[MegaBass18]

Recently, I have found that my headphones sound different.  They feel... less powerful even though I only received a few weeks ago.  I am using a Schiit Audio Magni amp and the headphones haven't gone through any trauma of any kind.  
 
Maybe I've gotten used to the sound and don't feel the bass thump as much as I used to? Or maybe my ears are going out? I used to keep the settings at 1/4 turn of the amp knob and then 50% digital volume which gave me great results.  Now I feel like this doesn't really sound that great. 
 
I'd be interested to know if there is any software that is freely available to be able to test the output of headphones? 

 

[namaiki]

Why would you use 50% digital audio? I thought it was recommended to keep any digital volume control at 100%.

 

[jaddie]

Quote:

 
I'd be interested to know if there is any software that is freely available to be able to test the output of headphones? 

Adequate measurement software is free (RoomEQ Wizard http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/) But...and this is almost certain to shoot you down...you need a way to get a calibrated mic within the sealed ear area (assuming circumnaural).  That requires a headphone measurement rig or dummy head along with your calibrated mic and preamp.  You're looking at pretty big bucks.  And what you'll get won't make sense unless you have something to compare to because they won't be flat...they're not supposed to be. 
 
Measuring the output of your amp is easy, though, and you can do it with REQWiz and the right cables.  

 

[MegaBass18]

Quote:

Adequate measurement software is free (RoomEQ Wizard http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/) But...and this is almost certain to shoot you down...you need a way to get a calibrated mic within the sealed ear area (assuming circumnaural).  That requires a headphone measurement rig or dummy head along with your calibrated mic and preamp.  You're looking at pretty big bucks.  And what you'll get won't make sense unless you have something to compare to because they won't be flat...they're not supposed to be. 
 
Measuring the output of your amp is easy, though, and you can do it with REQWiz and the right cables.  

Hey, thanks jaddie! Do you know what cables I would need to measure the amp?
 
Quote:

Why would you use 50% digital audio? I thought it was recommended to keep any digital volume control at 100%.

 
That what I thought originally but I was just messing around with digital volume vs physical volume (on the amp) just to see what different sounds could be achieved. I have also been playing around with EQ to some degree of success which is fun to do.  
 
Before, 100% digital volume seemed too much at the same dial turn but now... I don't know what happened. 50% does not sound anywhere near as good as 100%.  It just changed all of a sudden.  Is this what people refer to as burn in? I always under the impression that that concept was pretty much a myth...

 

[jaddie]

Hey, thanks jaddie! Do you know what cables I would need to measure the amp?

This is a question you should answer for yourself as part of the process. Your goal is to be able to feed the amp to your headphones and soundcard line input at the same time. You may wish to measure your amp with and without your headphones connected.

 

[MegaBass18]

Quote:

This is a question you should answer for yourself as part of the process. Your goal is to be able to feed the amp to your headphones and soundcard line input at the same time. You may wish to measure your amp with and without your headphones connected.

I assume by "soundcard line input" you mean the microphone jack (input)?
 
I installed the REQWizard and played around with some of the measurements, but I have no idea what any of them do.  Can you point me in the right direction of what test I should be using so I can research that and find out what values the amp is outputting?
 
Also what values would be useful to me to see if the headphone or the amp is not outputting as much sound as it should? What should I look for? Decibel level? Some of the many waves that I have no knowledge of? 
 
Thanks in advance!

 

[jaddie]

I assume by "soundcard line input" you mean the microphone jack (input)?

I installed the REQWizard and played around with some of the measurements, but I have no idea what any of them do.  Can you point me in the right direction of what test I should be using so I can research that and find out what values the amp is outputting?

Also what values would be useful to me to see if the headphone or the amp is not outputting as much sound as it should? What should I look for? Decibel level? Some of the many waves that I have no knowledge of? 

Thanks in advance!

By your questions it seems you're trying to run before you walk. The idea of making a meaningful measurement is good, but this isn't like using a ruler, there is a bit of theory involved too that would be important to understand. The forum isn't really the place to go into all of that, but the resources are available online.

There are tutorials for REQ that go into setup and use which you should try to read and understand first. Then to get the basics behind sound measurements turn to Google and Wiki, read up. Otherwise what you're asking here is how to build a house when what you need to know is how to use a saw first.

 

[MegaBass18]

Quote:

By your questions it seems you're trying to run before you walk. The idea of making a meaningful measurement is good, but this isn't like using a ruler, there is a bit of theory involved too that would be important to understand. The forum isn't really the place to go into all of that, but the resources are available online.

There are tutorials for REQ that go into setup and use which you should try to read and understand first. Then to get the basics behind sound measurements turn to Google and Wiki, read up. Otherwise what you're asking here is how to build a house when what you need to know is how to use a saw first.

Hmmm... well alright. Time to get crackin. Thanks jaddie!