[ALRAINBOW]

First off you all are fl of it second the jh16 is 16 ohms so what math are you doing
Last I have do e that and no change did it occur to you that the amp
You used just sounds different. Not picking and most def do not own or have any affiliation
With AK. but stop spreading rumores about equipment
You do know about. It is confusing enough for new bies as it is
And then you state the be all end bull of output imp rule without even testing it

So get a bunch if bros and heckle me but I will not back down.
It's not cool to talk stuff like this. Also if they were so bad would jerry Harvey use it for a demo
Really man just stop.

Al

 

[VisceriousZERO]

First off you all are fl of it second the jh16 is 16 ohms so what math are you doing
Last I have do e that and no change did it occur to you that the amp
You used just sounds different. Not picking and most def do not own or have any affiliation
With AK. but stop spreading rumores about equipment
You do know about. It is confusing enough for new bies as it is
And then you state the be all end bull of output imp rule without even testing it

So get a bunch if bros and heckle me but I will not back down.
It's not cool to talk stuff like this. Also if they were so bad would jerry Harvey use it for a demo
Really man just stop.

Al

 
Well, there are sometimes some effects of low and high impedances with gear. For example the ever-amazing Altmann Tera Player, which is loved and hated by many at the same time. Sound science geeks scream at how bad the IMPEDANCE (14 ohm?) of the Tera is for IEMs but others don't listen because they like HOW IT SOUNDS with their choice of IEM. Honestly I say trust your ears. If it doesnt sound right then its not for you.
 
EDIT: Speaking of which there's a bass roll-off with the TERA and some IEMs but that's what my bud said not me, personally I love the TERA.
 
Its all about balancing Sound Science and Personal Experience.
 
And Al, I doubt we'll hear the end of these discussions, especially on head-fi, so good luck out there and try to keep a cool head, because they'll just use that against you if you're not careful
 
EDIT: Going back, I'll try the Roxys with the Tera when I get home.

 

[delancyst]

Thanks for the insight.
So am I right to say that for Roxanne to sound as intended (without its original frequency response being altered), is to drive it with a source with OI under 2ohm?
This then begs the question, what is the benefit of DAPs / Amps that have high OI? 
If you are a manufacturer of portable sources, wouldn't you want to make product that is compatible with as many earphones as possible?

 

[ChainRazer]

I'm not expert on these sort of impedance things, but it should be fine if I play it straight out of Galaxy S4 right?

 

[headwhacker]

Thanks for the insight.


So am I right to say that for Roxanne to sound as intended (without its original frequency response being altered), is to drive it with a source with OI under 2ohm?


This then begs the question, what is the benefit of DAPs / Amps that have high OI? 


If you are a manufacturer of portable sources, wouldn't you want to make product that is compatible with as many earphones as possible?

 


high output impedance is the cheapest implementation of circuit protection. Plugging in/out headphones in the output jack (with power on and volume/gain set to high ) creates a momentary short circuit which could potentially blow up your amp and/or headphone phone so adding a resistive load in the amp's output can help prevent this.

Like VZ said some people like the effect of high output impedance and I'm not telling people not to get the DAP because of OI alone. I'm just saying it does affect sound.

 

[VisceriousZERO]

  Thanks for the insight.
So am I right to say that for Roxanne to sound as intended (without its original frequency response being altered), is to drive it with a source with OI under 2ohm?
This then begs the question, what is the benefit of DAPs / Amps that have high OI? 
If you are a manufacturer of portable sources, wouldn't you want to make product that is compatible with as many earphones as possible?

 
As the Tera's creator said, there's a certain sound he was after which was why he used high Output Impedance. Also higher impedances can drive more powerful cans. The choice then is:
 
Low Impedance, more IEMs and low powered headphones
 
High Impedance, more high-powered headphones and summit-fi equipment.
 
EDIT: And what headwhacker said. He kinda whacked it on the head as well.

 

[VisceriousZERO]

  I'm not expert on these sort of impedance things, but it should be fine if I play it straight out of Galaxy S4 right?

 
I think so

 

[jlcichocki]

I am most definitely one of the newbies. I am most definitely confused by this impedance discussion. I'm guessing I will never be in the ranks of you ear /sound experts.

I ordered the Roxanne's. 80 % of the time I'm going to use them on the run, likely with just my iPhone. The remaining 20 % of use will be to drown out the sound of my wife's voice.

My trial of the Roxanne was with just the iPhone. Thought it sounded reasonably good. Used Mr Harvey's AK120. Thought that was amazing. Granted, I've never used any of these DAP's or any kind of amp combo so I have nothing to compare. Maybe that's the entire problem, I don't know what I'm missing.

Of course, I want the music to sound great or as good as can get and I'm not afraid to pay for it. Hence the Roxanne's.

What's most confusing is AK120 is used by Mr Harvey. It's his personal choice. He could use anything. He's running around the world sharing it with his crown jewel (Roxanne). My guess is he knows good sound. What am I missing?

 

[Mimouille]

Guys you should all calm down....first thing I said is to try AK120 with Roxanne first and if it sounds fine then fine. Stop with the x8 calculation it is just a rule of thumb and there is no way of knowing how it will really affect sound unless you have reliable impedance curves or even better, you listen by yourself. The only iem that did not sound good with the AK120 was the SE5 and it has 130 something of impedance...

 

[delancyst]

heh, newbies like me would be curious how the Roxanne really sound like when driven with the correct parameters.
Does the shift in frequency response affect only the bass region?

 

[ALRAINBOW]

I own about 6 amps and 2 DAPS. THE AK 120. And the hibino HDP r10. The both work well with all 6 iem,s I own. In using the jh16 and jh13 FP BOTH
I also own the fitear tg33; my point is jh audio iem,s are very sensitive iem,s . They find noise where other iem ,s do not.
And they are affected by output imp of amps . I had the first Amp /dac by v moda it had an output of 40 ohms. It did effect the jh audio
I modded it to 10 ohms and it was fine. I bought the next model by them it had about 2 ohms and was fine. I had a mytek dac/amp it had 20 ohms output imp.
It effected jh audio iem,s . I modded it to 2 ohms . It worked fine. My point some people just love saying things that are untrue .
Even if it does sound different with a different amp what could that prove it's not the same amp. As for your iphone it's fine it has a low output imp .
As for the sound quality you could do a lot better , but it's not the amp imp . It's just the dac and amp and the fact that I phone limits the
Output resolution . I am truly sorry for you who to believe I get that . I have been there . So read reviews from people about the ak120
And go from there . There are people who buy that ak 120 and then spend even more money to make it better . I have it and about 200 k
In hi end speaker rigs and headphones. The dap is good , not as good as a 5k headphone and a 6 amp . But good enough to enjoy very well.
Now for you running with 1500 CIEMS, . You better invest in some silicon gel to absorb the moister after running. And PM the joker or avg joe on hear
Ask them if the ak 120 is good and what to do about running with the ciem,s .

Al

 

[delancyst]

The only iem that did not sound good with the AK120 was the SE5 and it has 130 something of impedance...

good to know!
the only high impedance iem i know was the SM64v1.
i thought it was the hardest iem to drive when i first got it. volume had to be turned up way more than my usual listening level.
and during that point, i was not aware of Zout values, only associating headphone impedance with hiss n volume issues.

 

[VisceriousZERO]

Impedance is best and worst discussed by the sound science guys, I personally don't want to dabble in it, just know some basics and get it over with.
 
"If it sounds good for you, then its good for you! (Unless you don't have the budget!)"

 

[perdigao]

heh, newbies like me would be curious how the Roxanne really sound like when driven with the correct parameters.
Does the shift in frequency response affect only the bass region?

Since the guy that created the Roxanne uses an AK120, you can argue that to him, the correct parameters are the AK120 ones  And your correct parameters would not sound like the creator intended it to sound like 

 
Time for me to go enjoy my AK120 with my Roxanne and stop overthinking it ...

 

 

[delancyst]

  Since the guy that created the Roxanne uses an AK120, you can argue that to him, the correct parameters are the AK120 ones  And your correct parameters would not sound like the creator intended it to sound like 

 
Time for me to go enjoy my AK120 with my Roxanne stop overthinking it ...

I demoed the Roxannes on my AK120 too. It sounded good except for the occassional harsh treble. 
And since now others claimed 3ohm is too much, it makes me wonder how it would sound like on another DAP/source.
Any other DAP u guys recommend for the Roxanne?