[casualXtuesday]

Ok im completely new to the site and im also kind of new to headphones however i know a little bit about this kinda stuff i just have a question that i cant seem to find a solid answer for as well as i do need a pair of headphones recomended ok so...

What is typical impedance for headphones and why would more or less be good? When i wired subs to my friends truck and amp typical impedance for him was 2 ohms is this anything alike? i understood on car subs 2 ohms is stellar where as four was aighty.

Ok and as for headphone recomendations heres my taste i hate and i repeat I HATE BEATS everyone who has let me listen to a pair is so distorted with bass it has no clarity my friend is letting me use his sennheiser hd 439s they are awsome i really like the clarity and the soundstage is hypnotyzing however i notice the lows are a little flat for my taste so i imagine somthing like these with a little bit more bass just a tad though im really all about soundstage and clarity i just love getting as lost as i can in music

But yeah i would really appreciate any advice/reccomendations/anything

Thanks
Sincerely,
Pommes gaufrette

 

[Sxooter]

Basically the lower the impedance the easier it is for an amplifier to drive something, but the more reactive the amplifier is to the speaker's fluctuating impedance. All speakers have mild variations in impedance over frequency ranges. With very low impedence speakers these variations are large in comparison to the base impedance. With higher impedance speakers, these variations are typically much smaller as a % of overall impedance resulting in less variation over the frequency range due to the variations in impedance.
 
In order to reduce the impact of variations of impedance in the speaker, a low impedance in the amp helps. If an amp's impedance is at or near the same as the speaker, then these variations will have a large effect on the frequency response curve. If the amp's impedance is much lower then the variations in impedance won't have much if any effect.
 
Higher impedance speakers require higher voltages to drive them at the same power level as an equivalent lower impedance speaker. So, most higher impedance headphones are designed to be driven by amplifiers designed for this higher voltage output, like studio equipment or headphone amps. Amplifiers like the ones built into phones, tablets, and laptops do not provide a high enough voltage to drive headphones much over 80 ohms very well.
 
What this comes down to is pretty simple. As the impedance of your headphones goes above 60 to 80 ohms you start to need an amplifier designed to drive high impedance headphones.  Generally speaking a headphone amp will provide a cleaner signal than the built in amp in a mobile device and most headphones sound noticeable better with a good amp. So often if your choice is a low impedance version of the same headphones with no amp for $250 and the higher impedance version of the same headphone with an amp for the same price, then the higher impedance version is usually going to sound better, but you're going to be stuck walking around with a mobile amp for it.
 
Most mobile amps can handle ~220 ohm headphones just fine, but will struggle with 600 ohm headphones to reach a good volume level. 

 

[casualXtuesday]

Wow thank you for braking it down so indepth.This is what i really was trying to understand. You couldent have explained that better to me at all!

See now i understand a little bit more of what im looking for in headphones.
I have moblie headphones set, i have a real rugged pair of labsonics.
But i want somthing just for the house kinda thing, i wouldent care about the size of the amp or if it was moblie. what should i do if this is the case?

 

[manbear]

If you want soundstage as well as decent bass (meaning more powerful than "flat," but not at all distorted), I'd recommend the Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 ohm. It's got a large soundstage, clairty in spades, great bass for an open headphone, and even though it's 250 ohms, it's not terribly hard to drive. 

 

[casualXtuesday]

Ok have you personally owend a pair of these? If so what kind of music do you listen to on them and what do they respond better to

 

[manbear]

Yes, I've owned the DT-990 Pro. It was my first "audiophile" headphone. I mostly listen to electronic music, but also some rap, metal, acoustic, pretty much everything except for classical, jazz, and country. IMO, the DT-990 Pro is best suited to electronic music because it really shows off the bass and complex sound effects, but it's a decent all-arounder. The main problem to watch out for is that the treble can be annoying on poorly recorded music -- this is a headphone that doesn't sugercoat the music. 

 

[casualXtuesday]

Wow now im really excited. But yes i know what you mean by it doesnt sugarcoat the music thank you for the recommendation im going to start research asap