[lee730]

Quote:

 
This is what I mean though. This is an important specification, how could it have been printed wrong in the first place? Normally I would give them the benefit of the doubt, but there is a particular history here.
 
I'm a little hesitant to talk more about this though.
 
On another subject, I'm terribly missing my desktop monitors while they are being repaired. The Creative speakers I replaced them with produce this high frequency whine that gives me a headache, to the point where I've resorted to using the built in laptop speakers. Sometimes I just don't want to wear headphones, but this is a pain.
 

I know what you are referring too. That is one reason why I always unplug my headphones before and after powering down my Amps/Powerful DAPs .
 

 

[Maxvla]

Maybe I've just been blind to it, but output impedance seemingly has come out of nowhere to be this very important spec. I'd never heard it mentioned until this last year and I've been around HF for almost 10 years now.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

You know maybe I'm being to much of a noob with the following comment but I'm shocked all these electronics makers can get away with not listing certain specs of their products. It's even more surprising Europe Asia Canada and the US haven't moved to bring in some sort of legislation creating some sort of spec display standardization and forcing all manufacturers to display certain key specs such as output impedance power output etc etc. It would make everyone's life a lot easier.

Remember now its about the good old dollar. That is what makes the world go around. Cutting corners to save cost has long been a major process of industry.
 

 

[DigitalFreak]

edited out misread the original post

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

The XBA line is due to be released in Canada during the summer. Maybe I'll give the 3 and 4 a second look once they hit Canadian shores.

I think they are at least worth a listen. Their imaging is a little odd but at the same time very detailed. As I said I bought the XBA-4 for its particular colour, I harbour no delusions that it is in anyway anything approaching 'balanced'.  Neither are my AD2000's, and I love them too!
 
In fact, almost all my headphones left in my collection are a little oddly balanced with a love it or hate it signature. I find the contrast kind of fun.

 

[DigitalFreak]

Quote:

I think they are at least worth a listen. Their imaging is a little odd but at the same time very detailed. As I said I bought the XBA-4 for its particular colour, I harbour no delusions that it is in anyway anything approaching 'balanced'.  Neither are my AD2000's, and I love them too!
 
In fact, almost all my headphones left in my collection are a little oddly balanced with a love it or hate it signature. I find the contrast kind of fun.

Well enough people on here seem to love to slam Monster and hate anything to with them. I'm not a fan of their headphones or some of their past business practices but I got to admit they can make good sounding IEM's. They're overpriced but their brand of bass heavy colored sound works for me. I also own the Sony XB 500 and 700 and people love to especially slam the 500 but I rather like it's gooey thick slam your brain around in your cranium bass heavy sound. I can only describe it as a guilty pleasure. I find the XB line fun so why not. There's a lot better out there but who cares my XB's make me grin and that's all that counts in my mind.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

Well enough people on here seem to love to slam Monster and hate anything to with them. I'm not a fan of their headphones or some of their past business practices but I got to admit they can make good sounding IEM's. They're overpriced but their brand of bass heavy colored sound works for me. I also own the Sony XB 500 and 700 and people love to especially slam the 500 but I rather like it's gooey thick slam your brain around in your cranium bass heavy sound. I can only describe it as a guilty pleasure. I find the XB line fun so why not. There's a lot better out there but who cares my XB's make me grin and that's all that counts in my mind.

 
Yeah its not always about "what's technically better". I mean although I've heard "technically better" IEMs than my current favorite. I don't consider these IEMs "technically better" or they would be my favorite IEMs now wouldn't they lol?
 
 

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Maybe I've just been blind to it, but output impedance seemingly has come out of nowhere to be this very important spec. I'd never heard it mentioned until this last year and I've been around HF for almost 10 years now.

I know that it seems like output impedance has been a bit of a buzzword spec at the moment, and I was a little worried at first. There is enough measurable data and information on the internet though, and from Stereophile no less, that makes the point that output impedance is a rather important figure that affects performance. 
 
I don't think it has been a problem for headphones with their relatively high impedances (far higher than the 4/6/8 ohm impedances of speakers) until now, when there are a number of headphones on the market with impedances low enough that interaction with the amplifier's impedance is an issue.
 
I'm not saying that it is the be all and end all spec, and I would think things like THD, slew rate, etc etc are equally important. But this seems like an important question when discussing portable devices and desktop amplifiers that might be seeing some low impedance loads.

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

The table of output impedances for these portable devices also seems pretty interesting:
 
@Veyron btw is there any reason why you want to go for the Classic? I can't find the information for output impedance on the classic, but on most other measurements it performs worse than the iPhone 4. Classic vs ip4. What applies to the iPhone 4 compared to your Samsung is not the same as as the classic. I don't believe even the current gen iPod touch can match the ip4 / ip4s, which is why I'm very happy with it as a player.

There's probably nothing wrong with the Classic if you're using an amp. Portable amps shouldn't care about the output impedance of what's upstream.
 

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I got into college today. I was ecstatic and so ridiculously happy. I still AM ecstatic!
However my parents are disappointed in me. I did not get into Ivy Leagues or anything with "prestige" that they consider good.

 
That sucks, but it's going to be okay. If you wanted to be at the school you got into, hopefully this means you see some advantage in going there that your parents don't see, and being there will help you to flourish in a way you might not have been able to at an Ivy.
 
Best of luck!

 
Quote:

Maybe I've just been blind to it, but output impedance seemingly has come out of nowhere to be this very important spec. I'd never heard it mentioned until this last year and I've been around HF for almost 10 years now.

Output impedance was a major obsession in the 1960s, only in the context of an amplifier's damping factor, the ratio between the input impedance of the speaker and output impedance of the amp. By the 70s it was rare to see damping factor touted on spec sheets, since it was relatively easy for amplifier makers to produce solid state amps with near-zero output impedance and DF figures in the tens of thousands.
 

Remember that 2 ohm loads in the speaker world are rare, but by no means bizarre, and 6 ohms is common. A high damping factor is arguably even more critical for speaker amps and harder to achieve, yet it's ceased to be a meaningful figure.

 
This is why I don't really marvel at low-Z headphone amps, where 32 ohm is considered a nominal load. I am mostly curious why there are so few of them.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Well enough people on here seem to love to slam Monster and hate anything to with them. I'm not a fan of their headphones or some of their past business practices but I got to admit they can make good sounding IEM's. They're overpriced but their brand of bass heavy colored sound works for me. I also own the Sony XB 500 and 700 and people love to especially slam the 500 but I rather like it's gooey thick slam your brain around in your cranium bass heavy sound. I can only describe it as a guilty pleasure. I find the XB line fun so why not. There's a lot better out there but who cares my XB's make me grin and that's all that counts in my mind.

 
If the slam makes you grin, I cannot urge you to try the MG7's enough hah. They outdo even my Pro700Mk2 50ANV's for sub-bass response. 
 

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

You know maybe I'm being to much of a noob with the following comment but I'm shocked all these electronics makers can get away with not listing certain specs of their products. It's even more surprising Europe Asia Canada and the US haven't moved to bring in some sort of legislation creating some sort of spec display standardization and forcing all manufacturers to display certain key specs such as output impedance power output etc etc. It would make everyone's life a lot easier.

It'd be nice I suspect that there's no interest on anybody's part to push this. The criticality of audio quality is not great. Or, in other words, if a baby car seat does not work as advertised, a child might die; if a stereo doesn't work as advertised, it doesn't sound as nice. This is setting aside manufacturers' own probable disinterest in being held to standardized claims, of course.
 
Specification measurement standardization would be nice, but I'm in the camp that suspects that although we can measure many things that we know affect audio quality, we do not yet necessarily know how everything is relevant to audio fidelity, and how to gauge it all meaningfully. The following quote comes to mind: "If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad; if it measures bad and sounds good, you have measured the wrong thing."

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Quote:
 
Remember that 2 ohm loads in the speaker world are rare, but by no means bizarre, and 6 ohms is common. A high damping factor is arguably even more critical for speaker amps and harder to achieve, yet it's ceased to be a meaningful figure.

 
This is why I don't really marvel at low-Z headphone amps, where 32 ohm is considered a nominal load. I am mostly curious why there are so few of them.

Arise XBA-4, and conquer all amps before thee with thy insufferable 8ohm impedance!
 

 

[DigitalFreak]

Quote:

 
If the slam makes you grin, I cannot urge you to try the MG7's enough hah. They outdo even my Pro700Mk2 50ANV's for sub-bass response. 
 

Lol kiddo you're such a bad influence
 

 

[MuppetFace]

The A03 has nice bass slam too. ; )

 

[ardgedee]

Arise XBA-4, and conquer all amps before thee with thy insufferable 8ohm impedance!
 

Sure, and there are headphones which at certain frequencies drop even lower. Then again, there are nominal 8 ohm speakers that will dip below 1 Ohm...