Should i use headphone amp

It should be easy enough to achieve the desired volume level. Please note, however, that low-impedance headphones, typically those in the 16 to 32 ohm range, will benefit from an amplifier with higher current output, as this will improve the damping factor how well the movement of the driver in the headphone is controlled.

As always, if you have additional questions, please contact our Audio-Solutions Department for assistance. Accessing our website tells us you agree to our use of cookies. Now that's out of the way. When deciding whether to acquire a good headphone amp, it's important to consider how much a pair of headphones can benefit from an amp. In other words, their "performance ceiling".

See our selection of premium headphone amplifiers. If you want to move up a notch in musical performance, see our full line of headphone amps to find the best one for your needs. Of course, an audio system is only as good as its weakest link. If you have well-recorded music and great audiophile headphones, but are relying on the power-limited headphone amp inside your smartphone, laptop or tablet to make the headphones sing, you likely won't be driving your headphones to their full potential.

Adding an amp between the player and your audiophile headphones can provide a significant, audible improvement in clarity, detail and dynamics. You may know about a headphone "impedance rating ".

Impedance is the combined resistance and reactivity the headphones present to the amp as an electrical load. High-impedance cans usually need more voltage to get up to a solid listening level, so they can benefit from a headphone amp especially with portable players that have limited voltage available from their internal batteries.

While it only needs 1mW at 0. This set will only need 0. Who will win, the coathanger, or the well-engineered consumer cables? However, the vast majority of all cables available to you will be more than sufficient to support what you need. This is especially true for headphones, which typically have much lower power requirements, and also shorter cables, than speakers do. Go ahead: cheap out on cables. Read next: Best headphone amps.

Check Price. Name: Subject: Message:. SoundGuys is reader supported. Also I wanted to buy Hifiman he4xx which is 35 ohms by some sites, and few people on the internet said that the Scarlet 2i2 is too weak and can't drive them properly.. The output impedance of your device is less than 1 Ohm and supports headphones up to Ohms or another way to put it, between Ohms.

So your 32 Ohm headphones are easily within that range. Remember though, figuring it all out is not as easy as just impedance ratings, as the sensitivity of the headphones and the power of the amplifier must also be factored in. The HE4xx are rated as sensitivity: 93 dB, and impedance: 35 ohms. The HE4xx are planar magnetic drivers, and as a general rule, planars benefit from power.

The folks who have actual experience with the pairing may be giving you good advice. But in all honesty, sometimes you just have to try yourself to see if it will work and sound good. Thanks for an interesting article. Which pair of headphones would be the better match? Headphone output: No load If so, can you suggest a few good ones, since such phones seem to be harder to find. Typical recommended high impedance pairings include:.

Thanx very much for your help. Is this correct? Loved the article, I got a basic understanding of Impedance and Sensitivity. I still have a number of questions. You mentioned a lot of impedance mismatch when the source goes more than 2. BTW, I am using planar headphones. What are the ideal amp settings I should look out for if my headphones are low impedance and low sensitivity eg, These are quite hard to drive, so it needs an amp for sure, now, what are the specs of the amp itself I should be concerned about?

There is also a mention that low impedance headphone require higher current, now to my understanding this doesnt really matter right, whatever the source is?

Sorry for the long post and any stupid questions if there are, I just want to run my headphones at the right settings to experience what exactly they are capable of and will help a lot in the future.

So if I were to use a smartphone to use the Headphones I mentioned the volume is low and if I use a iFi Hip Dac — the volume is fine, where does current play a role here? What are the specifics I need to take care?

Hi Trav, Great article. Look forward to your enlightenment. I have a DT pro ohms. I work in a MacBook Pro What can I do to improves the headphones response? So if you have high impedance headphones, but a low impedance amp THX ; 1 ohm output impedance is there a way to increase the output impedance of the amplifier?

How hard would it be to make an impedance matching circuit that you would put in-between the amp and the headphone? I studied about transmission lines and impedance matching in an electrical engineering course in college. Is it really that hard to make an adapter? For what purpose? Are you referring to the DT Ohms that is best paired with Ohms output impedance amps? Or are you just trying to modify the frequency response?

Like you said, many integrated amps from the past use a simple resistor between the speaker and headphone output. My Teac A-H has resistors of ohms. The latter i use when e. In some cases the bass on the COP gets too boomy for my taste, I wonder if these ohm output resistors have anything to do with it.

In the past I tried bridging these resistors, but that resulted in hum being audible in the cans. What are my headphones options in this case? Is it good match? I would like to hear every detail of Cliff Burton baselines on Metallica first albums. Only in the mobile space. That should be the lede for this multi-thousand-word article.

Thank you so much for this great insight. Still a bit confused, but it makes sense. Not that the article is bad, heck article is awesome. BTW informative article. Excellent article, I wanted to ask you if I have a source impedance headphone output of the boss me70 guitar multi-effect of 44ohm, which beyerdynamic pro are better the 32ohm or the 80 or even the ?

Thanks a lot. You stated the coil wiring of a speaker can be. A human hair is typically. Thanks for the catch! Go to the shop and try on the headphones is the only way to tell which one is better. More money is not always better. I listened to Youtube for two hours. I only took it off because I thought I was over doing it. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This article was crafted with love from Trav and Timothy Editor.

For the sake of simplicity, this article will be limiting itself to examples using headphones rather than IEMs or ear buds, but the basic concepts remain the same.