[groovyd]

looks like the same translation... he must have used those to translate for himself.

 

[Icenine2]

Anyone have an indication that these will compete/best the HiFiMan 1000's?

 

[money4me247]

Anyone have an indication that these will compete/best the HiFiMan 1000's?

well as far all the news we have abt them is that the lcd-z is not aimed to replace the audeze lcd-3 and will not be the new flagship model. shld b smtg similar to the lcd-x so shld be like 'mid-tier' within audeze's own line up.

...sooo most likely no. unlikely to even best the lcd3 in terms of price or performace. they r geared for a different niche w their crazy high impedance, so like ppl who have nice otl amps.

 

[nailbunny7]

well as far all the news we have abt them is that the lcd-z is not aimed to replace the audeze lcd-3 and will not be the new flagship model. shld b smtg similar to the lcd-x so shld be like 'mid-tier' within audeze's own line up.

...sooo most likely no. unlikely to even best the lcd3 in terms of price or performace. they r geared for a different niche w their crazy high impedance, so like ppl who have nice otl amps.

Agreed. I think these are aimed at a specific amp type, mainly OTLs, as most solid state would probably struggle to produce the current to drive these. I may just make my 6/12SN7 based otl amp when these come out

 

[diamondears]

Agreed. I think these are aimed at a specific amp type, mainly OTLs, as most solid state would probably struggle to produce the current to drive these. I may just make my 6/12SN7 based otl amp when these come out

Isn't it that higher impedance cans require less current? More power, but less current, right?

 

[diamondears]

Was also thinking, since damping factor is very important, why didn't manufacturers make high impedance cans long time ago? Costly to make, too much wire to be wound on the voice coils?

 

[Rem0o]

Was also thinking, since damping factor is very important, why didn't manufacturers make high impedance cans long time ago? Costly to make, too much wire to be wound on the voice coils?

When you look at old school cans, they were almost all high impedance. Also, look at Sennheiser and Beyer current line-up, mostly 300+ ohms .

 

[Argo Duck]

^ True - one of our fellow headfiers has or had an old pair (Sennheiser IIRC) with a Z of 2000 ohms!

I'm no EE but I understand high Z phones need higher voltage swing.

 

[jodgey4]

The high impedance also helps in studios if you connect many headphones to the same amp unit - it pulls less current from the amp which is usually easier to manage. Think of how many amps are current limited in power below 32 ohms. Having just a few M50s or AKGs could throw you down in the <10ohm range, which is really hard to drive. But with Beyers or Sennys, it would be hard to get near that range.

 

[diamondears]

The high impedance also helps in studios if you connect many headphones to the same amp unit - it pulls less current from the amp which is usually easier to manage. Think of how many amps are current limited in power below 32 ohms. Having just a few M50s or AKGs could throw you down in the <10ohm range, which is really hard to drive. But with Beyers or Sennys, it would be hard to get near that range.

So why doesn't more manufacturers do that? Costly? Smoothens the sound but loses some bits and pieces?

 

[jodgey4]

The increase in impedance doesn't come with an equally matched increase in sensitivity in most cases, so low impedance helps headphones to be driven from more sources (phones, DAPs, laptops, which are usually low powered). This also puts more pressure on amp designers to have a low output impedance to help with damping.
 
Idk about cost, and smoothness claims are hard to verify. People claim it with the 32/80/250/600 ohm Beyer models, but it could be that the coils are slightly different in overall structure, a pure effect of damping, some of those cans have different pads... etc.

 

[diamondears]

The increase in impedance doesn't come with an equally matched increase in sensitivity in most cases, so low impedance helps headphones to be driven from more sources (phones, DAPs, laptops, which are usually low powered). This also puts more pressure on amp designers to have a low output impedance to help with damping.

Idk about cost, and smoothness claims are hard to verify. People claim it with the 32/80/250/600 ohm Beyer models, but it could be that the coils are slightly different in overall structure, a pure effect of damping, some of those cans have different pads... etc.

How do you determine if an amp is excellent in providing current (for say low impedance, low sensitivity HPs) given that it has more than enough Vrms?

 

[jodgey4]

Well, using Ohm's Law V=IR (voltage = current * resistance), you can see that a voltage applied across any load will have a proportionate current. 2V across the 300ohm Sennheiser HD6x0 means there's about 6.67mA of current running through. The thing is, some amps can only produce so much current - the chips in there can be limited for protection or it's a design flaw, or whatever... so if you start getting too low, like <32 ohms, there's a chance that the amp just can't supply anymore current (maybe it can't do more than 50mA). That's why you see a dip in available power (V*I) into low impedance loads sometimes. It's really obvious with OTL amps. A high output impedance can be a pretty telltale sign of this issue.
 
For example, the solid state Polaris from Garage1217 (even shows multiple output impedances at 0.1, 35, and 120ohm). Where the lines collapse on the left side is probably where the amp is current limited. Note this is showing full Watt output, which is V*I.

 
So really you just have to look at each individual amp. Current limiting shouldn't produce any real problems most of the time. I think the Samsung S4 had a (stability?) problem with really low impedance headphones, IIRC... could be related.
 
@Head Injury correct me if I'm wrong

.

 

[wink]

Also, there are some amps with insufficient voltage to push through enough current to drive the high impedance phones  especially in transients.

 

[jodgey4]

Hence OTL amps for the Z being a pretty safe bet.