pmillett
Pete Millet
Sponsor: TTVJ/Apex Hi-Fi
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2002
- Posts
- 212
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- 56
I'm curious - all you builders out there: what series resistor, if any, do you use on the output of your headphone amps? This would be the resistor between the headphone (jack) and the output buffer of your amp.
This really applies only to amps with a solid-state output buffer (opamp, BUF634, diamond buffer, etc.)
The reason I ask - this R (or if you prefer, the amp's Zo or damping factor) affects the sound of many headphones dramatically. So it's hard to settle on a single "best" number.
IEC61938, which I suspect at least the German headphone makers follow, stipulates 120 ohms. But not many amp builders follow this, myself included.
I seem to prefer ~20-50 ohms, usually, though it does seem to depend on the headphones.
Thanks for your feedback!
Pete
This really applies only to amps with a solid-state output buffer (opamp, BUF634, diamond buffer, etc.)
The reason I ask - this R (or if you prefer, the amp's Zo or damping factor) affects the sound of many headphones dramatically. So it's hard to settle on a single "best" number.
IEC61938, which I suspect at least the German headphone makers follow, stipulates 120 ohms. But not many amp builders follow this, myself included.
I seem to prefer ~20-50 ohms, usually, though it does seem to depend on the headphones.
Thanks for your feedback!
Pete
