[joeljoel1947]

I bought a Grant Fidelity DAC-09 and this thing has too much gain for my AT ATH-A700's which are rated at 102dB sensitivity. I have a range of the 1st 3 clicks on the stepped attenuator on the Grant and the difference between step 2 and 3 is like YIKES! 2 is far too soft and 3 is too loud. Anyhow, hooking up a pair of cheap Sony's I have which are much lower sensitivity (not sure on the #) fixes everthing and I get a far more useful range on the headphone amps volume pot.

That said, I think I need some new cans. I need em closed back for late listening in bed. Anything you guys can recommend that are low sensitivity (or LOWER then my AT's) and would sound similar for around $100?

 

[aristos_achaion]

You might also track down a pair of old Yamaha orthos (YH-1 or YH-100), which could be sub-$100 if you get lucky, but that's a certain taste, and would probably need dampening eventually. I can certainly tell you that my YH-1s are the hardest-to-drive headphones in my current stable. I love 'em to death, but they're quite a different beast from your A700's.

 

[joeljoel1947]

Thanks for the post.

Of interest, I rigged the DAC-09 so that the main preamp outs are driving the headphones directly as opposed to the headphone jack on front. Well, that does the trick---instead of 3 usable clicks on the stepped attenuater I had before, I now get a whopping 7; wich is right around 9'oclock on the dial. Still not much usable range on the dial even rigged this way, but this is waaaaaay better then before!

Man, this thing has some SERIOUS GAIN and output. As the pre mains out drive my cans so easily, there "shouldn't" be an issue with possibly hurting it (the DAC-09). The added benefit there as well with using the preamp outs is that now you can now make use of the tube stage in the DAC-09; which gets totally bypassed on the headphone jack out the front sadly. As of now its looking like a win-win situation----I keep my AH 700's AND I'm now tubeified head-fi listening!

 

[8xOverMsOctober]

Sensitivity isn't your only factor here. Driver resistance factors into the equation as well. Your A700's are relatively low impedance at 64 ohms. Why not get or make an impedance adapter? The higher the impedance is, the more usable range you'll get on your volume pot (to a point). Try a 75 ohm adapter and go from there.

 

[joeljoel1947]

Quote:

Sensitivity isn't your only factor here.

Thanks for the info. Any idea where to buy an impedance adapter @ 75 ohms? Thanks!

 

[8xOverMsOctober]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeljoel1947 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the info. Any idea where to buy an impedance adapter @ 75 ohms? Thanks!

Adapters:
Head-Direct.com | YUIN

ETYMOTIC ER4P TO ER4S RESISTOR ADAPTOR (3.5MM PLUG) - eBay (item 290372905689 end time May-21-10 00:19:18 PDT)

Volume attenuators (probably not as good of a solution as an adaptor):
Amazon.com: Shure Level Attenuator Listening Level Controller: Electronics

Sennheiser | HZR 62 - Universal Stereo In-line Volume | HZR 62

Or you can DIY one if you're handy with a soldering iron. You can search the DIY section here to learn how to do it.

You can also google for more options for a resistance/impedance adapter.

 

[joeljoel1947]

Wow, thanks for the help!!

 

[Feanor]

You might want to check if you can adjust the gain on the dac with a jumper or something, a lot of equipment has this.

 

[Ypoknons]

Some of the people who do custom cables also do impedance adpaters.