre.
 
As for lower volume, it just sounded way too much under powered.
 
These are for sure keepers in my collection.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  I am finding it harder to turn back to my other headphones because of the bass and the way it sounds as stock.
 
Knowing it has plenty of bass that's why and thinking it is a bass king out of my collection.
 
Knowing it sounds lively despite it sounding mediocre.
 
As for lower volume, it just sounded way too much under powered.
 
These are for sure keepers in my collection.

 I really recommend a set of XX or HM5 pads and a Cayin C5 (which can be used for all your headphones as it is a very nice sounding powerful amp)
 
I use my sz2000 (closed) my ma900 (open) and ASG (IEM) and all my other stuff is useless. I wasted a ton of cash on crap that is just good to o.k. The 3 I listed cover all my needs and genre'

 

[lltfdaniel]

Yea i see what you mean i wasted alot of cash on hp i didn't fully like.
 
For me it's the akg k550.
 
The bass monster has that sound i like from k550 but different so they're keepers.
 
I'll go with your kind suggestion as i am a newbie in audiophile.
 
As for the amp under £200 would be the ehp-o2d or i if you don't need bass boost that is.
 
The amp you recommended is within my price range so i'll snap one up since they're about £100 here as well as those pads.