[xnor]

Quote:

Yea they may get "loud" with that much power but wont have any bass impact and will sound poor in general.

That's a common misconception. Bass impact and sound quality has nothing to do with how much more power a headphone amp could output beyond reasonable listening levels.

 

[peepr]

I dont see how physically displacing air is not connected to how much power is provided? Atleast without distortion. My d2k will get plenty loud with an e7 but bass impact and quality seriously lacks compared to magni. Same with mad dogs.

 

[miceblue]

Quote:

I'm just curious, but what is the toughest headphone you've all had to drive with a solid state amp? Have you ever had to go past 75% on ANY amp?
Did anyone try the K1000 on the Magni?
 
I've read the K501 is one of the hardest, but people come up with this stuff all the time. Then this idea that the HD-650 is sooooo hard to drive and sound good.
Like I read some nonsense yesterday how some Burson $1000 amp didn't have enough power for it. Are you kidding me?
 
I still remember people saying the K702 isn't worth it without a $400+ amp. As if price meant anything..
 
What level of volume does some of the Hifiman stuff require on the Magni? About 99%? If it's over 75% i'll be shocked. Not that volume means anything.
 
NOTHING I have goes over 45% volume. Not the K601 or Sextett.
 
What was the hardest Hifiman headphone to drive? I guess I can do a search, but I forget. I'd like to try that with my Micro Amp, Magni and E9 just for a laugh.
 
I can't wait to see if someone tries the HD-800 on the Magni. People will just say it's 100% INCOMPATIBLE. No SOUND! Don't forget the HD-800's requirements on the box are an amp that costs at least $1000 to sound "good".

That...totally true, and a $400 amp is totally not needed from my experience. People were recommending tube amps back when I was looking in to the K 701 a few years ago...just no. Sure it adds warmth, but I like the cleaner sound from solid state amps. I felt that the K 701 sounded superior out of the ODAC/O2 than the Bifrost/Lyr combo.
 
Glad to hear your Q's sound great out of the Magni.

 

[xnor]

Quote:

I dont see how physically displacing air is not connected to how much power is provided? Atleast without distortion. My d2k will get plenty loud with an e7 but bass impact and quality seriously lacks compared to magni. Same with mad dogs.

What? I was talking about excess gain -- a tradeoff.
 
Higher gain doesn't give you more bass impact or quality, actually, it usually results in lower sound quality which should be obvious.
Otherwise, we'd all be using 1000 W power amps with 30 dB gain to drive our headphones... 
 
I guess you didn't do a proper level-matched comparison. Neither amp adds or lacks bass.

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

Yea they may get "loud" with that much power but wont have any bass impact and will sound poor in general.

That's hilariously wrong. More power = more SPL, NOT "more bass".

 

[stv014]

Quote:

 
That's hilariously wrong. More power = more SPL, NOT "more bass".

 
More SPL = more perceived bass, though, which is an important source of these misconceptions. When comparing amplifiers without accurate level matching, the setting of volume controls is likely to be biased towards equal volume control position, therefore the more powerful amp with (typically) higher gain will be louder and sound "better".

 

[stereoguy]

Well I've had no trouble with mine. The pot is centered, I plug in my phones and it works. It never occured to me to turn it to zero and see if I can hear anything. I don't really care what it sounds like at zero, I only care what it sounds like cranked. Now the pot is a bit like a bull busting out the stall, I'd consider to try the parts express attenuators. Items like that are common in the pro sound/home audio industry. Attenuators, Mic transformers, load resistors (for phono cartridges). The sound is still in line with my earlier comments. I feel I got my 99 bucks worth.

 

[Jimmyjo]

Quote:

Well I've had no trouble with mine. The pot is centered, I plug in my phones and it works. It never occured to me to turn it to zero and see if I can hear anything. I don't really care what it sounds like at zero, I only care what it sounds like cranked. Now the pot is a bit like a bull busting out the stall, I'd consider to try the parts express attenuators. Items like that are common in the pro sound/home audio industry. Attenuators, Mic transformers, load resistors (for phono cartridges). The sound is still in line with my earlier comments. I feel I got my 99 bucks worth.

I agree just plug it in, turn it on.crank it up and enjoy the music. After reading your post I did turn mine to zero,heard nothing. I love this amp. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Tried both K1000 and HE-6 (most power-hungry Hifiman) at the Charlotte meet. With the K1000 I was listening around 12 and really liked how it sounded. I think with the HE-6 I had the volume control a little lower but I'm not positive.

I did however have to actually set Windows' volume to 100% for both of them, unlike with my other cans.



HD800 also sounded good out of it

 
Pretty interesting that the K601 and K1000 need about the same amount of volume. Not sure of the specifications of the K1000 though.
I'm betting the K501/K400 will require about 55% volume

 
I'm glad to see the day when tiny amps aren't considered weak or underpowered!

 

[xnor]

So not even 2 volts / less than 30 mW into highly insensitive headphones (or should I say earspeakers).

 

[Defiant00]

So not even 2 volts / less than 30 mW into highly insensitive headphones (or should I say earspeakers).

Yup. I wonder at times if hard to drive cans are mostly a myth, or if I just listen a lot quieter than most people or something.

Or alternately, maybe I'm just not good at listening for the signs of cans being under-powered.

 

[xnor]

If you listen a lot it's definitely the right way to preserve your hearing. Heck, with 32 ohm headphones with 'normal' sensitivity I usually only need a few millivolts.

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

If you listen a lot it's definitely the right way to preserve your hearing. Heck, with 32 ohm headphones with 'normal' sensitivity I usually only need a few millivolts.

 
Well, I typically listen 6+ hours a day to my LCD-2s at work, so I'm a bit paranoid about my listening level. With the Magni and Modi I would set Windows' volume to 25% then the Magni around 8:30.

 

[Kinru]

Quote:

 
Well, I typically listen 6+ hours a day to my LCD-2s at work, so I'm a bit paranoid about my listening level. With the Magni and Modi I would set Windows' volume to 25% then the Magni around 8:30.

 


I listen 3-5 hours a day with mad dog's and have my Windows set to 20% with the magni on 9-10. Very similar levels. I've always wondered if I simply listen to lower levels cause I had my brother try my setup the other day and he immediately cranked it up to 12 which I thought was nuts O.O

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

 
More SPL = more perceived bass, though, which is an important source of these misconceptions. When comparing amplifiers without accurate level matching, the setting of volume controls is likely to be biased towards equal volume control position, therefore the more powerful amp with (typically) higher gain will be louder and sound "better".

Ummmmmm No.
 
More SPL = More SPL. It doesn't = More or Less Bass. I get the "perception" notion, but you would seriously have to be a bit of a dummy not to notice that loudness was different and assume it had nothing to do with the volume knob!
 
Level matching amps for comparison sake is good practice. But if a "more powerful amp" with a "higher gain" sounds "louder", well then, guess what? You apparently haven't level matched! If you had, Amp A and AMP B would be producing the same SPL on the same Speaker, and the user could decide if there was a difference in the sound. Then they would feel stupid for buying the amp that had a wicked High Gain and clipped at home, or which, driven hard, produced enough "power" but was also distorting.
 
More Power = More SPL.
 
If the speaker can take it, and the user wants it, more power = good. But Amps serve a utilitarian purpose FIRST and foremost. More Power does not = more bass. Most people don't realize that they probably only use a fraction of an Amps rated power at any given time. Volume is lower, but "bass" is exactly as it should be.