[sno]

I know impedance is a very popular question, but I have been wondering about something that I didn't find answered (maybe I didn't look hard enough).

I think I, kind of, understand what impedance is... however I don't understand why have different amounts of impedance. I'm sure it isn't about power consumption.

Why do some companies opt out to make high-impedance headphones, while others go for low? I'm not talking about the portable in-ear ones that have low impedance so they can be driven by portable devices.

For example, Sennheiser makes high-impedance headphones, while Grado makes low-impedance headphones. What do they gain by that? Also, I understand that impedance depends on frequency (and will change depending on the frequency), so what's the deal?

 

[sno]

No one?

 

[leeperry]

Headphone Impedance - [H]ard|Forum
Quote:

Actually high impedance headphones are usually called "easy" to drive and low impedance "hard" by amp manufactures. While low impedance phones require less voltage to get loud, they require more current. This leads to problem like hiss is systems, weak bass and so on. It is fairly easy to make an output that drives something high impedance, much harder to make something drive low impedance.

high impedance phones would kill portable players batteries too quickly, but the lower the impedance the heavier and slower/less transparent the driver is(for Beyer at least).

I believe Grado goes low impedance to be portable friendly.