[Stecchino]

I'm currently using (due to the lack of funds) the headphone out on my eMac to listen to music with my Etymotic ER-6 phones. I have a 3-way headphone splitter (Radio Shack) that I've had for a while. When do an A/B test with my ER-6's plugged directly into the headphone out (A) and plugging the ER-6 into the one of the 3 headphone jacks on the splitter (the other 2 remaning empty), I notice no difference is signal quality.

In other words: Headphone out jack >> 3-way splitter >> ER-6 ONLY = No signal degradation.

When I plug in my Bose MediaMate two-speaker setup into another one of the headphone jacks I notice no further degradation either.

In other words: Headphone out jack >> 3-way splitter >> ER-6 AND Bose speakers = No signal degradation

'Tis only when I plug in another pair a phones that there is a significant drop in volume (about 25-30%) and quality.

In other words: Headphone out jack >> 3-way splitter >> ER-6 AND Bose speakers AND Cheap Sony wrap-around buds with no model # on them = Significant degradation.

This is what I observed while listening with the ER-6.

When listening with the Sony's, I didn't notice any degradation with the speakers being added either. If I added the ER-6 to the splitter, however the volume/quality through the Sony's dropped only 5-10%.

I'm just wondering for the pure sake of my own curiosity why the speakers wouldn't come into play at all.

 

[Illah]

The speakers would have some kind of amp on them, that probably effects it. I'm only guessing, but probably the amp allows it to 'use' much less of the signal, whereas another pair of phones is being powered by the line level itself.

--Illah

 

[breez]

Yeah, the speaker amp has an input impedance of many kOhms so it takes very little current and power.