[D Rob]

I was hoping some of you amp Guru's could set me straight.
 
I'm using my portable amp to power planar headphones. My question is will using high gain put more voltage to the headphones? Low gain will drive them to listenable levels with about 1/3 to 1/2 left before max volume. Now obviously high gain is louder but considering planars are planars I'm wondering is it best to run high gain from a power to the headphone stand point?
 
Equipment being discussed: Fiio E18 to Fostex T50RP MkIII

 

[MindsMirror]

No. High gain allows for higher voltage, but if you set it to high gain you will just need to lower the volume so that the voltage sent to the headphones will be the same.
 
Low gain is better unless you need high gain to get enough volume. Low gain gives you better control with the volume knob and may give a lower noise floor.

 

[D Rob]

No. High gain allows for higher voltage, but if you set it to high gain you will just need to lower the volume so that the voltage sent to the headphones will be the same.

Low gain is better unless you need high gain to get enough volume. Low gain gives you better control with the volume knob and may give a lower noise floor.

Thanks for that info. It's a big help.

 

[buke9]

Thanks for that info. It's a big help.

Most of my cans are Planars and I always use the high gain on my Dap. I think it helps a bit with dynamics and with inefficient Planars the noise floor doesn't come into the picture much. Your not going to hurt things either way though.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I was hoping some of you amp Guru's could set me straight.
I'm using my portable amp to power planar headphones. My question is will using high gain put more voltage to the headphones? Low gain will drive them to listenable levels with about 1/3 to 1/2 left before max volume. Now obviously high gain is louder but considering planars are planars I'm wondering is it best to run high gain from a power to the headphone stand point?
Equipment being discussed: Fiio E18 to Fostex T50RP MkIII

What source(s) are you plugging the E18 into?
You should be maxing out (75%-100%) the volume controls of whatever source your plugging the E18 into.
The gain setting is somewhat optional, somewhat a personal preference.
Whichever gain setting you use, it still takes the same amount of voltage to get the same volume level.
Lower gain will make it a little easy to control, for times when you need to turn the volume low.
High gain might (very slightly) add a little noice into the signal.
I'm also guess(?) high gain might(?) drain the battery charge a little faster (but it's a guess).

 

[D Rob]

What source(s) are you plugging the E18 into?
You should be maxing out (75%-100%) the volume controls of whatever source your plugging the E18 into.
The gain setting is somewhat optional, somewhat a personal preference.
Whichever gain setting you use, it still takes the same amount of voltage to get the same volume level.
Lower gain will make it a little easy to control, for times when you need to turn the volume low.
High gain might (very slightly) add a little noice into the signal.
I'm also guess(?) high gain might(?) drain the battery charge a little faster (but it's a guess).

I connect it to my laptop or my smart phone as a DAC amp. I always Max the digital out of whichever one I have it connected to. I had read about headphones getting insufficient voltage to fully drive them and since the T50RP's are fairly demanding even at just 50ohm I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything.