[needmoretoys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hehe So the headphone has an effect on the output of the amp or soundcard. I thought electricity was simpy emited like light so you see why i would not expect an amp to make a difference then. If 75percent of the soundcard is the best then i need an amp to lower te volume. I just thought an amp was used to increase the volume...

If your soundcard has no significant distortion or clipping at 75%, then you may not notice much difference. Most amplifiers, and I will assume those in soundcards also, will distort or clip with the volume setting near their maximum. In these cases using an amp with the soundcard set at a lower level will improve the sound greatly.

 

[needmoretoys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hehe http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/hearing.html I can still hear the 16khz pretty good, but it hurts more than i hear it. I put it about 30dB higher than 3khz and its still not as loud but because of the way it feels i rather not put it higher. I hear 8khz a lot louder than the other ones around there also, could this be because of a peak in my headphone response? 30hz i need to put almost all the way up to hear (with my level in windows set to around 90dB i think). Im just wondering what others get?

It could be that your headphones have a 8 kHz peak, but I find the 8 kHz range to be irritating and it is perceived as louder than 1 kHz.

 

[hehe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by needmoretoys If your soundcard has no significant distortion or clipping at 75%, then you may not notice much difference. Most amplifiers, and I will assume those in soundcards also, will distort or clip with the volume setting near their maximum. In these cases using an amp with the soundcard set at a lower level will improve the sound greatly.

Well maybe he meant 75% of the dB value

75% seems like a strange amount since if it is percentage of pressure it would be less than 2dB from the maximum?
Maybe windows sound level uses a different scale?

 

[hehe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab I needed 6db more loudness at 16kHz to hear it the same as the rest. With my DT770's, I had no trouble hearing 30Hz very strong, same as 1kHz.

http://www.jimprice.com/prosound/db.htm

That first graph shows everyone's ears are supposed to be less sensitive in the low frequencies.
Unless you were listening at 90+dB its strange you hear 30hz at the same level.

 

[Skylab]

Not with the DT770's it's not

And I can only say it was about the same -- I did not measure it of course, just listened.

 

[rgoodnight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab Keeping it at 80db or under is a good idea. I have my various amp/headphone combos calibrated to be right at 80dbA with the loudest music I play.

Good advice Skylab, but I'd be even more conservative and say that if you plan to listen for hours on end (i.e. at work), 80dbA is still a bit too high. I have moderate/mild tinnitus (and plan to keep it that way - mild that is) and I find it gets much worse and more annoying if I listen for more than a few minutes at 80db+.

I think investing in a RadioShack SPL monitor is a great investment. I have one and use it quite a bit both on cans and speakers to make sure I am not overdoing it.

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hehe Is that 92 the maximum your computer can do? Are both the windows setting and the player at the highest? I would expect it to be much higher.

I see that you been enlightened with many good replies. Learning about this stuff is half the fun.

I've never subjected my DT-880 to my PC, I don't think it would sound very good compared to my Woo Audio 3 tube amp which is what was driving the 880 in that pic. My listening is not computer based...only ripping for my DAP and other related stuff is done there.

 

[Chri5peed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2Grey The goal is to do these two things without changing the sound itself.

I don't know about that. An amp probably shouldn't add a lot of artificial colourisation.

An unamped system might be giving you 60% of the potential SQ. Adding an amp might boost this to 80%. So there may well be a huge change in sound, better frequency response for one...
An unamped headphone might well be a completely different beast when its served with a better signal.

So whether an amp adds its own brand of sound is probably another one of those subjective audiophile things. A good way to tell is seeing if a can which is easily driven sounds the same with an amp?

 

[Skylab]

The other thing ALL my amps add, which I find critical for really enjoying headphone listening, is a crossfeed circuit.

 

[Chri5peed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab The other thing ALL my amps add, which I find critical for really enjoying headphone listening, is a crossfeed circuit.

Whats that do then? I know it mixes the channels a bit.

I like extreme channel seperation in headphone music.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed Whats that do then? I know it mixes the channels a bit. I like extreme channel seperation in headphone music.

Crossfeed gets rid of that "between your ears" feeling of headphone listening, and brings the stereo imaging forward a bit. Subtle, but highly effective. If you want to know more, go to Meier Audio's website (link at top of page) -- great description there.