Head Injury
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
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Quote:
Is there evidence of damping making a big difference in headphones? You don't have to worry about coloration beyond damping, because the LCD-2's impedance curve is flat. I'm not getting serious roll-off, but I didn't try any particularly bass-heavy songs when I compared to the DAC1.
Damping factor is the only thing I'm worried about, and the only reason I'll be building an O2 in the future.
Just realised there's an impedance mismatch with the LCD-2 and Asus actually; was reading an article (by NwAvGuy) that looked at the relation between a source's output impedance and the impedance of a headphone and its impact on the frequency response - apparently optimum response is achieved via the output impedance being 1/8th of the headphone impedance. The Asus Essence ST/X has an output impedance of 10.7 ohms, so it actually provides insufficient electrical damping for the Audeze LCD-2 (which has impedance of 60 ohms) - apparently the Asus will roll-off bass frequencies by about 3db, which is definitely audible. I mentioned on another thread that I was initially confused by the LCD-2 I was listening to on my soundcard, as I didn't hear the legendary bass extension. The impedance mismatch explains it elegantly!
Is there evidence of damping making a big difference in headphones? You don't have to worry about coloration beyond damping, because the LCD-2's impedance curve is flat. I'm not getting serious roll-off, but I didn't try any particularly bass-heavy songs when I compared to the DAC1.
Damping factor is the only thing I'm worried about, and the only reason I'll be building an O2 in the future.