[danielghofrani]

Hi there everybody
I am really curious to know the role Impedance plays in the sound of IEMs and earphones.
I understand that higher Impedance headphones need higher voltages to operate, and they probably need an amplifier to supply them with enough power. But does Impedance of a headphone play a role in the color or quality of the sound ?
is there a typical difference between the sound of lower impedance IEMs (16 ohms) to higher ones (85 ohms)
thanks for sharing your wisdom

 

[jarrett]

I was wonder this too...why not make all headphones easy to drive? 

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

I was wonder this too...why not make all headphones easy to drive? 

That is not optimal all the time. The easier to drive earphones may be prone to hiss or provide little volume control when you are using an amp. It may get too loud very early if it is so easy to drive. I think when I had the CK10 it was just right at 55 ohms. My RE262 at 150 ohms is nice as I can take advantage of my dac/amp which has a pretty decent amp and use the volume control better.

 

[DJGeorgeT]

the impedance of a headphone is key to its frequency response.
 
Define "easy" to drive. Depending on the source, a source may have trouble driving a 16 ohm load (1 kHz), but have no problems driving a 100 ohm load. Other sources may be OK driving 16 ohm loads, but may have a tough time driving higher impedance loads. 

 

[danielghofrani]

Quote:

the impedance of a headphone is key to its frequency response.
 
Define "easy" to drive. Depending on the source, a source may have trouble driving a 16 ohm load (1 kHz), but have no problems driving a 100 ohm load. Other sources may be OK driving 16 ohm loads, but may have a tough time driving higher impedance loads. 

oh, so does that mean that as long as the impedance of the headphone matches the output of the player, then impedance makes no difference?!
 

 

[jasonb]

there is more to being "easy to drive" than just impedance. lower impedance doesn't always mean easier to drive.
 
my 20 ohm Brainwavz M2's get louder a lot easier than the slightly lower impedance Klipsch S4.
 
my dads 64 ohm HD280 pro's are easier to drive than my 32 ohm HD205's.
 
all out of the same source by the way