Question about the Line-Out on the FiiO E10

[Egaku]

Hey Head-Fi,
 
I've noticed that if I plug my speakers into the Line-Out of the E10 without plugging in the speakers themselves into a power source the bass and overall quality of the headphone signal is reduced. I'm just curious as to what is causing this?
 
Thanks!

 

[xnor]

A line-out is made to drive a high-impedance line-in (10 kOhms or more) and usually cannot power speakers (usually around 4 - 8 Ohms).
And afaik, some powered speakers short the inputs (= 0 Ohms) if they are not plugged into a power source.

 

[stv014]

When the amplifier in the speakers is not turned on, its input may become a non-linear load when the signal is about 0.6 V or more, causing distortion with a source that has high output impedance, such as the line out of the E10 (600 Ohm).

 

[proton007]

Basically the line out is meant for a very high load impedance, such that there is a high efficiency of power transfer across the load.
The source (device) itself has very high impedance in line out, close to 600 Ohms, so connecting a 4/8/32 Ohm speaker will effectively have all the potential drop across the source itself, and not much current or voltage to drive the speakers since the Vrms is fixed (2V) and the source limits the current in the circuit in this case.

 

[stv014]

The OP is using active (powered) speakers, so speaker impedance is not an issue. The real problem is that the input of an amplifier, when power is not on, may behave as a diode load (I could explain this with a simplified example), and that is what is causing the distortion.

 

[proton007]

Quote:

Hey Head-Fi,
 
I've noticed that if I plug my speakers into the Line-Out of the E10 without plugging in the speakers themselves into a power source the bass and overall quality of the headphone signal is reduced. I'm just curious as to what is causing this?
 
Thanks!

 
I hope this clears things up.